wifi supplier liability

[jnrwood]

Hi- i have a small wifi setup and theres been a request that i share it with a neighbor- he has an antenna that picks up wifi signals well. anyway, so if someone is using my wifi and does something illegal online, like pirating or whatever, would that implicate me since its my internet connection? or are wifi suppliers more or less insulated from what users do online on their network?
Also, what about virus's from questionable sites, could that affect the network, or myself, because of a "guest's"
internet activity? thx.

 

[USAFRet]

You being the account holder, any investigation would start with you.
You might be able to eventually prove that is wasn't you personally. Eventually. And depending on exactly what went down,
the process might not be pretty.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

If there's no client isolation in the WAP, it's quite possible that a Cryptowall infection (or similar) could spread over the network.

Unless you keep very good logs, it's unlikely that you could prove that a particular site was visited by them instead of you - especially if they know what they're doing.

This sounds super sketchy.

 

[jnrwood]

You being the account holder, any investigation would start with you.
You might be able to eventually prove that is wasn't you personally. Eventually. And depending on exactly what went down,
the process might not be pretty.

sounds like good advice, prefer to stay out of investigations. i'm on a somewhat friendly basis with the
neighbor, though i know he used pirate bay in the past, but maybe i could ask him not to...bottom line
is, i guess its not safe and i'd have to decide if i could trust him. how do places like wifi cafes or
similar deal with this issue?

 

[jnrwood]

If there's no client isolation in the WAP, it's quite possible that a Cryptowall infection (or similar) could spread over the network.

Unless you keep very good logs, it's unlikely that you could prove that a particular site was visited by them instead of you - especially if they know what they're doing.

This sounds super sketchy.

I'll look into the client isolation thing. its a basic Western Digital unit. thanks all for the great info

 

[USAFRet]

You being the account holder, any investigation would start with you.
You might be able to eventually prove that is wasn't you personally. Eventually. And depending on exactly what went down,
the process might not be pretty.

sounds like good advice, prefer to stay out of investigations. i'm on a somewhat friendly basis with the
neighbor, though i know he used pirate bay in the past, but maybe i could ask him not to...bottom line
is, i guess its not safe and i'd have to decide if i could trust him. how do places like wifi cafes or
similar deal with this issue?

If he torrents copyrighted material, your ISP may eventually send you a nastygram. More than a couple of times, and they may cut you off.

And it's not just him you have to trust, but also all of his friends.

Not sure how a cafe handles it, but they have a business account, whereas you have a residential account. Everything is the responsibility of the account holder.

A few years ago there was a case where someone was sitting in their car at the curb, sucking up an unsecured residential WiFi. Downloading child porn. Eventually it was shown that it was the guy in the car, but the investigation started with the account holder. And just having that whiff of child porn associated with your name could be devastating.

 

[jnrwood]

You being the account holder, any investigation would start with you.
You might be able to eventually prove that is wasn't you personally. Eventually. And depending on exactly what went down,
the process might not be pretty.

sounds like good advice, prefer to stay out of investigations. i'm on a somewhat friendly basis with the
neighbor, though i know he used pirate bay in the past, but maybe i could ask him not to...bottom line
is, i guess its not safe and i'd have to decide if i could trust him. how do places like wifi cafes or
similar deal with this issue?

If he torrents copyrighted material, your ISP may eventually send you a nastygram. More than a couple of times, and they may cut you off.

And it's not just him you have to trust, but also all of his friends.

Not sure how a cafe handles it, but they have a business account, whereas you have a residential account. Everything is the responsibility of the account holder.

A few years ago there was a case where someone was sitting in their car at the curb, sucking up an unsecured residential WiFi. Downloading child porn. Eventually it was shown that it was the guy in the car, but the investigation started with the account holder. And just having that whiff of child porn associated with your name could be devastating.

That is scary, proceeding with caution, glad i asked