A hypothetical....

[Bikewer]

A typical home computer set-up, with cable modem wired directly to the desktop PC, and also to a wireless router to run a wireless-equipped laptop remotely.

If one were to download "torrents" on the laptop, with it's 16-bit security for the wireless network, would it be more secure from RIAA-type snooping than the PC itself?
Would the IP still show up?

Not that our hypothetical individual would wish to do anything naughty....

 

[Yalius]

Nope. The RIAA will see the public IP, which is unaffected by whatever security is used on the wireless network. In fact, you might be putting yourself more at risk legally since you would no longer be able to claim that someone was piggybacking your wireless.

 

[pingnak]

Um, NO.

The encryption is only applied to what goes over the air in your house.

The whole rest of the internet behaves just the same whether your wireless link is encrypted or not.

The 'snooping' they do with torrents and other file shares involves using a modified client that logs IP addresses from people who serve content to them. There are people who do nothing but 'snoop' as a job in order to rat you out to your ISP.

Oh, and just to fuel your paranoia, there are no 802.11x wireless encryption standards that haven't been broken. You can keep honest (or clueless) people out, but the security is about as good as a luggage lock.