3/27/11

WiFi hacking is Legal in The Netherlands

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   According to a recent Dutch court ruling, breaking into and encrypted WiFi network is not considered to be a criminal offence. The court's decision also mentioned that piggybacking onto wireless networks at bars or hotels can not be prosecuted. In many countries around the world such actions are considered as criminal acts and are taken very seriously.
   "The ruling is linked to a case of a student who threatened to shoot down everyone at the Maerlant College in The Hague, a high school. He posted a threat on the internet message board using a WiFi connection that he broke into. The student was convicted for posting the message and sentenced to 20 hours of community service, but he was acquitted of the WiFi hacking charges."
  The court's decision is based on the mandated definition of  what is a computer. A computer is defined as a machine that deals with: the storage, processing and transmission of data. According to this same definition, a router (a piece of equipment that is responsible for encrypting and connecting computers to the internet) is not considered to be a computer and thus can be freely hacked or exploited. 
via: PCWorld

7 comments:

  1. It was legal in Belgium as well a few years ago.
    They just didn't have any specifics on it in the law until they decided to change that.

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  2. One of the reasons i don't use wifi!

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  3. Interesting law, I kinda get why it wouldn't be though, it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal

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  4. Too bad its not legal in the good ol Postraphe MERICA or 'MERICA

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  5. How can it be ok to hack a router based on the fact that its not a computer? Its the same principal as taping into phonelines and making free calls!

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  6. Hahaha, I am sure Amerifags will not understand this. But in the Netherlands court ruling is decided by judges not by a jury. Judges spend enourmous ammounts of time into the case. So instead of acting in front of a jury, lawyers have to present some real evidence.

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