BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of “pedophile!” and “pornographer!” stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn’t need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.
That new wireless router. He’d gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.
“We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,” the man’s lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, “Doldrum.”
“No, I didn’t,” he insisted. “Somebody else could have but I didn’t do anything like that.”
“You’re a creep … just admit it,” they said.Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router.
This may have been a “cautionary tale” from the Buffalo, N.Y. police department, but truth is stranger than fiction.
A man in Sarasota, FL, had a similar visit from the FBI, last year. Someone on a boat docked in a marina near his house, used a potato chip can to boast the antenna wireless signal, so they could download 10 million images of child pornography.
10 million.
In Buffalo, FBI agents hacked away on an innocent homeowners desktop and took their iPads and iPhones to be checked. They where returned three days later, meanwhile, police arrested their neighbor for distribution of child pornogrpahy.
This is a good reminder to make sure you have your router password protected. Not only at your home, but church as well. It would be terrible to find out that such nefarious things were being done from the church parking lot.
However, there are those that foresee a future where WiFi abounds and the internet flows like milk and honey. What about churches that provide free WiFi? Or cafes? Or what if I want to provide an open connection in my neighborhood?
The more technological advances we make, the more questions we seem to create.
With great power, comes great responsibility.
What do you think?
[via Huffington Post]
Adam Shields says
Why is everyone citing the this as a need to protect your wifi? This has nothing to do with protecting your wifi and everything to do with the militarization of police. The police with a little bit of investigation could have checked on it being an open wifi. But even if they didn’t do that, why not just knock on the door and arrest the guy. This was a child porn case (which is aweful) but there does not seem to be any evidence of guns, drugs or any of the normal reasons why a swat team would be needed. In fact why does Buffalo even have a swat team? There was no need at all for a swat team. Why aren’t we citing this as a reason to rethink the way we do police instead of everyone saying we need to lock up our wifi?
(Sorry to rant, but this is the sixth article in two days that I have read that has said we need to lock our wifi and none of them have mentioned anything about police misconduct or the police over-reacting.)
Eric Dye says
Honestly, Adam, I think there is a HUGE lack of computer IT knowledge in law enforcement. There are some really awesome specialists out there, but every department needs a mid-level person to go over this stuff with. You are correct in that the police department missed some important cues!*
*Nice rant.
Adam Shields says
Honestly, it is not the police that I am most upset about. It is mostly the mainstream press which are reporting this as a WiFi issue. They are missing the actual story, which should be the over reaction of the police.
Eric Dye says
I’ll hide behind the fact that we are delivering IT aspects, not the law enforcement – LOL! 😆
Eric J says
wow so much for innocent until proven guilty, i can understand (but not support) busting in to prevent him from hitting the delete all button but this story is INSANE!
Eric Dye says
Crazy times.
Jarrod Cartee says
I dont think its the police officers fault. They follow laws, which apparently the creep downloading that stuff didnt. The officers react accordingly to each situation. The evidence suggested that child pornography was being downloaded at that residence, and most child pornographers are not going to go easily, so they probably took every precaution as to be safe and not sorry.
I mean come on, its not hard to set a password on a router. Maybe those people shouldnt be lazy and actually set the password. I think protecting your wifi should be a must, after all, you wouldnt want that happening would you?
Jarrod Cartee says
Correction on my last post, woops.
**you wouldnt want that happening to you right.
Eric J says
Throwing a confused unarmed man down the stairs was necessary force?
Jarrod Cartee says
No where on this post was anything about him being thrown downstairs. Was that on the full article?
Quite frankly, child pornographers deserve to be thrown downstairs. I know he wasnt, but he should have protected himself. The world isnt safe nowadays, and most of everything needs to be secured.
Adam Shields says
Except maybe that having an open wifi is not a crime and the US has a long history of innocent until proven guilty. There are lots of good reasons to have open wifi. Not the least of which is that many people are not technically savvy enough to understand how to secure it. I personally have my wifi open as a matter of principal. I have needed wifi and I want to be able to allow people to use it if they need it. I monitor usage and know if people are free riding vs just occasionally using.
The issue in this is not the open wifi. It is the fact that a presumed non-violent offender with no criminal record and no licensed guns was pursued with a SWAT team as if there was actual immediate danger to the community. There was no evidence of immediate danger and therefore there was no reason that a SWAT team should have been used. And even when used, it seems that excessive force may have been used according to reports I have read. If you attack with a military force you will see everyone as a military threat whether or not they are actually a military threat.
2006 a 92 yr old grandmother in Atlanta was served a no knock warrant. She lived in a very dangerous neighborhood and slept with a gun at hand. She got off all six shots and hit three SWAT officers before being killed. The officers were wearing appropriate body armor and were not seriously injured but she was killed.
Just a couple months ago an 23 year veteran (served 23 years on SWAT, not 23 years old) was killed when his sound grenade went off. He had removed it preemptively (against policy) and tried to return the pin incorrectly. When we use military force, people will be killed.
Jarrod Cartee says
Well I believe that if you are going to have wifi, you should at least know how to protect it or monitor it. It comes with directions. When buying a router for wifi, people need to know these dangers, and protect themselves if they want. Say if they dont monitor their usage, in the case that someone else is using it, then it would be smart to protect it.
All im saying is that if you protect your wifi, you can avoid this all together.
If you dont protect your wifi, well then thats a risk your taking.
Also, I guess yall fail to realize that s.w.a.t. members are human, and the people giving them commands are human also. And as far as Im concerned, there was only one perfect human on this plant.
The police do not take child pornography lightly. Would yall want them to take it lightly if it was your kids being exposed?
Jarrod Cartee says
Correction:
**planet