The Queensland, Australia Police are wise to this growing trend, and in an effort to educate citizens and combat cyber crimes, they've decided to do something about it. Police in the area are now going on what they call "wardriving" missions to actively search for open and unsecure wireless networks so that they can notify people at risk.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the Queensland Police efforts are preemptive measures to protect their citizens, as would-be WiFi exploiters have criminal interests and are "now sharing information on satellite maps showing vulnerable areas with large numbers of unsecured networks."
Queensland Police believe that they are the first department in the world to undertake wardriving. We're not sure if this is the case, though we're yet to hear of anything similar happening stateside, and we're impressed with their foresight and concern in protecting citizens from identity theft.
Of course, it is a little unsettling to think about police roaming around trying to detect how secure our WiFi networks are (especially if you're not a fan of big brother), but we can only hope that the information is used for good, and that Queensland Police efforts help spread awareness around the issue.