Authorisation and Liability in Public Wi-Fi Hotspots

Some interesting developments.

It appears that a pub has been fined:

A pub owner has had to pay £8,000 after someone used its open wireless hotspot to download copyrighted material unlawfully, says the managing director of the hotspot provider The Cloud

What is your liabilty for infringing acts of third parties in hotspots provided by you?
Lilian Edwards suggest that businesses who provide wi-fi hotspots:
"would not be responsible in theory" for users' unlawful downloads, under "existing substantive copyright law"."

Consider the following example given in the Guardian:

To illustrate, I'm going to pick my favourite example of a potentially worried wireless network provider: my mum.

She doesn't understand or like the internet, refuses to even think about securing her Wi-Fi network. What is her legal status? What will she say if/when she receives warnings under the Digital Economy bill because someone has used her open Wi-Fi to download infringing files?
Well, the bill contemplates that warnings can be sent only to "subscribers". These include alleged infringers, and those who have "allowed" others to use their access to the internet to allegedly infringe. That sounds a lot like it covers those who operate Wi-Fi networks (and is meant to). Later in the bill, however, a "subscriber" is defined as any person who "(a) receives the service under an agreement between the person and the provider of the service; and (b) does not receive it as a communications provider" [emphasis added].

We can short circuit this analogy - as it tends to mislead. The starting point is section 16(2) CDPA:
University of New South Wales v. Moorhouse (1975) 133 CLR 1 at 13 per Gibbs J
Falcon v. Famous Players Film Co. [1926] 2 KB 474 at 491 per Bankes LJPerforming Right Society Ltd v. Ciryl Theatrical Syndicate Ltd [1924] 1 KB 1
Sony Music Int'l (UK) Limited v. Easyinternetcafe Limited, [2003] EWHC 62

See this.
What if "child porn" rather than copyright material was downloaded? Would the same defence apply?

Read this for an informed view of the issues.
Here are a few precautionary steps that can be taken. Some safety tips.
The position in the US can be found here
If you are threatened with a lawsuit, see this.