THE STUPID ... IT BURNS

[unixronin]

You thought Mooninite panic was stupid?  Brother, you ain’t seen NOTHING yet.

Via bruce_schneier:  Boston College Campus Police: “Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity”

[...]  Not only is there no indication that any crime was committed, the investigating officer argued that the computer expertise of the student itself supported a finding of probable cause to seize the student’s property.

The warrant application cites the following allegedly suspicious behavior:

...

...

“Oh my g0dz0rz.  This COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJOR knows an OS that isn’t Windows.  He must be a computer criminal.”

WTF is wrong with these people?  I didn’t think even college rent-a-cops could be that stupid. 

HELLO?  UNIVERSITY?  COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT?

  Isn’t imparting computer expertise, like, the computer science department’s REASON TO EXIST?  If computer expertise is evidence of wrongdoing, better arrest the entire CS faculty, because they must be even guiltier.  And how about that NSA?

Aside from the remarkable overreach by campus and state police in trying to paint a student as suspicious in part because he can navigate a non-Windows computer environment, nothing cited in the warrant application could possibly constitute the cited criminal offenses.  There are no assertions that a commercial (i.e. for pay) commercial service was defrauded, a necessary element of any “Obtaining computer services by Fraud or Misrepresentation” allegation.  Similarly, the investigating officer doesn’t explain how sending an e-mail to a campus mailing list might constitute “unauthorized access to a computer system.”

During its March 30th search, police seized (among other things) the computer science major’s computers, storage drives, cell phone, iPod Touch, flash drives, digital camera, and Ubuntu Linux CD.  None of these items have been returned.  He has been suspended from his job pending the investigation.  His personal documents and information are in the hands of the state police who continue to examine it without probable cause, searching for evidence to support unsupportable criminal allegations.

This is ... barking insanity.  The degree of paranoia here is beyond belief.  What happened, terrorists snuck in and dumped a thousand gallons of liquid stupid into the campus’ water supply?

Comments

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

No, not the campus water supply - just the Campus Police Department's office water supply.

[nephthys510.livejournal.com]

Permission to copy this to my journal?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Go for it.

[nephthys510.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[mazianni.livejournal.com]

The C.S. student also allegedly has a history of hacking, and jail breaking phones.

So, if I understand correctly, Witness is in a domestic dispute with Mr. Calixte. Someone claims to out Witness on a B.C. mailing list, including a screen shot of what may (or may not be) a faked account purportedly belonging to Witness on adam4adam.com.

Witness tells the police that Mr. Calixte is a hacker, pirate, and jailbreaks cell phones.

So the Linux thing is just part of the probable cause in the request for the warrant. A mind bogglingly stupid part, but not the whole of the case.

The Linux thing is relevant...

[zeekar.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the server logs show that the harrassing email was sent from a Linux system from an IP in the suspect's dorm. So the fact that the suspect is one of only two guys in that dorm who runs Linux is relevant.

No, the way the apparently computer-illiterate victim phrased everything is amusing, or at least, would be if the warrant hadn't been issued. The main problem is that even if this guy did what they say he did, it wasn't a crime! They don't have anything in the affadavit to demonstrate that he committed any crime, besides the fact what they do have is almost all uncorroborated statements from the victim. So hacked-off ex-roommate says "This guy's is a hacker!" and they proceed to issue a warrant to confiscate all his stuff. Including his cell phone and iPod.

Some judge was asleep at the stamp on this one...

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

It is really frightening isn't it. The police have all the equipment that you could use in your defense, and you have... nothing. You can't show anyone that the allegations are not just, and you can't work, because you have been accused. All your school work is now gone, so your classes are likely a bust unless you can get your equipment back. Meanwhile, all your electronic life is in the hands of some [REDACTED], who probably don't even understand forensics on a non-Windows system. All this is the result of a type of domestic dispute with someone that wants to "get even" with you through the local police. Scary does not even begin to cover it.

[zaitcev.livejournal.com]

Stop acting as if it's news. For crying out loud Penny Arcade did a comic about it. Any shitfaced "LEO" can still all your stuff at any moment, using a nod from a buddy judge. DEAL WITH IT. Back up to the cloud, whatever.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Thing is, most people still don't backup. Period. Log books with critical system information and passwords? Even more rare.

So much of our life is based on the expectation that tomorrow will be the same as today. This stuff is uncommon. I am not saying that there are no ways around it, it is just hard to comprehend when it hits that close to home. Even if we "deal with it", it still screws up our life for a while.

I remember a Gordon Dickson story done in legal correspondence memos. A guy ends up on death row because a book club sends him a book, that he never even signed up for. That was from the early seventies. (I think it was published in Creative Computing.) It is still scary stuff.