Public
WI-FI and your Business.
Are you
meeting your obligations about the WIFI you’re providing to your
customers?
With the demanding
for wifi on the move there are requirements you
should be
aware of to keep your business from being sued or you as a business
owner being
arrest for breaking the law.
Depending on your setup for how you provide Free WI-FI to
you customers will help prevent such issues. Free WI-FI is not just opening up
your router to have no security settings on it and let anyone use it; this can
lead to problems both for you and your customer.
To help minimize legal issues you should be aware of:
A) DATA RETENTIONS
(EC Directive) Regulations 2009.
These Regulations were enacted to implement an EU Directive
into UK law, to assist with the prevention and detection of organised crime and
terrorism by compelling communication service providers to retain certain
communications information, including Internet USER Data.
The Regulation place an obligation on “public communications
providers” to retain certain user data generated or process in the UK for 12
months from the data of the communication in question. The definition of a”public communication
provider” includes Public WIFI providers, however the Regulation only apply if
they have been served a notice by the Secretary of State.
Note that the Secretary of State must serve the notice to
all providers unless the data in question is already retained by another
provider in the UK under these regulations.
B) Data Protection
Obligation.
As with the Data Retention Regulations, Public WI-FI
providers need to be aware of the Obligations under the Data Protections Act
1998 (DPA 1998). Because of user registration you will come under the DPA 1998,
so storage and handling of this information much be secure and handled with
care.
The DPA 1998 governs all use of personal data, including its
storage and transmissions also you are required to register with the
Information Commission. If you fail to
comply with the Data protection Act you can be liable to a fine up to £500,000.
C) Digital Economy
Act 2010 (DEA2010) Online copyright infringement.
This is designed to combat online copyright infringement as
part of the Communication Act 2003 which makes “Internet Service Provider”
(ISP’s) have the obligation to notify user of any infringement of copyright.
Also ISP’s will apply other restrictions including reduction of speeds.
In 2012, OfCom revised the DEA 2012 which made WI-FI provider
sit outside this due the cost to the provider as they would have less than
400,000 subscribers, so this would be one thing to look out for.
In conclusion it would be necessary for you as a business
providing Free Public WI-FI to publish a Policy and Terms & Conditions for
the end user to sign up to which will help minimize your liability and make the
end user aware of their responsibilities when using Public WI-FI.
And another thing is consider using a WI-FI provider other
than just opening up your wireless network to you customers. WI-FI hotspot
finders can be found on Mobile Phone company sites and through Searches on the
internet.
If you’re not sure about using public WI-FI why not switch
it off on your mobile and just use your Data minutes, this is more secure and
you will be avoid WI-FI tracking software also consider switch off your GPS to
hide your location when posting to social media websites.
