Software (7992)

Landlord fined £8000 for unlawful Wi-Fi downloads

Pub pays the price in first such case in UK

30 November 2009 9:40 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

A landlord is facing an £8000 fine because someone downloaded copyrighted content using the pub's Wi-Fi hotspot, it's been revealed.

The news, from the MD of hotspot company The Cloud, is thought to mark the first such case in the UK.

The Cloud's Graham Cove said the civil case was brought by the material's rights holder and could have massive implications for hotspot providers in the future.

At the moment in the UK, who is liable for the legality of downloads over a public network is said to be a "grey area".

However, the ruling appears controversial with ZDNet quoting internet law professor Lilian Edwards, of Sheffield Law School, stating that a hotspot provider is "not be responsible in theory" for users' unlawful downloads.

Via: news.zdnet.co.uk

Full tags

Software, Wi-Fi, The Cloud, Biz, hotspots