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Nov 11, 2006
Teen, 17, first to be charged with unauthorised wireless Net
access
By Chua Hian Hou
THE OFFENCE: Tan Jia Luo is accused of using a laptop to tap
someone else's home wireless network on May 13 this year. THE
PENALTY: If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail and fines
of up to $10,000 under the Computer Misuse Act. -- MUGILAN
RAJASEGERAN
A 17-YEAR-OLD polytechnic student has become the first person here
to be charged with piggybacking on someone else's wireless Internet
connection.
Garyl Tan Jia Luo was accused yesterday of using a laptop computer
to gain unauthorised access to a home wireless network on May 13
this year.
If convicted, Tan faces up to three years in jail and fines of up
to $10,000 under Section 6(1)(a) of the Computer Misuse Act.
Tan was released on $6,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the
Subordinate Courts on Wednesday.
Court documents did not describe the circumstances in which Tan was
arrested, but The Straits Times understands that a neighbour near
his Casuarina Walk home had lodged a complaint against him.
While there are no statistics on how commonplace the practice of
piggybacking unsecured home wireless networks is, networking firm
Cisco System's spokesman, Mr Rayson Cheo, said it is probably quite
widespread here.
Most modern notebook computers and personal digital assistants
(PDAs) have the ability to sniff out unsecured networks and hop
online for free with just a few clicks.
There are numerous guides online that describe how to do this and
the low cost of wireless networking equipment means that most HDB
or condominium blocks have unprotected networks users can log on
to.
Said Mr Cheo: 'People assume, wrongly, that since it is there, it
is okay to use it.'
Mr Aloysius Cheang, the chairman of local infocomm security
association, the Special Interest Group in Security and Information
Integrity, said: 'Most people probably do it because it is
convenient, or because they are cheap and want free Internet.
'But, for some, it is because they want to do something illegal
like defaming someone or downloading pirated MP3s, and they don't
want the activities traced back to their own network.'
In the online world, there are even special terms for it, like
'wardriving' and 'Wi-Fi mooching'.
The problem, said lawyer Bryan Tan, is that while most people know
that mooching is not quite legitimate, they probably do not know
that it can be treated as a serious offence.
'Blinkered by the convenience and allure of free Internet', people
don't realise that mooching is the virtual equivalent of
trespassing,' he added.
Likewise, many users do not seem to realise that they can block
moochers simply by installing a password on their Internet
connections.
For most users, the only indication they get that someone is
mooching is when their connection speed slows down, though Mr Cheo
said software tools are available for download that can track who
is using a network and what they are doing on it.
While the case is the first of its kind here, there have been at
least two similar arrests and convictions in the United
States.
In some countries like Holland, Mr Tan added, Wi-Fi network owners
can even be held liable by the courts for crimes committed on their
unprotected networks.
[email protected]
THE OFFENCE: Tan Jia Luo is accused of using a laptop to tap
someone else's home wireless network on May 13 this year.
THE PENALTY:
If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail and fines of up to
$10,000 under the Computer Misuse Act.
