Graffiti marks spot for “Copenhagen’s Internet pirates”

Copenhagen (dpa) – The sprayed letters “NW” that have begun appearing on buildings in the Danish capital are no ordinary graffiti tag, the Politiken newspaper reported.

The tag signals that there is free access to a wireless Internet connection at the location – an invitation to any owner of a laptop computer with a wireless facility.

The phenomenon is known as “warchalking”, and “NW” is short for networking.

“The people who make these tags usually have ideological reasons. They want to make the Internet accesible to as many people as possible,” Soren Thomasen of the IT unit of the national police told Politiken.

Another police officer, Ronald Pedersen, compared the tags to the symbols that tramps of old made. Those marks alerted fellow tramps about whether or not there was a chance of getting a free meal at a certain house.

However, when other people borrow your network you may end up in serious trouble. Someone may use that access point to download child pornography or send threatening e-mails, and the messages are then tracked to your computer.

Wireless network users are recommended to protect themselves by using passwords and encryption.