

Open wi-fi is a terrorist tool and has to be shut down, right this second. That's the conclusion, at least, of the Mumbai police. Starting today, the *Times of India *reports, "several police teams, armed with laptops and internet-enabled mobile phones, will randomly visit homes to detect unprotected networks."

"If a particular place's wi-fi is not password-protected or secured then the policemen at the spot has the authority to issue notice to the owner of the wi-fi connection

directing him to secure the connection," deputy commissioner of police Sanjay Mohite tells The Hindu. Repeat wi-fi offenders may receive "notices under the

Criminal Procedure Code," another senior officer warns the Times.

Mohite notes that e-mails taking credit for terror attacks in New Delhi and Ahmedabad were sent through open wireless networks. "Unprotected IP addresses can be misused for cyber crimes,'' he says. Other Indian cities now require cyber cafes to install surveillance cameras, and to collect identification from all customers.

But plugging up all those perceived security sieves in Mumbai is going to take some work. A quick Sheriff's Brigade survey on Sunday showed that 80 percent of wi-fi networks in South Mumbai were left unlocked. And it's not like terrorists are all that 802.11-dependent, of course. An e-mail also took credit for December's massacre in Mumbai. Whether that came from an open wi-fi connection or not is unclear – the mailer used an anonymizer service, to cover his electronic tracks.

[Access: Sterling; photo: Howstuffworks.com]

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