If you don't broadcast the SSID you can leave your network open.

Yes, but that alone won't make the network secure. Hiding the SSID is an imperfect solution and locating a hidden wireless network is a trivial hack.

Just curious how you would hack into something you don't know is there?

If you're broadcasting a carrier wave - which all transmitters must do - then detection is trivial.

Any wireless network scanner will show the network even without an SSID. You still have to be able to connect, so the MAC address is still there. And it gets broadcast every n millisecs...

Just like MAC address filtering, it's no security at all.

Thanks. I was misinformed

Not necessarily true at all.

If you have a gun and fail to put a gun lock on it when it's stored and a kid gets hold of it and shoots someone, or himself, you will definitely go to jail, at least in most jurisdictions. It's called criminal negligence. The same principle applies, it's just a matter of what the judge's opinion is on the case. Maybe you'll get lucky, maybe you won't.

Do you feel lucky?

No offense, but instead of relying on (poor) analogy, you could actually do some research.

Here's an applicable case:

Child porn case shows that an open WiFi network is no defense

Here's what happened in Germany:

Open WiFi network viable defense against infringement charge?at least in Germany

This one is kind of strange:

Providing Open Wi-Fi? Now You Must Report Obscene Images.

Here's an article about Australia:

Dale Rogers » Review of open wireless network liability

The answer is the jury is still out, IMHO. If you want to be an EFF poster child, leave your network open. Or, if you think the odds are everything will be fine (which is probably the case, the odds are greatly in your favor unless you live in a dense urban environment with known sex offenders nearby), leave it open.

Don't forget credit card and personal details. Really it is an open invite for any criminal mind.

I didn't say you're "automatically liable".

I said it's no defense and it won't keep you from being charged - and may not keep you from being convicted, either.

You wanna roll the dice, go ahead - but it's a pretty stupid thing to do because the game is stacked against you.

If you get charged you'll at least be out a bundle in lawyer's fees, even if you win. And don't expect a public defender to be much good in this sort of case.

If you get sued in a civil case you can't GET a public defender so you'll definitely be out a bundle - even if you win.

News, hot from the underground: nearly all SOHO routers contain the fixed, defaut private key used to encrypt your wireless traffic in the firmware. This a Very Dumb Idea™. And, no, there's no provision to change it.

There's a database out there that contains thousands of these keys, so at this point in time, all WPA password encryption is very vulnerable. Anyone who can receive your signal, can decode it in seconds...

It doesn't mean the encryption between your bank and your browser is broken. This is based on another, hopefully unstored key. Only your router's password is worthless as of today.

The only manufacturer absent from the list (as far as I checked and at this time) is Apple. Sometimes, security by obscurity pays off a very little bit.

I showed you above how, in Germany, it appears you are wrong. Like everything else... it's usually not quite that simple, and as usual, your attempt at analogy is lacking. At some point we will have precedent and law on this, but in the US that doesn't seem to exist yet.

I beg to differ.

German WiFi owners are now liable for what third party users download while connected to their network - SC Magazine UK

Cool, thanks for that... I stand corrected!

Welcome.

Ken- great outcome...

your neighbors obviously dont know it could have ended much worse than it did....