Some Australians who haven’t secured their wireless networks may soon be getting a (relatively friendly) visit from the police. It seems that a few officers intend to do a little wardriving in order to find unsecured networks and warn the owners of possible problems.

Australian Police To Go Wardriving

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the Queensland Police explained to Brett Winterford the thought process behind the move. “We know unsecured networks are a problem,” he said. “We know the crooks are out there driving around trying to identify these networks. We can’t just sit back and not address the issue.”

Winterford then continued, “[S]o let’s test the waters - let’s scan the environment. And let’s tell people, ‘Excuse me, this could happen to you and your family and this is how you can rectify it.’”

Which seems reasonable enough, from a certain perspective. It’s a mission of education more than enforcement, after all.

The usual questions about police officers not having better things to do has come up, however, and some people in the tech community are also stressing that they want to keep certain networks open and thus provide a sort of public service.

The debate’s an interesting one, anyway. And now Australian readers know not to panic if a policeman happens to knock at their door in the near future.