AUSTIN -- On the day the Austin Police Department was to begin a controversial crime prevention program, Chief Art Acevedo scrapped the idea after getting complaints from a number of citizens, including members of an Internet watchdog group.
What was slugged, “Operation War Drive,” was an idea that officers in the Cyber Crimes Unit came up with. They would drive around Austin neighborhoods looking for homes where residents didn’t block their wi-fi signals.
The officers would later send those same residents a notification warning them that their home wi-fi signals were vulnerable to cyber thieves.
The idea according to Chief Acevedo was born out of a growing number of complaints from citizens who said their personal information was hacked from their home computers.
“I love the concept. I love the out-of-the-box thinking, but it hadn't been vetted thoroughly through the legal department, through this floor, through this office, the Chief's office," Chief Acevedo said. "At the end of the day before we do something that creative I want to make sure we've covered our bases."
Jon Lebkowsky, President of non-profit, Internet policy group EFF-Austin said that while the intentions of police are noble, the execution was potentially problematic.
“We think they were totally concerned for public safety even though it feels like it would be intrusive for them to do this," he said. "It's like the police want you to be safer by locking your doors so they come through your neighborhood jiggling your door knobs to see whether they're locked or unlocked."
EFF-Austin is offering to help APD come up with a Public Service Announcement which both groups hope will accomplish what War Drive was hoping to.
