Why in the world anyone would download anything on a public bittorrent or peer to peer network is absolutely beyond me. I think it would be quicker and easier to just mail the few thousand dollars the RIAA and MPAA have been settling with people out of court directly. Skip all the pomp and circumstance and just skip directly to the end result of being an irresponsible thieving idiot on the internet.
Or, I guess in this guy’s case, MetroFi and possibly the city of Naperville would be the ones getting the nasty letters… Which begs the question of who is responsible for things like this? When people using Naperville’s new free WiFi network decide to spend all night downloading whatever less-than-legal files they feel like, who foots the bill? Can MetroFi offer up any type of identifying information aside from the computer’s network name or MAC address?
The offending computer’s network name isn’t going to provide anything worthwhile. This is usually set to something based on a randomized default depending on who you bought your computer from. Something like TOSHIBALAP, but people who do set the name of their computer usually set it to something stupid like HELLOKITTY1. How effective do you think releasing an APB to be on the lookout for the notorious and mysterious HELLOKITTY1 is going to be? The only other worthwhile piece of identifying information is the computer’s MAC address.
Every network card has a MAC address. I’ll let Wikipedia explain it-
In computer networking a Media Access Control address (MAC address) or Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA) or hardware address or adapter address is a quasi-unique identifier attached to most network adapters (NICs). It is a number that acts like a name for a particular network adapter, so, for example, the network cards (or built-in network adapters) in two different computers will have different names, or MAC addresses, as would an Ethernet adapter and a wireless adapter in the same computer, and as would multiple network cards in a router. However, it is possible to change the MAC address on most of today’s hardware. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_Address)
What’s the most you can find out about a computer using its MAC address? Which manufacturer built that particular network card. For our friend here who seems to have a hankerin’ for pirated files, his MAC address resolves to an Intel network card. But what good is this to us? Well, most modern laptops use Intel chipsets, those who don’t are most likely using Broadcom. Add in how laughably easy it is to change your MAC address and you’re left with a whole lot of nothing.
(Click for full size.)
So here we have someone less than four days after Naperville’s free WiFi went live who literally spent all night pirating things using the city’s internet connection. So much traffic was passed that it isn’t even practical to analyze it. Every filter I apply in Wireshark takes 15 minutes to apply itself. I realize that most people are fairly indifferent to pirating software, music, or movies, since it has been “normal” ever since the days of Napster to steal things on the internet- but consider, the same security problems exist with the MetroFi-Free network no matter what someone is choosing to do to abuse it.
Child pornography, online threats of all kinds to anyone, trafficking illegal goods online, it’s all the same. All you’re left with is a computer name, MAC address, who built their network card and which wireless access point they were connected to. With so little identifying information, finding the person responsible would be about as effective as asking the police to apprehend a white male named John, last seen in downtown Naperville.
While being a rather extreme example, it is something to think about. Free WiFi is never a bad thing… But free, completely unencrypted, completely open, and completely anonymous WiFi? I wish the city had done their homework before pulling the trigger on this one.
As I wrote this, another person has connected to MetroFi-Free and also is downloading things over the Gnutella network.
Oh Naperville, what have you gotten yourself in to.
