In a recent case in Hawaii (settled out of court) an unsecured wireless LAN proved to be the Achilles heel for an RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) lawsuit targeting a private individual for copyright infringement by illegal download. The RIAA was unable to show that the infringement was not the result of unauthorized and illegal access to the Internet through the individual’s unsecured home wireless LAN. Since the individual had simply accepted the manufacture’s default settings when setting up his wireless LAN (default = unsecured) he was not negligent for not taking the extraordinary measure of encrypting his LAN. The RIAA could not deny that it was not only possible but likely that a “war driver” or neighbor was responsible for the copyright infringement. Estimates are that fewer than 30% of home LANs are secured.
Anyone facing a RIAA lawsuit hereafter might well claim their IP address showed up on the RIAA “radar” because of unauthorized and illegal use of their wireless LAN by persons unknown.
