Blame The WiFi Even When It Has Nothing To Do With The Crime
from the must-be-the-WiFi's-fault dept
There's just something about crime and WiFi that seems to make reporters simply lose any sense of reality. We've had plenty of examples of straight fear mongering about the supposed dangers of open WiFi, but another favorite is to somehow implicate WiFi when involved in crimes. Last year we wrote about two crimes that had almost nothing to do with WiFi, but where the press focused almost entirely on the WiFi. However, the latest story seems to combine both the fear mongering and the crime angle -- but never bothers to check out whether or not WiFi is actually involved in the crime. The article starts out by warning everyone who has a wireless network at home how they could face similar problems, and then goes on to describe a guy who harassed his ex-wife online. He sent emails from her account to her co-workers, and filled out a change of address form to ship her mail across the country. The police insist he did all this using a stolen laptop and a neighbor's WiFi. They seem to be implying that by having access to a neighbor's WiFi he was able to impersonate his ex-wife, though that's a totally separate issue. Using the WiFi was just his method of connectivity. Getting access to his wife's email and sending emails to her co-workers both have nothing to do with his use of an open WiFi connection. In fact, if anything, this story is even more evidence that all those fear mongering stories about how if a criminal uses your WiFi they'll never get caught, are totally ridiculous. Once again, traditional detective methods are used to track down the actual criminal, rather than blaming the WiFi access point owner. Of course, none of that comes out in the article.
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...aduh
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effin ridiculous
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Re: effin ridiculous
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careful, you sons uh bitches
...oh yeah. you'll still be on my property. well, shit...
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Re:
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Remember When
Eventually, as the general public embraces wifi, and it's available more as an expected service rather than an extravagent option, stories like this will go away (one can only hope)
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Re: Remember When
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General media ignorance of everything
I, for one am not surprised to find a general hostility to WiFi in a popular press staffed by media graduates. It contains the perfect blend of ingredients, evil cancer causing radio waves, anonymous dirty hacker terrorists lurking in the shadows poised to pounce on your children, and it's complicated, so it must be the work of the Satan.
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Fearmongers
You: The police insist he did all this using a stolen laptop and a neighbor's WiFi.
The article: Police say they believe her ex-husband David Monty stole a rented laptop and illegally used a neighbor's WiFi link to send the e-mails to his ex-wife's workmates.
A case of semantics or your own brand of fearmongering. The police insisted nothing. They never do until there's a conviction. You're painting a picture that's not accurate in order to hype your article.
You: They seem to be implying that by having access to a neighbor's WiFi he was able to impersonate his ex-wife, though that's a totally separate issue.
"They" being whom? The police? The article has no direct quotes, so I don't see how you can infer this at all.
Imagine if you will that I live in a crime-ridden community. I am, of course, oblivious to this for one reason or another. One evening, I come home after work and forget to lock my car. The next morning, the police arrive at my door asking if I own such-and-such car. I say I do and ask why they would ask me that. Surely they can see the car in my driveway.
Of course, they can't. It's not there. It was stolen, one of the officers explains, and used in a crime.
How could this be? I ask. The officers ask if I locked the car when I came home. Ohhh. No, I didn't. Well...that's how it could happen. Then they proceed to tell me that I am just lucky that the person who stole the car got caught. Otherwise, the police could have very well been looking for me in connection with the crime.
The warning in the article is valid.
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Re: Fearmongers
I'm tired of reading these hyped up articles that push the same themes:
- patent system is broke, needs to change
- Music / Movie industry business model doesn't fit technology, needs to change
- Parents are responsible for their kids
- Technology isn't the problem, just the new meduim
- Etc, etc, etc...
I mean c'mon. Kalamazoo Michigan, Chanel 3? Not quite the mainstream media. Seems to me someone is digging pretty deep to emphisize their own agenda.
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Re: Re: Fearmongers
> I'm tired of reading these hyped up articles that push the same themes:
Then why do you read Tech Dirt? Seriously? These are important issues. Most of us read the site because we do find them interesting. If you don't, no one is forcing you to read.
> I mean c'mon. Kalamazoo Michigan, Chanel 3? Not quite the mainstream media.
The source is the Associated Press. That seems pretty mainstream to me.
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Bad Journalism
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No, this is how I read it.
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No huge American mainstream news agency would get away w/making such bold pseudo-fraudulent claims about technology...politics are different story. :)
The "local news" hysteria, on the other hand, for the most part is true as I remember seeing this regurgitated story many many times locally.
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