The internet is widely used all over the world today and the number of people going online is increasing on a daily basis, consequently the rates of cyber crimes are also growing at an alarming rate in all parts of the world. Today, people have access to almost everything in the world from the ease of their computers, but there are also lots of insecurities, scams, forgeries, etc. happening. One of the most common and un-penalized activity is wireless internet mooching.
From a legal standpoint, there is no one type of felony that may be implicated to prevent such activities from continuing. However, it has become a matter of collective and proactive approach to implement legal penalties against internet moochers.
The federal court in Pittsburgh hit the nail on the spot when it announced stern actions to be taken against wireless internet moochers and asked them to beware of what serious implication wait ahead for all such felonies. The federal court has indicated that the government can now track moochers to their exact whereabouts along with search warrants through free anti-moocher software that is highly efficient in carrying out its strategic tasks.
Federal courts have said that internet subscribers have reasonable concerns with regards to their privacy and their IP address which is the number designated to their devices that connect to the internet. But, they cannot expect privacy protection for the information that they provide through their internet service providers.
However, the federal courts in Pittsburgh are the first to take a proper stance regarding illegal misuse of unsecured wireless networks. This case also raises the questions regarding the Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizure and search of people who connect to the internet through free of cost public wireless access points. This should alarm people who are already accessing free internet off their neighbor’s wireless access points.
Many believe that this measure should have been taken a long time back as it would have helped many people from public intrusion they faced due to unprotected internet access points.
Finding these kinds of wireless users requires solid law enforcement to go an extra mile since these moochers hunker down on the same public internet provider address as the person who pays for it. This means that the regulating authority will have to use a solid tool to differentiate between the user who pays for the internet service and the one who only connects to the internet by way of a wireless router.
This means that every internet moocher must beware and refrain using someone else’s wireless internet connection.
In Pittsburgh, regulating authorities are using a plan called Moocherhunter with the help of a directional antenna to locate a person who was suspected of downloading child pornography. This program is so precise that it allows users to determine the exact distance between the wireless router and all the devices linked to it.
The police initially tried catching the suspect through the IP address he was using which was associated with a Comcast Corp account. It got the Comcast subscriber’s address through the company along with a home search warrant; however, courts soon declared the subscriber innocent. The reality was that someone in the neighborhood was mooching the paying subscriber’s wireless internet connection in order to download child pornography according to the police.
Moreover, the police also used the software, Moocherhunter, to locate other such devices to the subscriber’s wireless router that helped them locate Richard Stanley who lived close to the subscriber. Later, the police made use of the information collected from Moocherhunter to secure a search warrant for Stanley’s home.. Stanley was indicted for child pornography in November 2011.
Conclusion
The police in Pittsburgh have developed a solid plan to ensure greater security for users that pay for wireless internet services. Internet moochers who are using other user’s services should now beware since the police now have intelligent software such as Moocherhunter to locate such individuals. Moocherhunter is software that is designed to locate moochers and their exact location wherever they are. Moreover, this measure has also spread awareness among users to keep their IP’s locked to avoid such circumstances where they may be charged.
