18 April 2007
In a bid to crack down on the number of people using other people's wireless broadband connections without paying, police have recently cautioned two individuals for WiFi theft.
Warned for "dishonestly obtaining electronic telecoms with intent to avoid payment", the two people, both from the West Mercia district, although unknown to each other, were initially arrested but then released without charge.
One, a male, was spotted using his laptop in his car while parked outside a house, while a 29-year-old woman was arrested in Redditch for a similar incident.
"Wireless networks don't stop at the walls of your home," a spokesman from West Mercia police told the Metro. "Without protection, your neighbours may be able to connect to your network."
Pc Tony Humphreys, from Redditch police also told local newspaper The Redditch Advertiser: "We also want to warn potential offenders that we take any reports of this type of activity very seriously."
Aside from the crime of using telecommunications technology without paying for it, so-called "piggybackers" can cause the bandwidth speed from the wireless router to slow down, hampering the internet access for the consumer who is paying for it.
Consumers can protect themselves by configuring their modems to only allow internet access via a password, thereby preventing any would be WiFi thieves from being able to "piggyback" off their broadband connection.
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