Police arrest London Wi-Fi freeloader

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 22 Aug 2007 at 17:38

A 39-year-old man has been arrested after using someone else's unsecured Wi-Fi connection.

The man was arrested by two Community Support Officers who became suspicious after spotting him using his laptop whilst sitting on a wall outside a house in Prebend Gardens, Chiswick.

Further questioning revealed that he was surfing the web using the home owner's unsecured wireless connection.

He has been released on bail pending further investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Computer Crime Unit.

The case follows an incident in April where a man in Redditch was cautioned for a similar offence, and one in 2005 in which a London man was fined £500 for using somebody else's Wi-Fi connection.

The offence is a relatively new one, though a recent survey by Cisco suggests it may be far more common than most people realise. Around one in three "mobile employees" hijack wireless connections, with excuses ranging from "I can't tell whose connection I'm using" to the more startling, "I don't want to pay for my own connection."

Whatever the excuse, Detective Constable Mark Roberts of the Metropolitan Police Computer Crime Unit was keen to point out that they are taking the offence seriously. "This arrest should act as a warning to anyone who thinks it is acceptable to illegally use other people's broadband connections."

"To do so potentially breaches the Computer Misuse Act and the Communications Act, so computer users need to be aware that this is unlawful and police will investigate any violation we become aware of."