Liability of shared broadband line?

ajf · 24 Jun 2011 at 23:05

Been asked this by a friend and have no idea of the answer.
They have two properties which they are turning into holiday homes, both on the same site as their own home.
They were intending to link the two holiday lets to their own broadband for residents to use.

What liability do they have if one of the residents misuses the broadband for anything?
I guess it's a similar situation to the free open wifi at Mcdonalds etc? How do they deal with potential issues?

Seperately I am also concerned about the security of thier own machines as they would be on the same network.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

Andrew

Windle · 24 Jun 2011 at 23:11

Liability lies with the person who's name the account is in

Antar Bolaeisk · 24 Jun 2011 at 23:22

Also, running a normal CAT5 between the houses (if that's how you intend on doing it) may not be the best idea. There could be an issue with the potential difference between each of the houses. A wireless connection would be best if you can do it that way.

ajf · 25 Jun 2011 at 00:29

It is likely to be some kind of wireless connection between the buildings so that should be OK.
I had assumed the liability did lie with the owner but just wondered if there were any agreements that could negate any problems.
Do the open 'complimentary' ones in Mcdonalds etc just take the risk? Surprised if they are happy to do that.

Nikias · 25 Jun 2011 at 00:37

Depends...liability for what? Defamation? Criminal acts? Breach of contract?

kylew · 25 Jun 2011 at 00:41

You could notify your ISP that you're running public wifi. Give it a google, I think going that route removes any liability from you as an individual.

ajf · 25 Jun 2011 at 13:44

Liability for things such as illegal downloads, hacking attacks etc.

I will look into the notification suggestion though and pass it on.

Thanks
Andrew

londonbairn · 25 Jun 2011 at 13:55

Cant you draw up some sort of agreement where they state that it is their responsibility what they access etc on the dates of staying there? Nothing much disimiliar from the T&Cs you get on paid for WiFi connections

RomanNose · 25 Jun 2011 at 14:09

Phone your isp and say you are now a communications provider.

Aod · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:33

Antar Bolaeisk said:
Also, running a normal CAT5 between the houses (if that's how you intend on doing it) may not be the best idea. There could be an issue with the potential difference between each of the houses.

Hmmm?

a nice run of high-quality STP cable is the ideal way to share the internet between the two houses. Wifi is considerably less reliable or effective :eek:

BunnyKillBot · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:42

Antar Bolaeisk said:
Also, running a normal CAT5 between the houses (if that's how you intend on doing it) may not be the best idea. There could be an issue with the potential difference between each of the houses. A wireless connection would be best if you can do it that way.

Just to reiterate the above poster... what on earth are you referencing?

mattyfez · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:42

There was a recent article in torrentfreak which suggests a case based purely on ip would not hold water if contested, but the case is ongoing.

http://torrentfreak.com/open-wi-fi-is-not-a-crime-110621/

My friend sub-lets his internet connection out to neighbours via WiFi, and keeps his connection fairly unsecured purely for reasons of plausible diniability.

mattyfez · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:57

Legally, there has not been a court case yet that settles liability one way it the other. The general consensus is that it wouldn't stand up, as all cases so far have either been settles out of court by scared consumers, or dropped at the 11th hour by the prosecution as the prosecuting party is generally very aware that thier case is 90% speculation.

Energize · 25 Jun 2011 at 19:20

Antar Bolaeisk said:
Also, running a normal CAT5 between the houses (if that's how you intend on doing it) may not be the best idea. There could be an issue with the potential difference between each of the houses. A wireless connection would be best if you can do it that way.

Potential difference? They won't be plugging it into the power line. :confused:

RomanNose · 25 Jun 2011 at 19:28

Energize said:
Potential difference? They won't be plugging it into the power line.

Though there could be some quite nasty damage if your neighbour decided to be naughty and put a large voltage down the cable.

Energize · 25 Jun 2011 at 19:42

Not a realistic scenario though.

Westyfield2 · 26 Jun 2011 at 00:59

It's 1AM, I've been up since god knows when and had a few, but...

Isn't Antar Bolaeisk on about the whole mixing of power phases thing? As in like why in a dual power supply server you should take both kettle leads from the same phase circuit rather than from two circuits which are in different phase. And similarly on graphics cards with two PCI-E 6/8pin sockets you should take both leads from the same rail of the PSU.

That said, I've never heard of anyone having problems running proper weatherproof Cat5e between buildings...

Caveat is that electricity is a black art to me... though by some freak of nature I somehow got an A-Level in Physics!

Aod · 26 Jun 2011 at 01:07

no, Ethernet doesn't work like that.

in fact, for the most part not even mains electricity works like that*

*At least, not in any situation most of us are likely to encounter