Senior UK police officer Gavin Thomas, who is one of the top police officers in the country, claims he has found the right punishment for convicted hackers: instead of sending them to prison, they should wear Wi-Fi jammers around their ankles to make sure they can't connect to the Internet unless they are allowed to.
Thomas said in an interview that prison is not the best solution for hackers, explaining that prison time costs around £38,000 a year, while a Wi-Fi jammer would be significantly cheaper.
Furthermore, he says there's a good chance that hackers sent to prison will start doing the same illegal activities when they get out, but with Wi-Fi jammers, they can be retrained while being deprived of Internet access.
"We need to stop using 19th century punishments to punish 21st century crimes. It costs around £38,000 a year to keep someone in prison, but if you look at the statistics the recidivism rate of criminals is extremely high," he said.
Thomas admits that installing Wi-Fi jammers for hackers' ankles is a solution that could hit several roadblocks, including human rights implications that could prevent authorities from adopting such a measure.
And it goes without saying that hackers could easily find other ways not only to access the internet, even when wearing such devices, but also to block them completely and render them unusable either temporarily or permanently.
