In the thick of it: how the Digital Economy bill is trying to kill open Wi-Fi networks

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: December 1, 2009 7:02:12 PM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] In the thick of it: how the Digital Economy bill is trying to kill open Wi-Fi networks

In the thick of it: how the Digital Economy bill is trying to kill open Wi-Fi networks
A professor of internet law explains how the government apparently wants to kill off open Wi-Fi as a corollary of its 
Digital Economy bill
Lilian Edwards
guardian.co.uk,  Monday 30 November 2009 21.44 GMT
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/30/open-wi-fi-digital-economy-bill-government>

A lot of people have talked to me over the last week about Wi-Fi (open and closed, i.e. password-protected) and the 
Digital Economy bill. The more I try to find answers, the more ludicrous it becomes. For instance, last week it turned 
out that a pub owner was allegedly fined £8,000 because someone downloaded copyright material over their open Wi-Fi 
system. Would that get worse or better if the Digital Economy bill passes in its present form?

To illustrate, I'm going to pick my favourite example of a potentially worried wireless network provider: my mum.

She doesn't understand or like the internet, refuses to even think about securing her Wi-Fi network. What is her legal 
status? What will she say if/when she receives warnings under the Digital Economy bill because someone has used her 
open Wi-Fi to download infringing files?
Well, the bill contemplates that warnings can be sent only to "subscribers". These include alleged infringers, and 
those who have "allowed" others to use their access to the internet to allegedly infringe. That sounds a lot like it 
covers those who operate Wi-Fi networks (and is meant to). Later in the bill, however, a "subscriber" is defined as any 
person who "(a) receives the service under an agreement between the person and the provider of the service; and (b) 
does not receive it as a communications provider".

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