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Republican Aide Tries to Hire Hackers
Noryungi writes "It seems as though a Republican Communications Director contacted Attrition.org, trying to hire hackers to improve his educational records. I don't know what is his dumbest move: (a) contacting Attrition in the first place, (b) using a real name Yahoo email address or (c) speaking at length about what he needed? Kudos to the Attrition crew for posting the whole email dialogue online! A sample from the conversation: 'Jericho: First, let's be clear. You are soliciting me to break the law and hack into a computer across state lines. That is a federal offense and multiple felonies. Obviously I can't trust anyone and everyone that mails such a request, you might be an FBI agent, right? So, I need three things to make this happen: 1. A picture of a squirrel or pigeon on your campus. One close-up, one with background that shows buildings, a sign, or something to indicate you are standing on the campus. 2. The information I mentioned so I can find the records once I get into the database. 3. Some idea of what I get for all my trouble.'"
Is he trying to improve his own records? Isn't this just a case of an idiot who tries to get people to hack their educational stuff for them? I mean, it probably will lead to a congressional scandal, but it doesn't really have much to do with the aide's aide-ness or republican-ness.
Ninjas and pirates. How piquant.
They were just messing with him. They were playing on the whole "hacker movie" stereotypes of being able to do anything with even the slightest bit of information*. The request to get a sign or buildings in the background was to solidify the idea that they wanted this information for verification purposes. They probably wanted him to believe they could zoom in from a live satellite and see the location he photographed.
They continued to jerk his chain with email exchanges like this one:
It sounds good (lots'o techno-jargon), but it's obviously nonsense to anyone who knows better.
* I don't watch 24, but I've heard some rather amusing takes on their entire "hacker" philosophy. In particular, they seem to be able to do the impossible without blinking an eye, just by wrapping it up in some techno-babble that's intended to sound good to the average joe.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I'm not surprised that yet another Republican is violating moral and legal standards to improve his/her position. I'm glad that someone outed this prick. I don't necessarily see this as an attack on Republicans on a partisan basis, but if you have a group that has a long and varied history of this sort of behavior, and you bring it up yet again, it can look partisan. I vote for honorable Republicans, so I'm not some kind of rabid partisan. I'm not impressed with the way Democrats conduct campaigns; it's half-assed, but I tend to prefer voting for Democrats.
We see Democratic boobs do all sorts of stupid, venal stuff. But when it comes to craven, cynical behavior, you have to hand it to the Republican for the no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty politicking.
Keep up the pressure on the bad guys.
Best regards.
"Few years" - that's a bit harsh considering nothing illegal was actually accomplished. Keep in mind that for a lot of violent crimes short of murder, the prison time isn't even a "few years." More like *a* year. The best punishment is exposing this guy for a fraud and making sure that he'll lose his job and be a laughingstock boob.
One more thing: who's to say that this was actually him not a prank designed to discredit the guy? It's not like they check ID before you surf the 'net. Maybe the article has more info, but it's currently slashdotted!
-b.
IANAL, but if I understand correctly, either party of a two-way communication can generally make them public unless it's declared private by some sort of legal notice (terms of use, legal disclaimers in the sigs, or something.) Since Attrition is a publicly available website, and maintainer of all those public Infosec mailing lists, it's probably not legally reasonable for this guy to assume his emails would be kept private. After all, he didn't even have any real idea who the person was he contacted, much less have a nondisclosure agreement with him.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Hrmmm...
Politicians are politicians. Tis part of what makes me tire of our system. Remember the Dem that had the Nat'l Guard load up his private stuff during Katrina, asking them to defer food, troop, and rescue transport?
Lord Acton was right, will be right... forever.
That's why I would traditionally vote for Republicans, at least they are/were for smaller federal gov't more state/local control. However, this last group has hosed that whole concept up.
Professional politicians are power hungry sociopaths. How do we solve that problem?
There's a classic comment that A people hire A people, but B people hire C people. Bush has not exactly been known for great job appointments. If you actually follow his appointments, it's embarrassing, even if you're a Republican. They're loyal, but often not very good. (It's not just that lightweight at FEMA, "Mr. Torture" at Justice, and the economic advisers from Enron; there's a long, painful list of bad high level hires.)
Once you get the institutional idea that each level hires dumber people below them, a few steps down the food chain, people like this turkey are getting jobs.
Todd's punishment is going to be uniquely modern... or will it?
The punishment is that this is going to go viral. It's just too darn interesting seeing people doing something they shouldn't. For the rest of his life people will be reading about this. It's not yet mentioned in Denny Rehberg's Wikipedia page, but it will. Todd will probably get his own Wikipedia page [dead link as of this moment but we'll see how long that lasts]. There will probably be a Snopes article too.
In other words, Todd will be publicy humiliated. It'll be like having to wear a big red letter...
I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
Partisan or not, the fact remains thus. The title and the summary say nothing about anything political save to mention the man in question is a republican aide. Because he __is__ a republican aide. Did the title or the summary go on about how this is typical republican behavior? Nope. Several comments did, but that's not the summary or title is it? Admittedly it would be just as valid to call him a congressional aide. But I fail to see the noting of a job title as partisan.
Say bad words about my book, in cold oatmeal, or I shall sue!
It's simple:
a) The republican party claims to be the party of morality and "family values".
b) There's been a rash of republican political gaffs in the last few months which, in the face of 'a', are really pretty funny.
So laugh, ffs. 'cuz, lets face it... it really is funny.
You have my deepest condolences. I know that the Republican Party is a persecuted minority these days: Nobody gives the poor, innocent Republicans a fair shake. Everyone else in the world hates God and America and, therefore, Republicans as well. And there's the vast conspiracies, the lynchings, and all the inequities and indignities Republicans must suffer for no other reason than following the divine hand of God - appointed by holy power and elected by a clear majority choice. Oh, woe be the poor Republican, for he is a poor, battered victim of a world which is against him for no good reason at all.
This guy made Slashdot because he was especially stupid, not simply because he was caught, and not because he was a Republican. He tried to commit a crime, but went about it in a very idiotic way - made contact with someone he had no logical reason to trust and requested an illegal job, discussed details that were way out of his depth and technical expertise, freely gave away his personal information, went outside to take a picture of some pigeons (I guess to prove that he is one himself) - the whole story just shows an incredible lack of intelligence and sophistication - any kind of subtlety or careful discretion in how he sought criminal help - and he got completely suckered as a result. A tale like this is great "News For Nerds" fodder - dope who knows nothing about computers tries to contract for a system intrusion goes in over his head with someone who actually knows a thing or two, and gets exposed.
Stealing national security documents isn't "News for Nerds", it's just "News". Go watch some Fox News if you want to see that story, I'm sure they'll rattle their sabers and go on about it for weeks - because they are not part of the conspiracy. They are not biased. They will give you the straight story, just the facts, and let you draw your own conclusion. England Prevails!
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
I'm as liberal as they come: anarcho-syndicalist, it doesn't get more hardcore leftist than that. Normally I am all for anything that makes the Republicans look bad, but this is just dumb. It's like how news stations only mention the race of an alleged criminal if they are non-white. Who cares what race a murderer is, or what party a doofus belongs too? What's that got to do with anything?
Until I read the summary, I was hoping this was some kind of political hack attempt that would put another big black eye on the Repugnicans, but no such luck, it's just some dumbass trying to get his grades changed. The story is funny enough to warrant being on Slashdot's front page without mentioning the word "Republican" at all.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Most of them have families that remain in their home districts. I'm all for having them work five days a week (and the incoming Congressional leaders seem to be moving in that direction), but I think it's fair to let them see their families on the weekends.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
The question isn't whether or not there are idiots on one side or the other. The question is how many idiots there are on one side or the other, to what extent are those idiots informing policy and decision making, and most of all, how many of those idiots happen to be President right now.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
That is a good theory, but in the US every 2 or 6 years our parliamentarians are hit with a multi-million dollar liability, known as a "Campaign." The legislators are up to themselves to raise the money for these, and there are no caps on how much they or their opponent can spend.
If you want to make legislators bribe-proof, you have to make it so that they need for no money in the course of their work, which means paying them well, enough to maintain a domicile in the capital, and strictly capping campaign spending (capping fundraising, and all the exceptions and codicils on that, and the attendant free-expression issues, gets more and more unworkable all the time).
I would say all campaigns should be publicly funded, private donations forbidden, and equal money to the top 3 primary victors, but most Americans consider a campaign donation a form a free speech, and thus beyond legitimate restraint. (I think this is bullshit, but there we are.)
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.