Slashdot Mirror
Online Revenge
Many people have submitted this story of a broken laptop purchased on e-bay. The buyer gives a little lesson on why you should always clean your hard drive before you sell a computer.
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
I always use sector encryption on my hard drives and wipe using PGP wipe when selling. Why not use the new Seagate drives with built in crypto now? Vista has sector crypto now? Why not use NTFS encrypted folders for your stuff but that doesnt cover caches and various temp files used by applications. This is something applications need to do, allow us to manage any possible cache and storage instaed of the currently splattered and hidden about files today. How about a standard on how Applications manage this kind of like a personal privacy standard?
karma, that's all there is to say
I honestly love when ppl's stupidity overrules their lack of honesty and it bites them.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of posting this guy's personal information, I did learn from one of his photos about a fetish I'd never come across: CFNM (Clothed Female, Naked Male).
Thanks Amir!
John.
The buyer gives a little lesson on why you should always clean your hard drive before you sell a computer.
And if you read the full story, you'll see that the seller gives a little lesson on how the law views vigilantism on the internets. Hint: Police are involved.
Push Button, Receive Bacon
I agree about the cleaning of the harddrive, but this really seems like useless drama to me. Is this really news, or internet angst taken a bit too far?
If you are selling/sending for repair, either your laptop or storage media, do not forget to take the backup and wipe out the entire content. Simply formatting/deleting the content may not help. The data will be still there, only the index (Allocation table) will be changed.
You can use something like Darik's Boot and Nuke http://dban.sourceforge.net/ for deleting the content permanently.
This isn't news. Anyone who reads Slashdot would hopefully know to delete the contents of their HDD before shipping it out to a stranger...then again, anyone who reads slashdot isn't likely to be selling a "broken" laptop - not when there's spare parts around and Linux to be installed.
Extortion is basically what it boils down to; "Amir, if you want to refund my money you know where to contact me, and this page will disappear forever."
The rest of the crap in the story is unverifiable from the information provided. It is just here-say.
The Eraser program is an excellent and free way to securely wipe your hardrives prior to sale of your computer in addition to providing everyday secure wiping services including secure file deletion, free space, and swap file wiping w/multiple overwrite pattern options. I have no financial interest in this company whatsoever, but I have found this program to be a useful addition to my toolbox so you may want to check it out.
When it comes to repaying unscrupulous ebayers, nothing beats...the P-P-P-Powerbook!
http://www.p-p-p-powerbook.com/
Ludwig Wittgenstein
I doubt it's about the money. Scamming/cheating/robbing people REALLY pisses them off, even when the amount of goods involved is trivial.
I won't blame anyone for exposing a scumball after the scumball tried to screw him.
And why are the police getting involved, anyway?
Here's a link to the finished auction.
The Israeli Army uses the only fool proof method I know for erasing data off magentic hardrives and is made up of 2 steps:
A. run the Harddrive through a Powerfull Degauser (a rapidly changing electro-Magnet)
B. Shred the Hard drive into pieces less then one square milimeter in size.
However this system may be hard to come by for most of us, and tends to harm the hard drive.
Writing a set of zeros on a sensative file is much better than deleting it but not necessarly
enough, because:
a. your OS may decide to move your file to another location on the disk.
b. Even after writing once or twice over the data, It still may be recoverable, especially
if you use constant zeros(or ones).
Writing random data several times is a better method, but is most be done over the entire
hard drive and in sevral passes over the entire hard drive,
since modern harddrives have a cache mecahnism(as well as one in the OS), so If
some one writes over the first sector of a hard drive 20 times, chances are the hard drive
actually got something physiclly written to it only once.
several tools for securly deleting data available on the net, I would not trust
my good reputation on any tool which securly deletes specific files but only on
those which wipe your disk clean,
these too may not protect you 100% becasue modern hard drive have a feature to correct(re-Map) bad-sectors automaticly, With this feature if the hard drive fails
to access a certain sector sevral times it will stop using it and send and use
a diffrent secotr instead(reserved in advance for this purpose and not normally accessable).
The damaged secotr may still contain private data after hard drive is wiped clean.
In short if you want to be truely safe use the Degause and shred Method.
Don't be paranoid
Me.
Based on Amir's Ebay record, I'm going to guess that he's a slimy crook.
I believe the word for that would be "hilarious."
Maybe not
This guy sold the computer and recieved payment? Wouldn't that mean the hard drive & its contents are now owned by the guy who bought it, and its up to him what he wants to do to it?
Its like someone selling a house then going back 6 months later trying to reclaim property they left behind.
1:) All the people here talking about deleting contents of your harddrive get the point wrong. This guy sold his laptop because it broke and he was too stupid to consider mounting the HD in an other PC and moving the contents before selling it. The HD was still fully functioning, and it took the buyer no effort to get the contents of it, which he was eager to do as he was screwed by buying a broken laptop which status was mentioned as "refurbished".
2:) The buyer is an unreasonable dick, because he could have known that this was not a serious seller. The buyer posts screenshots of the e-bay auction, that make this clear here and here. Just read the text the seller wrote, and you know that this is a no-go. Still, the buyer goes on ranting that the seller described himself as a businessman, yeah, idiot, did he really believe that?
Nasty people will try to screw you when selling material over the internet (and not only there), and stupid people will get screwed at obvious scams. Any interference by law representatives or even the media is just a waste of time in this case.
molmod.com - computing tips from a molecular modeling
Link to Amir's profile Amir has done this before.. and how typical that the only positive feedback comes from someone called Nick Tofang.....
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
here it is
For your viewing pleasure:
Personally, I think it's quite a leap to claim extortion. I'll let you guys make your own judgements, but if you ask me, it seems like nothing more than a legitimate ebayer pissed after getting tooled over by a run-of-the-mill ebay scammer. And hey, who wouldn't be? Call me crazy, but I think the blog is great. Not only does spikytom get his own creative revenge, we all get a laugh out of it.I only mod funny =D
http://amirtofangsazan.blogspot.com/
Note the allegedly scammed buyer has enabled Google ads on the web page he supposedly set up solely to extract revenge. Decide for yourself whether this impugns his credibility as a purported victim.
Uhm.. what?
They just reported it as it is, someone claims to have been cheated out of a working laptop, now he has posted stuff from it on the net and gets himself looked into by the police... Oh and theres a website for you to look at.
Why is that not proper reporting? They don't even take sides - which is highly unusual for The Reg.
...he's made himself vulnerable to a libel suit. Being in Britain, even if everything he says is true, that's not a defense. He held the seller up to public ridicule, and that's all that matters there.
No, truth is an absolute defence in defamation or libel cases in the UK. However, the defendant has to prove it's the truth, it's not up to the claimant to prove it's not.
Assuming the story is true, the seller deserved a slap on the wrist. The buyer deserves jail time.
It's people like you who are the reason the world is so fucked up. The seller deserved a slap on the wrist... what's with that?
Assuming the story is true, he knowingly ripped someone off and refused to make good with it. That is not slap on the wrist-worthy. Public shame is too good for him. Also, his rampant stupidity should make him a prime candidate for a darwin award but it is unlikely he will ever win one.
Stupid, shonky people are rewarded for screwing the hard working public and when hard working public tries to get a little of their own back then they get in trouble. Fuck that. I spent all of yesterday fighting a court battle because stupid shonky corporation was sending me bills for service that I never requested or used. When the bills went unpaid they sued me! Of course, I lost a day's income and the court only made them pay court costs - no compensation for my time! Screw that.
I say publicly shame the shammers!
I drink to make other people interesting!
Also, amir6626's only positive feedback is from 'nicktofang'.
Amir's last name is Tofangsazan.
The presumption for that, is this seller is 'honourable','respectable', and didn't sell a dead laptop with inflated specs. The images on this system clearly show otherwise and there is legal redress if he feels that he has been wronged... the truth can hurt.
The buyer seems to be in the right in this case and it seems the seller is getting what he deserves. But I would be hesitant to applaud the buyer too much and encourage copycats... For example, quite a few stolen laptops show up on eBay. I'd hate to see someone doubly victimized, both by getting their laptop stolen and by a pissed off buyer plastering their personal information and photos all over the internet.
That would be as funny as Gary Glitter ending up being shot in Thailand for fucking children after fleeing the UK after his prison spell resulting from taking his PC into a computer shop and the assistant invading his privacy and finding child porn.
The Thai's spolied a good laugh by letting him off with a fine, spoilsports!
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
It's not verified (making it questionable as news at best, but since it's of a personal rather than public nature, I wouldn't even grant it that much ground to stand on), it is very highly damaging to the guy's reputation (not just as an online seller, but more importantly as a person), and it's potentially dangerous (950,000+ hits and he's getting threats...some sicko among all those visitors just might be crazy enough to do something based on the rumor). The one site linked to obviously has taken a side. If there were any hard facts presented, writing the article at least would make sense, but not providing an avenue into the alleged perpetrator's personal life by linking to a vigilante website.
I hate digging into the big bag of cliche counter-arguments, but here's a case where this one definitely fits: How would you like it if someone displayed your entire personal life (simple or shocking as it may be) in a deliberately disparaging fashion? Or perhaps (we don't actually know in this case), they make a bunch of crap up about you. I knew a guy who's personal and professional reputation was destroyed by a false allegation that was spread freely before any proper investigation was made. The case against him was tossed out in court, but his personal business (bike shop) never recovered and he had to close down and leave town. Assuming that he was innocent, as we have every bit as much reason to believe as the judge did, is this in any way just? Did those who spread the rumor contribute in any way to the betterment of society or did they harm it?
Two things about this post:
The Register contains lots of biased articles. While it does contain decent articles, its usually better to get them from the source, such as securityfocus. This, to me, doesnt make it a news source, it makes it a blog with news in it. (However i have to say i am an avid fan of the BOFH)
secondally, The police are now investigating. I suspect this is due to the content of the comments, some of which seem to bring out some very nasty sentiments - a lot of which were unrelated to the issue, rather than the content of the blog, itself, however.
While i think the owner should have kept more control over it, perhaps restricting posting, i dont think they have done anything wrong. They decided that a public humilliation was a good way of going about this.
If you believe the blog, and i have reason not to, the owner of the blog tried to sort this out amicably. Anyone who has been through EBAY's dispute procedure will tell you its a pile of cr*p, certainly in the uk. Other than cancelling accounts, there is very little they can do other than to refer the seller to the police. I dont know if this happened in this case.
However, its true to say some of the UK tabloid press, have a lot to answer for, and the BBC should make an apology for misreporting and post it publically on their website.
Every time you misuse the word "angst," God kills an emo-kid. Please, think of the emo-kids.
By reading this you acknowledge that you have read it.
I doubt I'd go for Vlad's solution to the homeless problem though. He invited them all to a feast, locked them in and burned the building down. Me, I got nothing against homeless people. If you want to be homeless that's your business. So, "yes" impaling, "no" burning homeless people to death. Any successful regime must have compasison after all. Maybe "yes" burning spammers alive too. On the days we're not impaling them. I'm all about choices.
My regime would also replace all organized relgion with a state sponsored one involving smurfs. Non-smurfy activities would be punishable by impaling. Non-smurfy activities like scamming or spamming.
I figure I'm a shoo-in on the next Republican ticket...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Also, the one piece of positive feedback showing on Amir6626's eBay profile is from nicktofang, who seems to share a name quite similar to Amir Tofangsazan. nicktofang also has mediocre feedback, is no longer a member, and started with one piece of good feedback from amir6626.
Certainly looks fishy to me.
> Yes, it would suck if the buyer had to go on trial.
He will. The personal data protection laws in the European union (of which Britain is a member state) are extremely serious. The guy used the data without authorization and by making it public, he has become a criminal. He is very lucky if he aviods spending actual time in prison. I am sure the civil penalties will make him bankrupt anyhow.
Just yesterday, the EU supreme court crushed the EU-USA airline passanger data exchange agreement because it does not adequately protect EU citizens' privacy rights. If Sheik Osama is not enough excuse for rights treampling, that 375UKP certainly cannot be enough as well.
Also, the british mentality values privacy of the individual over anything else. The guy who posted someone else's details in public made himself anathema from the community of gentlemen and may have difficulty finding a job or gaining university admission by showing such moral definiencies in handling details of others' personal lifes. Also, the guy who posted the photos on the web is obviously homophobic based on his comments, which is a big no-no in liberal Europe and gayness is well established in britain since Oscar Wilde.
Not to mention the gross violation against the other people seen in those images. That is not "collateral damage", that is pure wickedness. I hope some of those people will also sue the avenger guy and make him feel the pain of having to pay half of his wage for penalties for a hundred months to come.
Finaly the guy who posted the photos online violated the most basic rule of civilization as we know it: presumption of innocence. Where is the proof the laptop was indeed sent in already faulty condition? What proof is there the damage did not happen while being rudely transported by the postal service, etc.?
for everyone that says it is "wrong" ..illegal ..etc for the buyer to have posted the pics?
the Seller sold the buyer the equipment... the harddrive thusly becoming the property of the "buyer"....Didn't the contents of the harddrive also became the property of the buyer????
Assuming that is correct... would it really be "wrong" for the buyer to utilize the contents of the drive to his choosing????
i certainly hope no action is taken agaist the "buyer" (assuming of course the lappy was as described broken and otherwise not as advertised).
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
Are you posting that from the Victorian era?
We now have Big Brother as one of our most popular TV shows (attention seeking nobodies stuck in a house and monitored live 24/7), the most CCTV in Europe etc...
According to The Register, the Metropolitan Police have received a complaint about "improper use of communications networks" and are investigating. Whether the complaint was made by the eBay seller, we don't know. There's also an amusing-in-a-schadenfreude-way article in the (right wing scandal rag) Daily Mail today, where someone else claims to have been shafted by the seller on eBay.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
There is the possibility (remote, yes, I know) that the seller did ship a working laptop which just broke on transit... OR the buyer has a grudge against the seller and the laptop works fine, he's just getting revenge for something else (but it's highly unlikely). See, this is why we have laws in place to deal with things instead of vigilante justice, because when people take matters into their own hands, they can never truly know the whole story or if they are acting properly instead of just out of emotion.
Meh.
Maybe I need to do some soul searching but I think what the buyer did was outstanding. Yet, at least at my moderation setting, comments are running 5 to 1 against the buyer.
Maybe it's because my home has been broken into 5 times by neighborhood kids. Or, that a box of checks was stolen and someone wrote $2000+ against my checking account. Or, that I've had my CC number stolen and everything from kitchen appliances and plane tickets were charged to my account. Maybe it's just because I'm sick and tired of the scum inhabiting this planet. But I think what the buyer did is great and we need more of it.
The light has been shown on this Amir guy for what he is. Public humiliation is a sensible, non-violent form of deterrent and socially acceptable. The police publish the names of "Johns" arrested for solicitation for all to see. Even the Bible supports public humiliation as a deterrent. The Bible says on judgment day all will be known and nothing hidden and exposed for all to see. Our (USA) and (English) early judicial systems used public square stocks and humiliation as a formal sentence.
The buyer has done his due diligence. All the documentation is there. The seller took 2 months to ship and only after repeated requests. The seller also agreed to refund the money once called on the fact the laptop was junk but then reneged. The seller was given multiple opportunities to correct the problem. He just wasn't interested because he knew he was scamming the guy.
I saw one post "If the guy kills himself, what a loss". A loss of what? The world would loose a scamming criminal who doesn't think twice about stealing other people's money? That's a loss I can bear.
Maybe, just maybe, this Amir guy will learn a valuable lesson from his fellow brothers that so far his religion has failed to teach him. Maybe Amir will pull his life together, get some morals and become a valuable member of our society. Maybe, just maybe he's been given a second chance to come clean and make it right.
JMHO
-[d]-
> So what? The guy is iranian, so he'll get his 72 virgins.
Mmmmmm...720 creamy, succulent tootsies...
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.