Originally Posted by borked

OK, so what's your take on this (and you have to think outside of the box)...

In continental Europe, things are done a lot differently from the UK, US, Canada and probably many others. But here's how internet works (at least in the country I'm in, but I know Germany and Holland ISPs do the same):

You have a WiFi modem - on that is an external link and an internal, WEP et al protected internal link.

On the external link, the WiFi is wide open - you can connect to any open WiFi and you open up a navigator and any page you browse you are presented a default ISP-given page asking for your login/pass (if you are with that ISP). If you are with that ISP, you enter your details and can surf the net as if you were in your own home.

It's called roaming and it works - you can have "free" internet anywhere in your country, so long as you connect to a router that is connected with your ISP you use at your home. And as there are like 2 or 3 major ISPs, more often than not, you can find one.

Nothing wrong here - you're connected with your details so the ISP can track your connection back to your home address.

What's wrong, is that if someone hacked your account, or guessed your password, you are fucked - this will be passed around the password sharing sites and everyone will be connecting to wifi's up and down the country using your details and you have no idea about it. They do stuff illegal, you are the one that gets landed with the problem, even though it occurred 500km from your home when you were home.

See the problem???

This thing is far more than your IP, your problem.