Internet and legislation: Finnish authorities legalize the access to untrustworthy Wi-Fi network

The authorities of Finland plan to legalize the unpermitted use of Wi-Fi wireless network unprotected by a password.

At the present the access to the untrustworthy network is considered to be illegal. A user having made such an access can be punished in accordance with the current law. At the same time in Finland the open wireless network become more and more frequent in public places. It is not always possible to define which one is allowed to be used.

The majority of the officials have supported the decriminalization of the access to the wireless network. Some of them though suggested to provide the network owner with some guarantees for his rights in case of a real illegal access.

New projects of the government do not solve any of the difficulties related to the widespread of the open networks. Due to the illegal access of supplementary users the speed of data communication is falling down. If the decision will be adopted, the networks owners will be obliged to introduce a password for the access point to the network in order to avoid undesirable effect.