4 ms·

I've always wondered if leaving your WiFi open gives you plausible deniability WRT to torrenting copyrighted material (should anyone ever come knocking).

prawks 12y ago
AFAIK it's always been one of the bigger gray areas regarding pirating copyrighted material. From what I've read it's still a "we have no formal proof that people are prosecuted based on it, but we also have no proof that they aren't/can't be". Also, read https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/my_open_wireles.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/my_open_wirel... as linked below in this thread.
- lucb1e 12y ago
  It is from 2008 though, things have changed. Just today a domain was seized by the UK govt on grounds of copyright infringement just because it was running a proxy. In Austria someone was convicted for running a Tor exit node about a month ago.
jahewson 12y ago
I doubt it makes a difference. Just having some server logs and an IP isn't really sufficient proof in the first place. Just because web requests come from my IP doesn't mean that I made those requests (it could be a friend, relative, hacker). Computer forensics would be required to link the requests to a specific computer and person. Your ISP is probably still free to just ban you though.
- HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
  If a murder weapon is found in your house, you're going to have a really hard time explaining that "I was just holding it for a friend." Just sayin' ...
  - jahewson 12y ago
    That's a terrible analogy. Courts in the US have been widely rejecting IPs as the basis of copyright lawsuits, see: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2014/03/25/florida-judge-rejects-ip-address-valid-identifier-copyright-infringement-lawsuit http://www.gamepolitics.com/2014/03/25/florida-judge-rejects... http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security/297475-ip-address-not-a-person-judge-says-in-copyright-lawsuit http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security/297475-ip-address-no... http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2011/10/court_nukes_ano.htm http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2011/10/court_nukes_ano... P.S. Downvotes on HN do not mean "I disagree".
parktheredcar 12y ago
I think the EFF has been pushing this idea recently.
- lucb1e 12y ago
  They have, but it only concerns the USA, completely ignoring the rest of the world while still calling on everyone to open their networks. Understandable as they're an American organization, but annoying as a non-American. Almost as annoying as the NSA considering anyone with a non-American IP address a potential terrorist.

prawks 12y ago

AFAIK it's always been one of the bigger gray areas regarding pirating copyrighted material. From what I've read it's still a "we have no formal proof that people are prosecuted based on it, but we also have no proof that they aren't/can't be". Also, read https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/my_open_wireles.html https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/my_open_wirel... as linked below in this thread.

lucb1e 12y ago
It is from 2008 though, things have changed. Just today a domain was seized by the UK govt on grounds of copyright infringement just because it was running a proxy. In Austria someone was convicted for running a Tor exit node about a month ago.

jahewson 12y ago

I doubt it makes a difference. Just having some server logs and an IP isn't really sufficient proof in the first place. Just because web requests come from my IP doesn't mean that I made those requests (it could be a friend, relative, hacker). Computer forensics would be required to link the requests to a specific computer and person. Your ISP is probably still free to just ban you though.

HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
If a murder weapon is found in your house, you're going to have a really hard time explaining that "I was just holding it for a friend." Just sayin' ...
- jahewson 12y ago
  That's a terrible analogy. Courts in the US have been widely rejecting IPs as the basis of copyright lawsuits, see: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2014/03/25/florida-judge-rejects-ip-address-valid-identifier-copyright-infringement-lawsuit http://www.gamepolitics.com/2014/03/25/florida-judge-rejects... http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security/297475-ip-address-not-a-person-judge-says-in-copyright-lawsuit http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security/297475-ip-address-no... http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2011/10/court_nukes_ano.htm http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2011/10/court_nukes_ano... P.S. Downvotes on HN do not mean "I disagree".

parktheredcar 12y ago

I think the EFF has been pushing this idea recently.

lucb1e 12y ago
They have, but it only concerns the USA, completely ignoring the rest of the world while still calling on everyone to open their networks. Understandable as they're an American organization, but annoying as a non-American. Almost as annoying as the NSA considering anyone with a non-American IP address a potential terrorist.