Slashdot Mirror
The Long Arm of Microsoft
eldavojohn writes "Software giant Microsoft is helping the law track down and find phishers and political borders are no boundary for them. From the article, 'One court case in Turkey has already led to a 2.5-year prison sentence for a so-called "phisher" in Turkey, and another four cases against teenagers have been settled out of court, Microsoft said on Wednesday, eight months after it announced the launch of a Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative in March.' This initiative started back in March and has resulted in 129 lawsuits in Europe & the Middle East. Perhaps their legions of lawyers will come to some use for the rest of us but teenagers settling out of court? That reeks of RIAA/MPAA tactics to me."
I'm really personally torn on this. I mean, on one hand, I hate spam and I hate all kinds of computer related scams. I feel that a lot of good ideas (like e-mail) risk death at the hands of these attacks. That said, I welcome all efforts to take care of this.
... that Microsoft offers out of court settlements from these individuals & personally profits from them. I would assume that amount is trivial to Microsoft & I would want Microsoft to punish these people to the extent of the law where they live. It would also be nice to see Microsoft turn around and donate any money earned towards anti-phishing and anti-spam initiatives.
However, I would be a lot happier if the law took care of this. You know, if Microsoft would give every police district across the world free software, tools and maybe even hardware to catch these guys, that would be the safest route--leave it to the law to take care of these matters. But what I fear is that local police just don't have the time and resources to track these guys down. And, on top of that, law enforcement here in the states might find an illegal or rogue server in another country and have no way within their jurisdiction to follow the case across the boarders. That and in some locations, cops are crooked or they don't see the problem of phishing to have any tangible victims.
So while there's a lot of good reasons for Microsoft to do this, I still feel a tiny bit afraid that an already very powerful company is becoming a lot more powerful by gaining international recognition as a crime buster.
So, if you'll entertain me and let my tin-foil hat imagination run wild for a second, say that BitTorrent becomes illegal to use under some country X's laws. Now, I live in country Y (across the world) and I use BitTorrent to retrieve Linux DVD distro images. Microsoft somehow monitors this through my operating system and brings a trial against me in country X. I don't even live there but now I have to go there and defend a lawsuit in that country? That would be a horrible outcome.
Another fear of mine has already occurred
In the end, I really don't think this is the answer to the problem of spam & phishing. I submitted this story in hopes that there'd be some good debate about where the responsibilities of stopping phishing attacks should lie.
My work here is dung.
What kind of boarders are they getting across? Surf-boarders? Skate-boarders? What have they done to deserve being squashed by Micros~1?
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
political boarders - hate those, damn imperialists and trotskyites are the worst, they never pay their rent on time.
The o is not even close to the a on the keyboard, have to wonder...
When Microsoft has made itself "indispensible" to the world's (mostly underfunded) police the way it's made itself "indispensible" to the world's businesses, Microsoft will have more power to get the world's police "see things it's way". That means prioritizing, say, software piracy over, say, security holes. The cops in the street won't have much to say about the priorities, but their bosses at the top of their national law enforcement will "rebalance" their priorities to accommodate Microsoft's roles in their budgets and operations.
It's like bottom-up lobbying. Where our rights meet the people who protect them. Brought to you by Microsoft.
--
make install -not war
It's the phrase "teenagers settling out of court" that worries me. It's not necessarily that their motives are impure just that their tactics are kind of dirty. As in, we-probably-can't-pin-this-on-you-so-we'll-force-
My work here is dung.
Most of the cases were Microsoft simply providing evidence to local authorities, who themselves prosecute the scumbags. In the small number of cases where Microsoft is directly taking action (on behalf of little-guy victims everywhere), I'm actually surprised it isn't Citibank and other colossals pummeling these dirtbags into the ground.
Comparing this to the RIAA cases? Give me a break. That's like comparing a rapist with someone taking a second glance at someone they find attractive.
teenagers settling out of court? That reeks of RIAA/MPAA tactics to me.
No, it only shows that teenagers do all sorts of things online, including copyright infringement and phishing. Or are you saying that teenagers shouldn't be tried under the laws of the country?
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
While criminal complaints are aimed at what Microsoft believes to be real criminals, the civil lawsuits are aimed mainly at young people without criminal intent. For them, settlements of 1,000 to 2,000 euros ($1,290-$2,570) are deemed to be enough of a deterrent, Microsoft said.
Those are much smaller settlements than the RIAA is asking for, and I dare say that they either don't cover, or barely cover the legal fees that Microsoft incurs from these actions.
This doesn't look at all like the kind of profit-making enterprise the RIAA is engaging in. Rather, it looks like MS is trying to deter criminals and criminals-in-training from ripping people off.
Of course, they are doing it for their own business reasons. It makes them look bad when people get scammed because of security vulnerabilities in IE. But I don't see how you can draw an evil motivation out of it.
Notice that Microsoft is suing only to the people that has set up phising sites that try to look like MSN/hotmail. Is not that so strange that they're doing it.
However, I would be a lot happier if the law took care of this. You know, if Microsoft would give every police district across the world free software, tools and maybe even hardware to catch these guys, that would be the safest route--leave it to the law to take care of these matters.
The issue at hand is identity theft, the police won't prosecute for crimes like this any more than if someone searched through your garbage looking for personal information. The victim has to bring the case himself.
I have absolutely zero problem with Microsoft filing suit against those phishers.
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
You don't have a problem with corporation acting as law enforcement?
I sure as hell do.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Exactly. By bringing a civil suit for EU2000, MS can essentially act as accusor and judge. There's no way the teenager (guilty or otherwise) can afford to fight it, and even if they can, it'll cost them more than EU2000 for a defense. So they're punished just because Microsoft makes them a target, and no objective examination of the evidence is ever made.
It's also hard to see how one could be a phisher _without_ criminal intent, so I question what Microsoft is really up to here.
Not to me. Filesharing doesn't impact me personally, nor likely the poor starving recording artists who aren't going to get their money whether or not the RIAA and the record companies actually collect it.
Pishing crimes are far worse on my personal scale of the sewer that the Internet has become, and anything that makes those criminals suffer is a Good Thing.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
.... I have to admit that when it comes to crime, they done a few good things for the universe. The best thing I can think of is besides the topics covered in this article CETS which is a Microsoft designed product to fight child pron/exploitation.
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/news/2005/n_0510_e.htm
Before we go bashing M$, maybe we should at least give an "attaboy" as they occasionally do good.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Scene opens. Zonk is sitting in the super secret Slashdot tower of geekdom, pissed that CmdrTaco made him work the Black Friday shift while CowboyNeal is shopping for new boots and matching chaps.
....
Zonk: okay okay, time to post some slashdot stories. What to do what to do...
Zonk hits a button and instantly hundreds of submissions appear on his 52 inch computer screen
Zonk: Computer, scan for submissions relating to Microsoft or Bill gates. Group by content.
The computer buzzes and whirs for two seconds and the display changes
Computer: Algorythmic analysis shows 13 distinct possible stories. List is as follows:
1) Melinda Gates has alien baby
2) Windows Vista kills small puppies
3) Steve Ballmer makes anti-semetic remarks at PC Expo
4) Bill Gates declares "All your iPod are belong to Zune!" in internal memo.
Zonk: *abruptly cuts of the computer* Run believability algorythm 259. Display only titles a typical slashdot reader might believe as real.
Computer: Two titles remain. List is as follows.
1) Microsoft launches new Anti-linux propoganda
2) Microsoft assists in anti-phishing efforts
Zonk: Hmmmmm, run inflamatory index algorythm 86 on both titles.
Computer: Complete. Report is as follows:
Title group: Microsoft launches new Anti-linux propoganda
Inflamatory index: 23
Stories show high incidence of anti-microsoft sentiment and pro-linux stories. There is a high degree of correlation in past stories, leading to ideas that it's been rehashed too often. This may lead to a high level of "I've seen this damn story before" posts by readers. However, due to the extreme number of this type of post, index is relatively low as topic is had reached the "JonKatz" threshold of repitition, and most readers will probably ignore it.
Would you like me to run an accuracy scan index on the articles to see if this article group may be true?
Zonk: nono I don't care about that, continue with report.
Computer: Continuing with report:
Title group: Microsoft assists in anti-phishing efforts
Inflamatory index: 67
Stories show low incidence of Anti-microsoft sentiment and no pro linux sentiment. Articles appear to case MS in a good light. All factors lead to low inflamatory index except for one. One or more articles express anti-RIAA/MPAA sentiment for no particular reason. Existance of extreme, unwarranted attempt to link article to RIAA/MPAA leads to incredibly high index.
Zonk: hot damn! Scan all submissions and run inflamatory index on each submission. List submission with highest chance of "WTF this is nothing like the RIAA/MPAA."
Computer: Article returned: "The Long Arm of Microsoft."
Zonk: Sweet! Computer post at 11:53 AM with no additions or changes. Open up T1 lines 4 and 7 to accomodate the extra connections and prepare the fire supression systems. That will phish a good number of comments and help us get our hits up for the day.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is how and why slashdot posts articles with stupidity like that RIAA comment
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
You don't have a problem with corporation acting as law enforcement?
I would, if that's what was happening in this case. It certainly is NOT what is happening in this case. They're helping out Keystone Kops in this case. They're not prosecuting anybody. They're working within the system.
If you want to get your panties in a bunch over corporations being involved in law enforcement, then you should read a bit more. You should know that many prisons in the United States, are in fact, run by private corporations. THAT is a "corporation acting as law enforcement". MS helping cops to track down phishers is not.