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College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior
FutureDomain writes "The Boston College Campus Police have seized the electronics of a computer science student for allegedly sending an email outing another student. The probable cause? The search warrant application states that he is 'a computer science major' and he uses 'two different operating systems for hiding his illegal activity. One is the regular B.C. operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.' The EFF is currently representing him."
This would be funny except it's scary instead . . .
Do rent-a-cops have any power to seize property, or is this just a case of theft?
First time I ever heard that. Does Boston College suddenly come out with their own Linux Distro?
Only outlaws will have Linux ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Judge: Would the prosecution give its opening statements in this case? ... and uh--who's that over there?--it's Clippy! ... this evil operating system is what hackers use. Maybe those hackers are the same ones that stole your credit card information? Maybe this operating system can only be understood by the criminally insane? I know I can't use it. It would be like me trying to read a book in German. You know who else spoke German? Hitler.
Prosecutor: Ladies & gentlemen of the jury, I have every intent to prove to you today that the defendant is not only guilty but that the warrant application that granted us the right to acquire evidence practically wrote itself! Now, I am going to outline the warning signs that were evident in the days leading up to this case. I want you to close your eyes for a second and imagine your warm and fuzzy graphical (that's geek speak for 'good') user interface of Windows XP--that all you good Christian patriots use. Ah, the field of green with a blue screen and your well known icons and start menu where everybody knows your name and system tray with your favorite purple gorilla and application bar
*pauses until he sees smiles cross the juries faces*
Prosecutor: Now, imagine that all that is taken away and you're left with the cold dark nothingness of space--like before God created the earth. The heavens and stars aren't even there. It's nothing! And there, blinking unendingly, with no remorse or care for anything good is an intimidating cursor after some letters and symbols that no American could decipher. And as you type things like "I want to order shoes on Amazon" it responds only with the cold harsh words of the devil telling you that ordering shoes on Amazon is not a valid command. And Clippy? Clippy is dead.
*takes a drink of water and smiles smugly as the jury begins to scowl*
Prosecutor: And this is what the defendant used to send that e-mail. This
Prosecutor: So you see, this warrant was basically granted from keystroke one after we found out that the defendant was using Linux--an operating system that encourages you to use a file sharing software to install it. The warrant is valid, I'm just asking you what else might have been done with Linux and its evil knowledge installed on that college student's head and computer. Your honor, I rest my case.
My work here is dung.
Apparently this "computer hacker" is also encoding his computer work in an obscure "binary code" of only 1's and 0's. It's obvious he has a lot to hide: his hard drive is filled with them!
Really? Come on now, I own a rifle, does that mean I shoot people? I have strong encryption on my hard drive, does that make me a terrorist?
In all honesty, my rifle, my 4096-bit encrypted hard drive, and the idea that I choose the best operating system or combination thereof that suits me as a consumer do nothing but support the idea that I am a law-abiding, dutiful citizen.
People fear what they don't understand.
Quiz: True or False -- On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your middle name?
You can get in trouble for writing an email saying that someone is gay?
Don't forget that there's a judge that approved that warrant. He's just as much part of the problem.
Well, soon, we'll all be using an operating system on which somebody can watch every move of ours, so then everything will be OK. You shouldn't use Linux, it promotes antisocial and deviant behavior, like watching pornography, programming, and understanding what "zsh" is.
if he used the superior green-on-black coloring scheme. Using it shows a man with good taste and and high moral values.
2. This was from a search warrant application. Not every cop is computer literate. This is worthy of a few snickers, not a front pager.
True enough.
I was walking through the basement of our student union building many years ago. The building was mostly closed - we were at a gaming con and minimal stuff was open. I noticed the door to the game room was ajar. I went in and started playing video games with a few of my friends.
Turns out I tripped a silent alarm. About 15 minutes in, campus police busted in and threw us up against the wall at gunpoint. No kidding, I had a gun pressed against the base of my skull.
All that for 3 geeks who were playing video games.
We talked a bit with the cops afterwards. They bragged about how they had us "under surveillance" for over five minutes without any of us noticing. I pointed out that if that were true, did any of them notice the fact that we were *leaving* money there rather than taking it? Blank stares.
So IMHO, they're worse than regular cops. They're bored out of their minds - and have real guns. They so desperately want some crime to deal with, but there just isn't much other than the odd frat house kegger that gets out of control or the occasional parking ticket. I'd be bored to near-insanity too.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
It's not, if the person really is gay. Libel and Slander only apply if the person can prove he is not gay and the claim substantially damaged him in some way.
It's still a dick move, though.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
One is the regular B.C. operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.
That could simply mean they saw him switching between X and a text console.
I hate how stupid the police can be.
Nick
... the cops that caused a city wide panic because they misunderstood a few funny lighted signs?
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
would think. The warrant is junk, yes. But the kid, judging from what the warrant cites, was asking for it. Also, the cop seems to be a real cop.
My first day at a private college, we were explicitly told that the constitution does not apply within their property.
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/inresearchBC/EXHIBIT-A.pdf
Start with page 6 - if you want to get behind someone, this is not the person to do it. He's admitted to doing illegal activities in the past and his laundry list is quite long with multiple officers involved in the past and multiple witnesses being called to back up things up on different incidents.
Let's take a few sentences out of context and blow it up because its Linux. Gotta love an internet full of headline news...
So.. campus cops can do whatever the hell they want then. Why is there even a story posted here?
Because it wasn't just campus cops involved, it was the Massachusetts State Police who participated in the search.
The excerpts EFF have posted do not say "he has two operating systems, and that's evidence that he's up to no good." Instead, the warrant says
Paraphrased, that says that somebody directly told the police that they observed the suspect doing illegal activities, and that the dual OSes are an aspect of those activities. That's almost, although not exactly, the inverse of what the summary and most of the commenters assume. And if I was going to be up to something I shouldn't be doing on a computer, if I wasn't going to have a dedicated computer for it, then I might limit those activities to a separate OS with separate filesystems.
Finally, as another commenter noted, warrants have to state with some particularity the objects to be searched and seized. EFF isn't giving us enough context for this part of the warrant, but it could be that the warrant is talking about a computer with two OSes just so the officers know which computer to seize, the propriety of the seizure having been established elsewhere.
Not saying that this warrant was proper, that this guy did anything, etc., but I am saying that the problems most people are complaining about, and that EFF is implying, aren't necessarily there.
This whole story is stupid. What's going on is that the search warrant request says that a witness has said the suspect uses two operating systems in his computer as a means of hiding his illegal activities. That's not a claim that having two operating systems is in itself suspicious. It's just a claim that this particular suspect, in this particular case is using a second operating system to conceal something.
Context, folks, context.
Are you adequate?
He might be burned for linuxcraft if they find the dead badger he installed VüDü Linux on.
Google that, you'll find it is common practice in police departments to reject higher IQ candidates and dumb down the entrance exam requirements. It's a barely hidden scandal. You see a lot of dumb cops because there are a LOT of dumb cops, on purpose, by design. They want violence oriented, stupid, malleable, no questions asked goose stepping type "warfighter" order followers for their new world order agendas. Been obvious for around two decades and change now, since they went full speed ahead transforming local police departments into paramilitary goon squads. Not all of them, but sure as hell a shitload of them.
Put him in a speedo and show him some porn.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Nothing in the facts say the use of Linux, in and of itself, was suspicious. Rather, it appears someone told the police the student was committing crimes and was hiding the evidence by use of dual-booting into Linux.
This is bullshit FUD.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
As an alumni of Boston College I can tell you that the BCPD are not what most people think of when they think of "Campus Police" - they are a bona fide division of the Newton Police Department (in which Boston College resides) and have all of the powers that a normal police officer does - on or off campus. Unfortunately, because of this private/public entanglement, I have seen the BCPD get away with *far more* than any police department would on other college campuses. I've seen people get burned on other campuses (Wesleyean, URI, UConn to name a few) , but nothing like what I have seen at BC. They are very aggressive and care little for your rights.
BC has a pretty Draconian administration - worse than any Jesuit school I have come across. They use the BCPD as a hanging threat - basically, you have to arbitrate any offense committed on campus according to BC's liking (aka, admitting your guilt) or else the case gets handed directly to the real, legal system with a fairly effortless transition, as their "Campus Police" really *are* police officers; their statements and actions transition to the Massachusetts court without a hiccup.
In other words, if you want to defend yourself, you have to go to court - any attempt to do so in the arbitration process is impossible. If you admit guilt, there are many cases where it is still considered a crime, and still gets put on your criminal record even after arbitration -although agreeing to resolve in arbitration absolves you of any sentencing because BC then decides what your punishment will be (which is of course the reason why the option is attractive). I have a friend of mine who tried to enter medical school and once was at a small party where people were smoking Marijuana. He was too afraid to defend himself in a court of law, so he admitted guilt, and in the end he had to explain his charge of possession of marijuana to every school he applied to (He got in eventually).
From what I understand, they also don't need a search warrant from BC for on-campus searches, because technically that space is privately owned by BC, not the college student, and the BCPD is always given tacit consent by the college. Computers and other containers are a different story however- I know a couple of people who got off the hook because the beer they had while they were underage was in their fridge (and hence a container, property of the student that would require a warrant in lieu of permission).
BC does more harm than good by playing Big Brother to all of the student body. BC even goes so far as to have "off-campus RA's", or RA's that "watch" specific buildings known to have lots of students - and they all have the BCPD on speed dial.
If it wasn't for the education, I would have transferred out after my freshman year. I hope this kid's lawyers are good.
That affidavit link was pretty good. The people who are claiming this is all because he called someone else gay or uses Linux should read it before pontificating. The student in question is accused of breaking into college systems to change grades and there is other evidence (DHCP logs) to suggest that he was behind these activities.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
If anyone bothers to actually read the entire information they would notice that the warrant lays out grounds to believe that the accused has accessed school computer systems for the purpose of ALTERING GRADES.
If that isn't "unauthorized" I'm not sure what is.
As for the other charge of fraud, it isn't simply a matter of posting an article somewhere and saying 'so and so is gay'. its impersonating someone else and creating a gay profile for the purpose of defamation (which would be an unfair advantage). If someone pretends to be you, and misrepresents themself as you for the purpose of defaming you. This is the kind of misrepresentation that can amount to fraud.
The hacking does not relate to the profile, but rather altering student grades in a teachers computer system.
Nothing in the warrant says that the crime is "outing a gay person".
The officer does seem to make too much out of the fact that the accused apparently can use linux on his machine. but after you remove the sensational parts of the warrant, there is still definitely an allegation of a bona fide crime.
its unfortunate that cops think that judges are too stupid to follow a logical line of reasoning without dressing it up. But what do you expect when judges are elected and only people with strictly average IQ's can get hired as police.
its entirely possible the cop was awestruck by linux, but it doesn't matter because altering grades is clearly the kind of thing almost everyone thinks of as unauthorized access.
No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.
Did anyone actually read the search warrant? There's a LOT more in there than "using Linux".
Changing grades, hacking into unauthorized systems, non-trivial harassment...
This is one of the most misleading headlines I've seen in a long time.
"..the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.' This kid is totally 1337, he's using DOS!
Some of the info is superfluous, but the officer is only quoting what somebody else told him when he mentions "the regular BC operating system and the other [with a] black screen with white text".
The officer supports a lot of information with MAC addresses, University logs, comments from the University Director of IT, etc. One witness being technologically inept doesn't really matter. The officer, at least from my understanding of the affidavit, KNOWS what Ubuntu is. I suspect this witness' statement is there just to provide ancillary evidence that links the Ubuntu laptop as owned by the suspect being investigated.
I've seen a lot of stupid police actions, but this guy seems to be reasonably well-informed.
If I were in the position of a judge today, and I saw that warrant, I'd sign off on it. Please find & read the whole warrant.
*Once investigated by the campus police because I used the terminal on OS X, and the other student thought I hacked her laptop. Grrrrrrr.
SIG: HUP
Read the document.
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/inresearchBC/EXHIBIT-A.pdf
There's probable-cause in there unrelated to linux and gay mailings.
"Did anyone actually read the search warrant? There's a LOT more in there than "using Linux". Changing grades, hacking into unauthorized systems, non-trivial harassment... This is one of the most misleading headlines I've seen in a long time
Of course, it must be true as it's in a warrant, just ask Julie Amero
I take it you are not familiar with the incidents you describe.
Here in reality, no, the campus cop murdered an unarmed homeless guy in cold blood for "acting crazy" (he actually WAS crazy, although completely non-violent, as it turns out) and gets to not only keep his badge, but continue violently harming innocents.
The most bleakly humorous part was how the cop came to his murder trial (acquitted of course) proudly displaying a copy of Machiavelli's "The Prince" and mugging with it for passersby.
"The Prince is above the Law, because the Prince is the Law" -- Nicolo Machiavelli
continue to happen. personally, i was suspended 3 days in highschool for having the audacity to remotely log into my home pc and download my homework under the guise of "hacking with unix."
ive been stopped in the laguardia intl. airport for booting a laptop that only posted a command prompt, ordered to produce "the start button" and when i couldnt i was detained for 20 minutes
for a nice chat with the TSA.
blame Hollywood. ever since hackers a command prompt is a sign of devious intent. all three matrixes implied it, johnny mnemonic, terminator 2, and the latest die hard to some extent all confirm
console=evil superhacker.
i guess on the bright side, im finally pretty cool now :)
Good people go to bed earlier.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/09/nyregion/metro-news-briefs-connecticut-judge-rules-that-police-can-bar-high-iq-scores.html
METRO NEWS BRIEFS: CONNECTICUT; Judge Rules That Police Can Bar High I.Q. Scores
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS311US311&q=police+high+iq+discrimination&btnG=Search
15,900 results
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I graduated in 2001, so this MAY have changed, but back then, the law was:
Campus Police have municipal powers in buildings owned by the college/university. So that covered the buildings, but not the public roads. To get around this, the CPs were deputized by the County they were in as Sheriff Deputies, which gave them legal authority throughout the county, with a tacit agreement with the normal police to only use it on the campus, or related buildings (basically the Fraternity houses were privately owned, this gave them responsibility). During the city harassment of MIT fraternities (a pledge at one died, the licensing board started threatening licenses of all the independent houses over minor infractions, pretty much continued until 9/11 when people forgot about it), the MIT CPs had a problem...
The had municipal authority in dorms... they had Sheriff powers in Cambridge Fraternities as Middlesex Sheriff Deputies. But they couldn't do anything in the Boston fraternities. After heavy lobbying, they also were deputized in Suffolk County, so they could patrol there. As fraternity risk manager, this was a GREAT thing, because while the city was harassing us, the school nominally supported us (they did a poor job, but tried), so we'd call the CPs at the first sign of trouble, and usually Boston PD wouldn't bother us because the CPs were on the scene.
The utter irony... neither Middlesex County nor Suffolk County really exist anymore... they counties exist as regional designation, there is no county-level government, everything is either unified with the city or administered by the state. So while they were deputized as Sheriff's deputies, I'm pretty sure we didn't have a Sheriff or a Sheriff's department... all of Suffolk County Sheriff Deputies appeared to be CPs of Boston schools.
Penetration Enhanced Network Interface Security.
the real reason they have to dumb it down; yeah I have friends who are/were cops; is because of political correctness. Hell they had to reduce the physical requirements in some districts because the fatties sued.
The majority of cops (like 95% or more) are very good people. Just like any other industry you get a few bad apples who ruin it for everyone else. Just like any unionized shop they are practically forced to keep them. There are only so many desk jobs to go around to place truly bad ones in. You can get them if they do something truly illegal and get caught doing so. Still the reason why cop abuse stories hit the news so hard is because it isn't common place; well it might be more so in some areas but overall it isn't.
Don't go off thinking most of these are country bumpkins; don't confuse elected sheriffs with real cops either, some of those are real ego trippers.
The fact is most are just like the rest of your neighbors. The difference is they are in the public eye all the time. Many have college degrees, its required for advancement in some areas.
The standard people are applying here is the same thing the cops in the story are being doing... and who is being vilified for it?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Why do you hope the student wins? He sounds like a dirtbag who steals computers and calls people gay because he thinks it's funny.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
For many of them, including municipal police, no, I don't wonder at all.
Boston College isn't a municipal police force.
That aside, Boston Police offers a VERY healthy salary increase for each step up the ladder. It is extremely common for Boston Police officers to have at least a bachelors degree or higher because of it.
Please help metamoderate.
His assets weren't seized for the use of "scary voodoo operating systems". Oh, and for future reference, his name is Riccardo Calixte.
Application for the search warrant:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/inresearchBC/EXHIBIT-A.pdf
Here's a summary.
I) Why do we want his stuff?
a) we think it's been used to commit a crime
b) we think it contains evidence of said crime
II) What do we want to take?
a) anything that can hold data (PCs, peripherals, phone, etc)
b) documentation that may contain his passwords (computer manuals, post-its)
c) evidence of ownership over systems used in offenses at the time of offenses
III) Where are we gonna find his stuff?
a) his room.
IV) Why do we think we need to take his stuff?
a) his roommate said that Riccardo hacked into the university computers to change peoples grades
b) Riccardo was suspected of stealing a computer from the university previously
c) the roommate's computer started acting funny after getting into arguments with Riccardo
d) e-mails were sent out to the whole university saying that the roommate was gay
e) network administrative staff said that according to their records, Riccardo did it
f) Network Admin says: those e-mails came from their dorm, from a computer with the same name as one registered by Riccardo. additionally, a profile was posted on a gay dating site, screenshotted, and included in the e-mail. the only computer to visit said site within 5 days of the incident was Riccardo's. he accessed the site frequently 2 days prior to the e-mail.
It continues with more info as to why the originating officer is a good candidate to evaluate this stuff.
I think that's enough probably cause to warrant further investigation; but that's just me. I would encourage you all to actually read the thing, not just take my word for it, but hopefully this will quell some of the "omgz he wuz arestid fur uzing l1nuxz!!1" comments.
... and using the police to do it! That is entirely what this story is about. Did anyone bother to go to EFF's Web site and examine the "Exhibit-A" PDF document from the case? It happens to be an actual copy of the Application for Search Warrant. You really should read it.
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/inresearchBC/EXHIBIT-A.pdf
The most enlightening part is the "Basis of Probable Cause" section, which states that the origin of the entire thing was "domestic issues" between Calixte and his (redacted) roommate. It then goes on to detail multiple allegations made by said roommate about Calixte and his criminal expertise with computers. The twit even blamed his own computer crashes on Calixte!
There's nothing to see here, folks. It's just one person getting back at another for real or perceived injustices, and the all-too-eager police being used as pawns (which of course they always are in every situation).
The accuser was involved in a domestic dispute with the Mr. Calixte shortly before he made the accusations.
The accuser was deemed credible because he had worked with the police on other investigations.
The accuser claimed these crimes had been committed previously and over a period of time.
He only mentioned them after a domestic dispute, doing so might be reasonably labeled as retaliation or revenge. Which puts a big dent in credible.
In addition he can be considered a co-conspirator as he was aware of these ongoing crimes, committed in his presence, and chose not to report them. Another big dent in credible.
I would be interested in learning if there was any compensation for providing information to the police in this or any investigation. This would be to determine if the accuser had any incentives or assumption of incentives other than revenge or retaliation.
As to the Mr. Calixte expertize the warrant stated that he "is a computer science major who is considered a master of the trade amongst his peers."
Yet such an expert failed to understand that logs are kept, worked for the IT dept (logs can be scrubbed). Failed to take simple precautions using proxy servers available all over the world that can be used to remain anonymous for web browsing/work, for email, for any number of services etc.
Most amusing:
If Mr. Calixte created the gay website and the claim is not true then he's (being the roommate) reasonably and predictably going to be assumed to be gay as well. Note: I personally don't care if one or both roommates or even the detective is gay other than as it applies to this matter.
Last but not least. This was done by someone who is competent but in no way a "master of the trade". Since domestic disputes tend to build up over time, it's just as reasonable to assume the accuser, with the help and skills of another close friend, created this as a setup. Not difficult if Mr. Calixte left his laptop loose in the room when out for the evening or some such.
Ward
. Silence! Be thankful thy species is unpalatable! .
I know there are idiots in the world. But none are finer than the Mass Holes.
Perhaps Mass Holes will grow up one day and become real people with brains. Yeah, right.
Ruby Neural Evolution of Augmenting Topologies
Thanks EFF for being a liar. The police have probably cause to seize the computers, not because they are black with white font (zOMG!) but because a reliable named witness told them the student was engaged in changing grades for other students.
From the warrant application: "[The witness] advised Officer Eng that Mr. Calixte has changed grades for other students by accessing the Boston College computer system.... It should be noted that [the witness] is not only a named witness to these allegations but also a reliable witness in another investigation which he brought to our attention.... [The witness] reported to me that he has observed Mr. Calixte hack into the B.C. grading system that is used by professors to change grades for students...."
Also, emails were sent out from an anonymous Yahoo! account claiming that the witness (who is roommates with the suspect) was gay. The IP address of the client sending the Yahoo! message corresponded to a computer whose MAC address was registered to a computer whose computer name had only been used on the computer of one student at B.C. -- the suspect.
Clearly, there's probable cause enough here for a search warrant.
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
"College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior
If you read the warrant request...
A student was falsely outed by a fake profile on adam2adam, a gay site.
Server logs show it was accessed by two web based email accounts.
Those accounts were traced by the network registration system to 137.167.207.174, a machine on 00:23:28:BE:24... a machine runing Linux.
On page 7, it states that only two machines in the entire hall of residence accessed the network using Linux.
So, yes, when you narrow down all possible suspects to just two people who both use Linux... and the machine is on an account registered to one of them... Using Linux, in that specific case, really is exceptionally suspicious behavior.
It's a cheap headline grabber to imply, "Dumb cops think Linux is weird and so criminal!" In reality, it's a computer forensics specialist writing an incredibly clearly, methodical listing, tracking down a harassment issue to a Linux machine, registered under the suspect's name.
Sorry dude, you were a raging douchebag who falsely outed someone because you two had an argument and you're a lousy enough hacker that your anonymous web based mail accounts led them straight to the specific machine you did it on. Screaming OMG, COPS HATE LINUX doesn't make it any less true.