Technician wages wi-fi war against neighbour

A 46-year-old former computer technician from Minnesota, US, has been jailed for 18 years after hijacking his neighbours' wi-fi network in a bizarre revenge plot.

Wired Magazine reported that Barry Ardolf unleashed a sustained campaign that included sending child exploitation images and threats to US politicians from the neighbours' personal and work email accounts.

The neighbours had complained to police that Ardolf had kissed their four-year-old son on the lips.

Ardolf was tracked down after his neighbour's employer hired a law firm, which installed a packet sniffer to track unauthorised access to the wi-fi network.

A search of Ardolf's home reportedly turned up a range of instructional manuals on breaking WEP security codes, among other items.