Uncap Your Modem, Get Visit From the FBI

FlightSimGuy writes "The Blade wrote this article about how seven men were arrested by FBI agents with guns drawn and indicted by a local grand jury for allegedly "reconfiguring computer systems to access excessive amounts of bandwidth". Apparently the provider, Buckeye Cable Systems, wanted to make an example out of the men. According to the company's attourney, "Cyber crime is potentially very damaging to society. We are taking a firm position on that type of criminal activity. We hope these cases will have a deterrent value...""

Comments

mwhahah

[dolo666]

Hands up!!! Hand over the bandwidth, punks. *snarl*

Re:mwhahah

[scotay]

I was thinking more of the Seinfeld episode with the most excellent Philip Baker Hall as
Library cop Lt. Bookman.

"BOOKMAN: Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y'know that little TOS,
the one that says "No Uncapping"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's this guy making such a big stink about bandwidth? Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without throughput, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a web browser, right now, in a branch at the local library and enduring slow downloads of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers? Doesn't HE deserve better throughput? Look. If you think this is about cybercrimes and missing bandwidth, you'd better think again. This is about that
kid's right to surf the web without getting his mind warped with slowness! Or: maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over."

Yeah, it was probably just like that episode. Except for the drawn weapons.

good story for the grandkids

[khuber]

That would be a pretty awesome anecote. Maybe I should uncap. "And then Scully frisked me..."

-Kevin

Use Protection

[CatWrangler]

Let this be a lesson to everybody. If you uncap your pipe to get speedier access to a naked woman, you end up paying for it in the long run.

Re:Use Protection

[nettdata]

Let this be a lesson to everybody. If you uncap your pipe to get speedier access to a naked woman, you end up paying for it in the long run.

Charlie Sheen said it best, when caught using the services of Heidi's stable of pro's:

"I don't pay to have sex with women... I pay to have them go away"

*sigh* Don't quite know how it relates, but man, it's the truth! ;)

Article Highlights

[broken]

"Mr. Runner, 55, of 4561 Westbourne Ct., Sylvania, resigned as Waterville solicitor in March, 2001, after a covert police surveillance operation videotaped him stealing coffee, creamer, and paper from village supplies."

From stealing coffee and creamer to stealing bandwidth. This is the downward spiral into crime that the RIAA has been warning us about :)

Also, from the department of Redundancy dept.:

" "There have been no indications that other high-speed Internet providers have taken such firm steps to prosecute for the theft of broadband theft," Mr. Shryock said. "

Re:Wasting resources.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

If we let hooligans steal bandwidth, then the terroists have already won.

Re:Wasting resources.

[looseBits]

Yep, I'm glad to see my tax payer dollars help fight these horrible crimes against humanity. Manipulating your cable modem to steal extra bandwidth from your ISP is not only a crime against the ISP but every American!! How many packets of p0rn were delayed from reaching my system because of these terrorists? They must be punished to the fullest extent of the law. In fact, I think that the ISP's should be given unilateral judicial power to protect me and my constitutional rights from these evil-doers. I propose that we give ISP's a small island in the Pacific that they can use as a prison to save society from these attacks and as part of their punishment, give them AOL and a 28.8Kbps modem.

Career Felon

[fobbman]

"Toledo lawyer George Runner was among those indicted by the grand jury...Mr. Runner, 55, of 4561 Westbourne Ct., Sylvania, resigned as Waterville solicitor in March, 2001, after a covert police surveillance operation videotaped him stealing coffee, creamer, and paper from village supplies."

This guy should be off the streets. He's an attorney, has stolen Coffee Mate, and now stolen bandwidth. That's a history of theft to me.

Three strikes! Yer out!

Kids these days

[fobbman]

Mike Yunker, a Sylvania police detective, said he planned to file delinquency charges today in Lucas County Juvenile Court against 15 and 16-year-old boys for the altering of modems in their Sylvania homes."

Troll count should be lighter today...

What about my rights?

[Gyorg_Lavode]

So does this mean I can press charges against QWest since I pay for a 256kbps connection and I have never topped 100kbps cumulative of all my downloads and never 70 on a single download?

So?

[3-State Bit]

Big deal! You do the crime, you do the time.
It's like those posts we always read whenever copyright infringement comes up: "You're stealing. Saying, 'Can I borrow that CD for a sec?', popping it into your CD drive, ripping a track, and giving it back to your friend is NO DIFFERENT from breaking into my house and stealing my computer. If one gets you in jail, so should the other."

Likewise: What these people did, stealing bandwidth, is NO DIFFERENT from what it would be if, instead of just modifying some hardware in the privacy of their own homes, they BROKE INTO Fort Knox, weilding NUCLEAR WEAPONS LACED WITH BIOCHEMICAL WARFARE and stole BULLION BANDWIDTHS!!!

It's no different, and I for one am GLAD, do you hear? glad with all my heart to see these CRIMINALS finally come to justice.

An EULA by a private organization is NO DIFFERENT from a constitutionally sound law passed by a majority of our elected senate and subject to the scrutiny, [1] of an impartial office whose members are appointed by a democratically elected leader (and subject to approval by our democratically elected senate.)

I don't know about you, but I'll be GLAD when my tax dollars go toward knocking my door down for modding my xbox (which will be specifically illegalificated by the EULA). I'll be laughing all the way to the electric chair! And then have my sentence compounded (two consecutive electrocutions?) for sitting in the electric chair in a non-authorized way!

How beautiful the world will be when EULA's reign supreme!

~Robert.

[1] against the standard of a sacred document detailing our most cherished rights, and being the only thing separating us from a fascist regime appointed by the majority -- Hitler was elected, don't-ya-know.

Re:Cybercrime?

[skinfitz]

Just because something which is illegal and involves a computer, doesn't make it "cybercrime".

Good point - if someone bashes someone over the head with a keyboard is that cybercrime too? Or does the system unit have to be involved?