Leaving a wireless access point (WAP) open is generally considered a bad idea. Experts suggest you could be opening yourself to criminals by not password protecting your WiFi Network. But if you are a criminal then keeping and open WAP may become your defense. A growing number of file sharers believe they can throw reasonable doubt into any lawsuit by demonstrating that anyone could have been accessing their computer through an open WAP. But this may not be the case. Recently a Texas man, convicted of possessing child pornography, tried to use this defense stating that the original evidence used to get the search warrant was based upon an email that could have been sent by his roommate over the man’s open WAP. In this case the District Court and the US Court of Appeals disagreed and the man was convicted. So, file sharers beware, an open WAP may not provide any protection from criminal prosecution.
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