Nebraska Sheriff Wardriving, Sending Letters About Unsecured Wi-Fi

An anonymous reader sends this quote from JournalStar.com: "The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has seen an increase in scammers using unsecured Wi-Fi connections to steal identities and mask their crimes during the past six months, Sheriff Terry Wagner said. ... So deputies spent the past few weeks finding unsecure connections and sending 40 to 50 letters to let people know about the potential dangers of strangers accessing their network connections. 'You're just opening yourself up for a series of potential pitfalls,' Chief Deputy Jeff Bliemeister said. ... Bliemeister said only businesses like coffee shops that offer Internet connections to customers need unsecured Internet connections.

Re:How do they know exactlywhere to send the lette

[wierd_w]

2 deputies with directional antennas.

If you can find warships that way, you can find wifi hotspots.

Re:How do they know exactlywhere to send the lette

[taustin]

You've never been to Nebraska, have you? Google says the population of Lincoln is about 260,000 total. There are apartment complexes in Los Angeles with nearly that many people. Houses have yards, there aren't many multi-story buildings (especially residential). The only "sophisticated RF locating equipment" is the number of bars on the signal idicator in the system tray in Windows, which will vary visible from one house to the next.

Re:Oops...

[CanHasDIY]

Here you go: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/sheriff-looks-to-lock-down-open-internet-connections/article_3a98d107-05c6-5a11-8d09-8769e6e7dacd.html [journalstar.com]

Re:If a Business can do it, why can't I.

[Liquidretro]

They are not mandating you close your wifi, they are just suggesting you do. Making you aware of something you were unsure of maybe. Very much the same as if they were to wring your door bell to tell you your garage door is open at midnight, etc.

Re:Proactive Police Work Preventing Victimization

[Revotron]

If you were to equate this article to trying to prevent rape, then the equivalent action by the police would be to tell women not to fall asleep naked spread-eagle in a dark alley. To some people, that's a "duh" thing, but to some less-street-smart people it's quite a notion. THAT'S the basic premise here. Make it harder for a criminal to do their job and you decrease the chance that a crime will happen.

Re:How do they know exactlywhere to send the lette

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Nebraskan... yes.

I'm regularly shocked by perceptions people from the larger cities, or from the coasts have. Yes, by land area, Nebraska is mostly rural, but it does have cities that typically have malls, movie theaters, and at least 10 square miles of urban/suburban space.

Lancaster County, in particular, averages 311 people/sq mi, and has Lincoln in the center, which even has some buildings with more than one story. Evidence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_DT.jpg

They've tried

[Sycraft-fu]

A federal grand jury wouldn't return an indictment.

Re:Law Enforcement at Work

[Larry_Dillon]

Because I might drive through your lovely county some day.

You must live on Earth-602 or something

[logicassasin]

I just left AZ a bit over a year ago and lived in Maricopa County. Joe Arpaio started his b.s. first, but even before that he and his office were a menace to the Latino populace of the county. Don't get me wrong, there ARE illegals there, no one will ever dispute that claim, however he's been less than truthful when he repeatedly states that they're responsible for all the crime there. Take a look at the mugshots his office posts daily, plenty of black and white faces to go along with the brown ones he singles out.

Re:Kills plausible deniability

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that Jammie Thomas already tried that defense in two separate jury trials, and lost both times. An open wifi does not give you plausible deniability.