ISP warns over cost of preventing WiFi piggybacking

A leading Internet service provider in the UK has recently outlined the possible cost of consumers of protecting themselves against WiFi piggybacking and avoiding the risk of being accused of illegal file sharing.

The plans that have been outlined in the Digital Economy Bill with regards to dealing with those thought to be illegally file sharing have alarmed many consumers, campaigners, and Internet providers, and this is partly because the punishment is to be dished out based on the IP address rather than the individual.

This is causing concern because some people may end up getting penalised for illegal file sharing even though they may be innocent, and the file sharing occurred as a result of someone else illegally piggybacking their unsecured wireless connection. With many people still have no security in place when it comes to their wireless connections this could cause huge problems.

One Internet service provider, Talk Talk, has now highlighted the potential costs to consumers that want to protect themselves by securing their WiFi connections. The ISP claims that consumers could end up having to spend around seventy pounds each on a new router or around twenty pounds for a new laptop WiFi card otherwise they could be at risk of being accused of illegal file sharing.

Andrew Heaney, strategy and regulation director at TalkTalk, said: “It is outrageous that citizens are being made to shell out on enhanced security to prop up the failing business models of an industry that stubbornly refuses to move with the times.” He said that if broadband users failed to protect their WiFi connections and others that were piggybacking did perform illegal file sharing it could be the ISP address owner that got penalised and could potentially be disconnected.

Source – Zeropaid