Software

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38 replies

by santeewelding

When has it not been.

I was barred from entry to an event long ago by armed military because, they said, my press credentials did not add up.

I was carrying an SLR, not the Speed Graphic they identified with my sort.

by robo_dev

Wow.

This IT guy is accused of sending a mean email, so the Police accuse him of being a hacker and seize all his stuff.

The search warrant application used the 'computer expertise' of the IT guy as part of the probable cause. And the warrant request alleges that the IT guy used multiple operating systems to hide his illegal activities.

So having IT skills and using Linux is now considered a 'suspicious activity' and sending email is a crime worthy of state police investigation.

by charliespencer

He may not have been using Linux.

Users of any OS with a CLI should be suspect, not just Linux users!

Now, please excuse me while I close my account on our VAX.

by notsochiguy

This week's sponsor: Massachusetts. $3 Billion budget deficit or not, our law enforcement works for you!!

by the scummy one

by watching movies that, anyone who uses the command line is a cracker!
Where have you been? :^0

Seriously though, this is just another stupid tactic to try to get more evidence than they can legally get otherwise.
evidence of what you ask? Anything that they can fine or prosecute him for.

by charliespencer

He knows the cheat codes to Super Mario Brothers! He uses a cordless mouse! He doesn't have a girlfriend!

Hey, watch that accountant over there! She's good with numbers! She must be embezzling!

And that house painter! He does a hell of a good job! He must be an art forger!

Since when is being good at your job a sign of criminal intent? Fortunately, being incompetent, I have nothing to worry about.

by jackofalltech

When the Fed Govt is doing all it can to punish the successful businesses. Socialism rewards the lazy and punsishes the go-getter.

by robo_dev

But just showing up at work may be considered 'conspiracy' and getting in the car on the way to work is an 'overt act'.

by charliespencer

"... Mr. Calixte uses two different operating systems ... One is the regular B.C. operating system ..."

I wasn't aware Boston College had it's own operating system! Has anyone else tried it? Is it proprietary or open source? Can anyone else us it, or is it restricted to police detectives who clearly know nothing about computers?

Did someone not get his donut one morning? Don't they have Krispy Kreme in Boston?

by magic8ball

Bosix or BCUix or BCollix. I'm not sure and google isn't very helpful finding this elusive B.C. operating system. haha

by charliespencer

I just assumed 'B.C.' meant 'Boston College', the site of the infractions. As you noted, it clearly refers to the comic strip B.C. It's probably one the cop reads when he's mooching free 'day-olds' at Dunkin' Donuts.

by arjaym

Are they crazy???!! Or their police enforcer don't know how to use computers. I guess not. ;)

BC Operating System? hmmm I think its a Unix based OS created by them. :)

by the scummy one

that he used the live cd to do his 'criminal' activities with, that way there was no trace left on the system (unless the BALTHOR theory is correct and the BIOS saves everything ever done with the system).

by seanferd

in that case. :0

And I still want a PC VMS live CD. :D

What I don't get is how any of the charges map to an actual crime. And all this on the say-so of a roommate. No one would ever have to worry about warrantless searches or wiretapping with this judge - he'll sign off on anything!

by jackofalltech

I almost alway have a cmd window open in windows and I use Telnet a puTTY to admin all the *nix servers where I work.

We have come so very far from what our founding fathers put into place. Heavy Sigh!

by dixon

"We are, at this time, currently investigating a particular individual who was reported to be engaged in suspicious computer related activities of an unknown nature. Other particular individuals report that the particular individual under investigation was seen utilizing a suspicious operating system comprised of a threatening black screen with white letters on it, similar to what we've seen in the films "Firewall" and "The Matrix". He also used another operating system technically known as...as...the regular good kind like everybody else uses. Our in-house experts have informed us that particular individuals often utilize that black-screen thingy to commit nefarious activities like IP renew, ping, and even worse, disk check. Our current investigation continues at this time."

by shellbot

what the consequenses of IPCONFIG are???
:)

Maybe this is part of M$ master plan???
Criminal NOT to use windows..

*snickers*

by shellbot

In this day and age I think if a police officer is going to be doing that kind of duty, they need to be educated.

Thats just ****ing ridiculous. I hope they eventually feel ashamed of themselves for being idiots. Not saying they idiots because they don't "know" about command prompt..I'm saying thiey are idiots because they haven't educated themselves to do the type of work they are doing.

A bigger question:
At what stage do you need to be retrained for your job, or fired? Just that I work with people who have all moved over to the pc for at min 5 years now, and they STILL can't figure out how to do the most minute thing on it..and this is after a lot of expensive user training. At what stage does an employer say "well sorry darling, but you can't seem to grasp the fact that all your work is done on the pc now and frankly your lack of knowledge despite trianing now means you are no longer qualified for the job..get out"

Sorry..bit of a rant there..

by ed woychowsky

Wasn't there a similar case a year or two ago where someone was arrested for software piracy, because they were distributing copies of Firefox? It seems that rather than keeping up with technology some in law enforcement have taken the stance, "If I don?t understand it, it must be illegal."

by jellimonsta

You could be right in your assumption of the law enforcement stance.
Maybe that is why the police officer divorce rate is so high? They kept arresting their spouses as they didn't understand them. :p ;\

by maevinn

I worked with a woman who'd been a secretary all of her professional life. One of her jobs was to compile a monthly report based on emails from 30+ people. All she should have had to do was copy and paste their text into her template.

Instead, she printed out the emails and re-typed them into a single document. Every month. Despite being shown how to copy and paste several times.

Management decided it was easier to wait until she retired on her own than to document enough reasons to fire her.

by shellbot

its one thing if someone is 60 and is going to be retiring in a while..fair enough it migh tbe easier to wait..

But i'm talking about a group of 40-50 year olds.. Can't have 20 people taking 10 hours each to do things they should be doing in 5 mins. Plus..the time for the helpdesk to support them constantly for every little thing.

My mother in law is like 78 and does her banking online, email, and lots of other things. she's a bit hesitant at times..but she's getting there.

So I reckon there's no excuse for some people. In a small business with a couple staff, it may not matter as much, but for larger places where time is money..no excuse.

by jpesadilla

First thing that comes to mind....

If Mr. Calixte did actually post the "outing" e-mail about his roommate, then might all this "witnessed" evidence from said roommate just be retaliation?

How many people here get asked to "Help fix my computer..." Come on you know who you are. I have brought home many a company computer to fix as I usually have better repair tools at home..... I have yet to be arrested for said action, although I have received a few bonuses for saving the VPs laptop after he spilled coffee on it... But it wasn't his fault.

I still think the Police in this case are being over zealous in their actions, and obviously have a very basic understanding of Computers. I think further investigation and consultation with IT experts is in order.

Including a more thorough "interview" with the Complaintant.

by ic-it

all the time and resources being wasted on this.
The kid will likely be prosecuted though because of the cyber-stalking laws of Mass.
His biggest downfall is the DNS logs showing his computer going to the adam4adam site. The It head already turned over those logs, the rest is pretty much a roomie vs roomie deal, until they allowed him to act as a trusted informer (pretty weak when your involved). That could be the technicality that gets it thrown out.

by dixon

...and got a real kick out of this 'hi tech' expert explaining how 'Microsoft Explorer' uses things called cookies. I wouldn't want any part of my fate in this guy's hands.

It would simply be stupid kiddie dorm-room crap gone way out of hand, if it weren't for the disturbing 4th Amendment implications.

by robo_dev

who was on a school-related trip.

In the hotel at night he had a few drinks and used the school-issued blackberry to visit a naughty porn web site.

Next day the LAN admin guy sees the "porn alert" on the BES server and reports it.

The following day the school board votes 5-0 and this $165K a year superintendent is without a job.

www.wrdw.com/news/misc/40008142.html

by dixon

If the kid in question works in the school's IT department, it seems likely that he has been given the info necessary to access the network. In what way is this 'hacking'? And, why can't the head of the school's IT department determine who's accessed and/or changed information in the grading database? Seems like pretty simple stuff to me, and shouldn't involve the confiscation of anybody's property.

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