Some Londoners had a Rumpelstiltskin pulled on them when they unwittingly signed over their firstborn children in exchange for access to free Wi-Fi last June.
The experiment was conducted by the Finnish security firm, F-Secure and backed by Europol. An unsecured, free Wi-Fi hotspot was set up in a busy London district so they could see who would fall victim to the "Herod Clause" and other forms of IT theft.
The "Herod Clause" was put into the Terms and Conditions of accessing the free Wi-Fi. In agreeing to gaining access to the free Wi-Fi, users had to sign away their firstborn child of all eternity. Six people clicked "Agree" and 33 more devices connected to the unsecured Wi-Fi after the Term and Conditions page was deactivated after 30 minutes.
The experiment was inspired by an April Fool's Day prank back in 2010 when Gamestation changed the online Terms and Conditions on their website to make their shoppers turn over their immortal souls. 90 percent of their customers agreed.
The London online security experiment drives home the fact that hardly anyone reads the fine print on the Terms and Conditions when they sign in to a network.
Even worse, when users sign on to an unknown network, they leave themselves open to security attacks by giving away their passwords and personal information.
They also wanted to point out that anyone with a mobile device can set up a similar hotspot, and even name it after a legitimate, secure hotspot in the vicinity, to use it to steal the data of anybody who connects to it.
F-Secure, who conducted the experiment, assures those who signed up for the free Wi-Fi that they will not be collecting their firstborns now, or ever in eternity.
"While terms and conditions are legally binding, it is contrary to public policy to sell children in return for free services, so the clause would not be enforceable in a court of law," they said in a report.
The moral of the story is, read the fine print, and be more conscious of the networks you connect your devices to. Do not connect to unknown networks and use a VPN to shield your information and yourself from unwanted attacks.
