Slashdot Mirror
Note To Criminals — Don't Call Tech Support
Billosaur writes "Darwin Awards, here he comes: Ars Technica has up a story about a would-be identity thief who did himself in by calling tech support about printer drivers. Timothy Short must have thought he'd hit the mother-lode when he stole a PC and a Digimarc printer from the Missouri Department of Revenue, perhaps with dreams of cranking out thousands of fake ids. Problem: he could not unlock the computer he stole and without the necessary drivers, he couldn't use the printer. Ever resourceful, Short called Digimarc tech support a couple of days later (twice), which brought him to the attention of a Secret Service agent, who recognized his voice from a recording of the calls. Short now faces a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison."
"Um, Darwin awards? Unfortunately, criminals are still allowed to procreate and spread their genes. So unless he's either dead or rendered an eunuch, we're still screwed. -W"
Well, if he gets the 10 years in PMITA prison, he isn't going to be procreating during that time, and when he gets out, he'll probably be the next "hello.jpg". Sounds to me like the only spreading he'll do will be his jeans, not his genes.
Kevin Smith on Prince
I'm guessing from your comment history that Spanish is your first language. You say you have an inquiring mind - so I hope you wont take offense if I point out that your question would have been better phrased this way - "Why would the Department of Revenue use a laptop with sensitive information, making it easier to steal than a desktop?"
My Spanish is extremely rudimentary. My French isn't much better. I certainly couldn't do as well as you have here, on a board that wasn't English. Just thought you might appreciate the tip.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
It's a wonderful thing that your markup comment is rated +5 Funny, while the Parent is only +4 Funny as I write this. Mods, I love you guys.
[ideology]
Although it runs foul of my personal interpretation of the second amendment of the USA Constitution, I do not possess wealth sufficient to afford a private military equipped with nukes, break the dollar (like George Soros broke the British Pound in 1992), and/or pervert justice. If I were that wealthy, I would not express such dissent for that would jeopardize my position as well as my possessions (I won't spew my infamous positional goods list, everyone here knows).
[/ideology]
Under current geopolit^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hjurisprudence, These sort of devices are not intended to be possessed or used by the general public. These are considered 'controlled devices' much like locksmithing tools. Unauthorized possession of these is covered under various criminal statutes of the 50 USA states (counterfeiting device, burglar's tools, etc.) as well as the USA federal zone (18 USC 1029 et. seq.).
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
We're obsol^H^H^H^H^Hdating ourselves, Rudyard. I had an interview lately with a "senior IT manager" at a firm here (Singapore) who proudly informed me that he'd been "into computers since Windows 95". (Which was really to be expected; if he'd passed 30, he could reach back and choke it without working too hard.) The bane of his professional existence was a set of industry-specific programs that were running on a gen-you-wine Compaq Deskpro 386 and Windows 98 (not SE). He asked me what I knew about (let's just call it FooBar Deluxe) 4.2. I told him that I was on the team that had developed FooBar Deluxe 1.0 to 2.4, that I knew how to automate everything they were doing with FBD with current, open-standard software, and that even if they didn't like the new stuff, that they were idiots for keeping a Windows 98 box around and outside their firewall when there were any number of virtualization solutions available. He continued to fumble with papers on his desk, and running his hand through his (full head of) hair. The next question was whether I had any other particular qualifications for the job (I've been doing IT professionally since '78, for what that matters). I was obviously not going to get the job, by this point.... "Well, I don't have such beautiful hair to run my hands through anymore." (I'm your stereotypical premature half-baldy.) "Why is that relevant?" "I tore most of it out while learning to deal with Pretty Boys who don't know how much they don't know." I never did get a call back.... I read in the paper that the company has been acquired by a competitor, "with extensive staff retrenchment". Couldn't happen to a better group of folks.