KARLSRUHE, Germany - May 14, 2010 - A German citizen whose home WiFi network was used for illegal file-sharing by an unknown party was fined by a court for failing to secure the network.

The Karlsruhe court said the defendant, whose information was not released, shared blame for illegal music downloading and file-sharing because the wireless network was not password protected, allowing anyone in range to use it to access the Internet, the BBC reported Friday.

"Private users are obligated to check whether their wireless connection is adequately secured to the danger of unauthorized third parties abusing it to commit copyright violation," the court said.

The owner, who was away on vacation at the time of the unauthorized WiFi network access, was not found guilty of copyright violation, but was found to have a degree of responsibility for the action.

The court fined the homeowner $123.