AT&T Broadband is warning customers to secure their Wi-Fi networks after an unusual case in which a subscriber played an unwitting role in dispatching a pirated movie over the Internet, the company"s spokeswoman said.
The movie pirate lived next door to the subscriber, but was able to access his neighbor"s Wi-Fi wireless network and use it to send the movie out over his neighbor"s AT&T Broadband"s high-speed Internet service, according to AT&T Broadband spokeswoman Sara Eder.
The actual pirate was ultimately caught, and the AT&T Broadband customer got a break.
"All we could do was ask the neighbor to encrypt his Wi-Fi network," said Eder, who added that they tracked down the problem after getting a complaint from an agency representing the movie"s producers.