Splashpage- Click Through Solution for Public Wifi- Can we track Mac Adresses, IP Adresses or IMEI?

RobustMeraki
Getting noticed

Splashpage- Click Through Solution for Public Wifi- Can we track Mac Adresses, IP Adresses or IMEI?

Hi Team,

 

I am offering a Splashpage solution to a customer where the main purpose of this Guestwifi is to provide Public Wifi.

 

The Access Points MR76 will be using Advance Licenses. The customer wants an easy interface for the users who get internet access via Splashpage.

 

He wants to use the Click Through solution. As the customer wants to be legally safe if users misuse the internet and end up using illegal websites the customer does not want to be legally responsible for it.

 

We will do our part in securing our Guest Wifi by blocking all irrelevant websites and content. And also Include in the terms and conditions where the user has to consent before they login.

After all these measures if the user still manages to do something stupid with our Wifi solution. How can we track them back and report them to the authorities? 

 

Are we able to store and track them based on Mac Adresses? IP Adress? or IMEI of the device? Is there anything how the customer can report the authority and save themselves?
@MilesMeraki 



2 Replies 2
PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

I'm not sure what country you are in - but being able to simply report a MAC address to the Police to defend your case is not sufficient.

You have to say who the user actually is.  A mac address does not do this.  It only uniquely determines a machine.

Failure to be able to identify the end-user means the prosecution will fall back on you.  You will have to defend yourself against whatever the user did - as though you committed the crime.

 

At a minimum, you'll need someone like a phone number.  You'll need to look at using something like SMS authentication or asking the user for their actual details (name, phone number, etc).

 

Or you do what a lot of companies do - give up because it makes the end-user experience yucky, and rely on filtering to prevent them from doing bad things.

MilesMeraki
Head in the Cloud

I agree with Phillip's post. There's really nothing you can do to fully prevent this from happening. Mitigating the risk by using content filtering/DNS blocking would be the best bet which sounds like you are already doing.

 

Another thing that could be used is some form of sign-up/validation via email/SMS via the splash page to attempt to verify users. Again this can be spoofed via burner email/phone number so doesn't fully protect you.

 

The Importance really is in the T&Cs that you get users to accept before logging on. This would somewhat cover you for the liability of someone doing something bad. 

 

Eliot F | Simplifying IT with Cloud Solutions
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