Police warn of Wi-Fi theft by porn downloaders: "Most War Drivers are motivated simply by the thrill of the chase. However, what they argue is a relatively harmless electronic scavenger hunt for "free" Internet access, Toronto police call telecommunications theft."
No doubt that Walter Nowakoski is a sick, twisted man. No doubt that it is a good thing that he was caught before he turned his attention to worse crimes.
In most respects, things have turned out the way they should have, but I'm deeply disappointed that the Canadian media, driven by the seeming ignorance of the police, has almost universally over-reacted and painted WiFi as something that must absolutely be locked down at all costs lest the Walters of the world, or worse - terrorists - gain access to the global internet. 680 News was urging its listeners to make sure that their WiFi routers were well positioned away from windows and outside walls.
Do these people read what they print? What is the difference between Walter piggybacking on someone's WiFi and Walter using a cellullar modem and AOL freebie access? People that want to be anonymous will find a way to be anonymous - this has nothing to do with WiFi and everything to do with Walter's twisted urges.
Wait till a terrorist does something equally twisted using WiFi to see how quickly the FCC forces mandatory ecnryption and access controls onto WiFi manufacturers.
We're quickly losing control over our internet - you already know what to do.