A handful of Brits have unwittingly given up their first child in favour of public Wi-Fi, new research claims.
According to a research conducted in some of the busiest neighbourhoods in London by F-Secure, the Finnish Cyber Security Research Institute, 6 Brits have accidentally signed away their first born children in exchange for access to Wi-Fi.
The research, backed by European law enforcement agency Europol, involved a group of security researchers setting up an unsecured, free Wi-Fi hotspot in London’s Canary Wharf in June to check who would agree to a “Herod clause” in the terms and conditions. The research was intended to highlight the major risks associated with public Wi-Fi networks.
The research found that within just half an hour time, 33 Brits attempted to connect to the hotspot, with 6 unknowingly agreeing to the terms and conditions, which stated the user would “render up their eldest child for the duration of eternity.”
F-Secure has already disabled the network and has confirmed that it won’t be enforcing the clause.
“While terms and conditions are legally binding, it is contrary to public policy to sell children in return for free services, so the clause would not be enforceable in a court of law,” F-secure’s report, titled “Tainted Love: How Wi-Fi betrays us” read.
The Cyber security firm said the unsecured hotspot let them identify devices, read emails and take usernames and passwords of all those who connected to the hotspot.
F-Secure’s security adviser Sean Sullivan has advised people to turn off Wi-Fi when in public or in an un-trusted spot to stay safe.
“People are thinking of Wi-Fi as a place as opposed to an activity,” Sullivan said. “You don’t do unprotected Wi-Fi at home, why are you doing it in public?”
Furthermore, users can also run a Virtual Private Networking software product, which would encrypt the data being sent to and from their devices, Sullivan added.
