May 9th, 2008Wi-Fi “Theft” and Other Crimes
Florida, USA. Worcestershire, UK. Toronto, Canada. London. These are just some of the places where cases of Wi-Fi “theft” have been reported. In these and other places, the plot is the same: People using other people’s open Wi-Fi network to have some fun in doing a misdemeanor, or to enter into transactions that are illegal or socially taboo.
At the center of the crimes are open Wi-Fi networks that reach areas well beyond the offices and homes that actually pay for them – which is to say, all Wi-Fi networks. A newspaper from an area where such crimes have occurred, reports that a random drive along a street with an open laptop will yield 14 access points for wireless networks. Many people whose Wi-Fi networks are being stolen don’t even know what’s going on with their networks.
The offenders are people who are on the lookout for open wireless networks and use these to traffic in child pornography, steal people’s credit cards, send death threats, and use other people’s money to buy sex toys and various goods on the internet. Those who were apprehended for trafficking in child or adult pornography usually do their crimes inside their vehicles.
The Wi-Fi felons are often confident that they will not be arrested for their crime, because the use of the technology provides near anonymity. By the time the police steps in and make an investigation, the hacker will be nowhere in sight, having already left the scene of the crime.
These factors have contributed to the emergence of a phenomenon known as “war-driving,” which traces its roots to Matthew Broderick’s film WarGames. In that film, Broderick’s character uses a computer to call hundreds of phone numbers to find computer dial-ups.
War-driving is the practice of looking for insecure networks. While some do it for the thrill – and some to make money by for example helping out households to turn off the open network – it is prone to be used for illegal transactions. Some war-drivers even mark homes or offices with a red “X” to show others where a network can be accessed.
Another crime-phenomenon that emerged in connection with the spread of Wi-Fi networks is the “evil twin” attack: A person with a laptop will overwhelm the Wi-Fi network in an area – say a coffee shop or a conference hall – and monitor the internet use of unsuspecting netizens who connect to the person’s network. He or she can also spread viruses through this.
Often, owners of Wi-Fi networks that get “stolen” do not spend time to secure their networks, or lack information as to how to secure these. There are some who are too trusting of their neighbors, while others don’t even know that their networks reach beyond the walls of their homes and offices.
From humble beginnings in the late 70s, Apple Inc. has grown to become a leading corporate giant in the technology industry. This growth took place amidst bitter struggles to survive in the phase of unrelenting competition, intermittent market loses, countless litigation suits, bitter internal power strife, consequently making it fall victim to the negative tongue lashing campaigns heralded by the media. Often, such developments, as experts say, are signals of the dying kicks of an institution. Most corporate entities would have been pushed to either bankruptcy or liquidation were they in the position of Apple Inc. However, that has not been the story for Apple.
It is a portable computer device that combines the functions of media player, an internet browser, video, a digital camera, among other innovative inventions all inbuilt in a cell phone. The new iPhone is built on the reputation of quality; its predecessor, the iPod, has already carved. It presents an entirely new package of telecommunication incentives to its customers. Besides the luxury it offers customers, it will usher in a new dispensation of competitive innovation that will ultimately be to the benefit of the consuming public.
Before its decision to diversify its production to include consumer electronics, Apple Computers Inc. was associated with everything that had to do with the computer industry, ranging from hardware to software. By the close of the twentieth century it began to signal its intentions of venturing extensively into the consumer electronics industry without abandoning the computer world. For good reasons, which included its policy of deliberately avoiding the tendency of haven to be pushed into bankruptcy due to increasing competition from new gainers like Microsoft and Dell, it kept looking up to the market as the institution endowed with the strong leverage to turn its dwindling fortunes around. Indeed, for Apple, cowing down to its competitors was out of the question. So what really kept them going?
To begin, let us not overlook the fact that Apple’s assortment of i-products has being the master key that unlocked all the gains credited to Apple today. The iPod range of media players ushered in this dispensation of profitability, due to increased sales. On this premise, I can then proceed to assert that, this solid reputation of Apple in the minds of the consuming public precipitated the need to deliver more to meet the insatiable demands of both its loyal customers and non-loyalist alike.
