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Use a Honeypot, Go to Prison?
scubacuda writes "Using a honeypot to detect and surveil computer intruders might put you on the working end of federal wiretapping beef, or even get you sued by the next hacker that sticks his nose in the trap, according this (old) Security Focus article. Honeypots could be federal criminal law calls "interception of communications", a felony that carries up to five years in prison. Because the Federal Wiretap Act has civil provisions, as well as criminal, there's even a chance that a hacker could file a lawsuit against a honeypot operator that doesn't have their legal ducks in a row. "It would take chutzpah," said
Richard Salgado, senior counsel for the Department of Justice's computer crime unit, "But there's a case where an accused kidnapper who was using a cloned cell phone sued for the interception of the cell phone conversations... And he won.""
If it's YOUR system, then how are you "intercepting" anything? If someone tries to crack into a system that is yours, then who cares if it is a honeypot or not? This is like a burglar suing a homeowner because he cut himself on a knife he was stealing along with the rest of their silverware...
"Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
-- Ryan Stiles
Does this mean I'll have to turn off my server logging, since it could quite possibly "monitor" an intruder?
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
Perhaps this is a wake-up call for us computer users here in the USA. Who really speaks for computer users here? What we need IMO is an NRA equivalent to represent the interests of computer users, of people who are interested in fair-use issues, reasonable intellectual property laws and accountability of elected representatives. Interest groups like the NRA and AARP have shown that Congress-people do listen when people organize.