For the past month I logged onto a wifi network that was not my own and downloaded/uploaded several gigs of mp3s. (I'm feeling bad about using someone else's connexion to transfer data, so now I got cable modem) But even though I know it isn't likely, I want to know if the police or courts could trace that activity back to me. Or am I in the clear?
2006-08-31 07:55:19 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Internet
Well you certainly left tracks behind such as the MAC address of your wireless adapter and very likely the computer name. This could be used as evidence against you if you were to be charged for theft of services. Chances are that the tracks have been cleared by now, but you never know for sure.
2006-08-31 08:08:32 · answer #1 · answered by Interested Dude 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since you were on a neighbors network, you would be behind his firewall and router. So the police would only be able to trace that IP as far as the neighbors cable/DSL modem. So they could face fines and/or jail time for you activity.
If the neighbor has any computer skills, he can go to his router and get the machine name and MAC address of every computer that has logged in his router from the DHCP table. Using that, he would have to GUESS who the computer belongs to. If he can, he has grounds for a law suit and possible criminal charges against you. (Change your computer name - get a new network card)
If the police came after him for your downloads, he probably would NOT be able to prove it was you, and not him, who actually did the downloading.
2006-08-31 08:09:30 · answer #2 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They can see that you did it, but they can not identify it as you.
2006-08-31 07:59:16 · answer #3 · answered by Exhnozoaa 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋