If you use, or operate, a password-free wireless network then legal action being taken in the US by the adult movie industry might just be about to rain on your parade warns one European IT threat mitigation expert.

The lawsuit was filed by Liberty Media Holdings, a producer of adult movie content based in San Diego, and accuses in excess of 50 people in Massachusetts (where the lawsuit has been filed) of downloading and consequently sharing a gay porn movie illegally via BitTorrent. The complaint itself makes a point of claiming that the defendants either have direct responsibility as they downloaded the movie themselves or, importantly, that they contributed to the act of piracy by way of their negligence in not securing the wireless network concerned. In other words, whether they downloaded it themselves or not doesn't matter, they are being held responsible for the controlling, or rather not controlling in this case, access to the Internet which was then used to infringe copyright.

The filing itself claims "Defendants failed to adequately secure their internet access, whether accessible only through their computer when physically connected to an internet router or accessible to many computers by use of a wireless router".

This is being seen as an important test case when it comes to legal liability, as currently there would appear to be no case law which covers such claims for negligence under these circumstances. Worryingly, if the case does go in favour of Liberty (oh the irony) then it may be a game-changer as far as allowing free wireless access is concerned; be that by way of an intentional free hotspot service or unintentionally as a consequence of poor security.



Peter Davin, COO of the European IT threat mitigation specialist Cryptzone, reckons that the lawsuit represents the first time that the legal weight of the adult movie business has been brought to bear on the password-free Wi-Fi network responsibility issue. "The fact that the result of lawsuit could make or break what has become a billion dollar industry means that - regardless of your opinion on the morality of adult movies - the case is very likely to reach the US courts, and legal liability decided" Davin says, warning that businesses will have to understand that "quite apart from the civil and criminal risks of users of their Internet connection downloading illegal content, there is also the very real risk that the firm's reputation could be hit if the courts become involved - as they have in this case".