Finland considers legalizing unauthorized Wi-Fi use

The Finnish Ministry of Justice, citing the fact that there doesn�t seem to be much harm done by the unauthorized use of unsecured Wi-Fi networks, is investigating the possibility of decriminalizing it.

The ministry pointed to the difficulty in monitoring networks and the ease with which someone can use an unprotected network undetected. They also pointed out that users could find it difficult to know when an open network is public or private since there are many networks available in public places in the country.

Google translation of Finnish article on yle.fi here: �Extracts from the wireless network becoming legitimate�

This probably isn�t a bad idea. The BAD idea is carelessly USING public Wi-Fi networks where malicious operators could easily be sniffing traffic. They are places where road warriors should be using VPN connections to communicate with company networks and nobody should be logging on to their bank web account or doing credit card transactions

Tom Kelchner