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Feds Bust Cable Modem Hacker
Several readers noted the indictment of hardware hacker Ryan Harris, known as DerEngel. Harris wrote the 2006 book Hacking the Cable Modem, explaining how to get upgraded speed or even free Internet service by bypassing the firmware locks on Motorola Surfboard modems. He has run a profitable business at tcniso.net since 2003, selling unlocked cable modems. (The site is now offline.) Harris has been charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting computer intrusion, and wire fraud. Wired quotes Harris's reaction: "I read the indictment — it's complete bull****. I'll tell you right now I'm not going to plead guilty."
Now when are they going to get around to catching Osama?
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Probably as soon as he tries to steal broadband lol. That or if he changes his name to Osama Bin Hackin.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
Gun sellers have powerful lobbyists on their payroll guaranteeing that the government will not interfere with their profits.
It's called "padding the charges to try to force a plea deal", and it's one of the reasons our justice system is so fucked up.
Thousands of people plead guilty to shit they didn't do each year, because they're offered the "reasonable" alternative - accept a jail sentence of X amount, OR get 5x the time and financially ruined and never be able to work again because they had the "temerity" to protest their innocence.
Welcome to America. "Justice" means jack shit here.
The act of defrauding the cable provider is illegal but the instructions for the hack that may or may not allow this type of fraud apparently has legal uses as well. Tools are neither good nor evil, the manner in which you use them is what determines the ethics of using those tools. A shovel can help plant a garden and it can also be used for murder, that doesn't mean the shovel is evil, just the use of the shovel for evil purposes.
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
Who cares? The powers our government have assumed for themselves in the name of "fighting the War on Terrorism" won't be given up even if they catch "Terrorist #1" Osama.
Osama is more useful to power-hungry US politicians when he is free to roam than dead or captured.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
Yes, but if you provide the tools while actively enabling and encouraging people, then you are aiding and abetting, which is what he was charged with.
That might have worked, if he wasn't actually selling the hacked modems.
I did RTFA. His biggest misstep that brought attention to his actions was running a company that sold uncapped and hardware modded modems. He sold a couple to undercover feds. That was a Bad Idea. Selling hacked equipment that is designed to overcome preset bandwidth limits or provide unauthorized (free) service by cloning mac addresses of other authorized modems seems like "aiding and abetting". Running uncapped modems on Comcast's network would also seem like wire fraud (fraudulent activity involving electronic equipemnt) to me.
Comcast owns their network and sells you access based on bandwidth. More bandwidth costs more. If you find a way to circumvent their bandwidth limits, you are breaking your agreement with them (as well as violating the DMCA). Modding your own cable modem and running it on your own cable network is ok. Running it on someone elses is not.
Hacking to gain knowledge/enlightenment is one thing. Using that knowledge to steal service is uncool.
What has the DMCA got to do with this case?
Fran
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As it is, when we have thieves in suits on Wall Street bleeding us dry like giant money-sucking leaches, contractors in war zones raping their employees and getting our soldiers killed, terrorists trying to infiltrate our borders and THIS is what federal prosecutors are doing with their time? Some joker modifying cable modems. You gotta be f'ing kidding me.
What makes you think that the government is only targeting these cases and completely ignoring the others you mentioned?
He admits he went there to steal the item.
Petting theft just turned into Felony Commercial Burglary (Burglary being defined in California Penal Code as entering a premises with the intent to commit larceny).
Will it get pled down? Now he HAS to plea it down and take whatever they offer to avoid a felony record.
Saw this exact scenario play out when a college student was busted stealing a $20 CD.
And that's a great example of why you should never talk to the cops. EVER.
It's not their job to be fair. It's their job to get you to say something incriminating. Functionally, it's the cops' job to "aid and abet" the prosecutors' office in getting innocent people convicted.
Anyone who says different, is a clueless idealistic moron. You have the 5th amendment right to keep your mouth shut for a reason: NEVER say anything to the cops.
What intrigues me is the fact that cable co's are trusting END USER EQUIPMENT to enforce limits that should be imposed at their own network ingress.
Besides, what if someone creates a DOCSIS compliant device of their own and hooks it up to the cable network? Considering how eager companies are to pounce for it, you're almost certain to run afoul of a few patents in the process, but you're clear in copyright, and hence immune to the DMCA as well, since the only copyright involved would be your own.
Knowingly and willfully taking more bandwidth than you've paid for is fraud and should be treated as such. Everything else is bullshit.
He says that the telcos bought some of his hacked modems to use as test/diagnostic equipment. If he has invoices and receipts, then he may have a legit defense.
Why would they (service personnel) want hacked modems? Maybe to be able to alter the MAC on the test machine at will to clone a client's modesm's MAC address so they can determine that the clients' modems' MAC address is routable from the customer's location, and that maybe the clients' modem is defective after all ...
Instructions on how to use (or modify) a tool are instructions on how to use or modify a tool. Nothing more.
"Illegal" (e.g. not-street-legal) modifications to a car? Done for racing, confined to racing tracks, A-OK. Same thing taken to the street? Not ok. How about utilities that can help you repair your own X-box if it has a dead hard drive? Also plausibly able to "softmod" it, but repairing your own things is a legit use. Should it be illegal?
Criminalizing the dissemination of information is ridiculous no matter what.
If they can prove beyond reasonable doubt that you sold bullets and a gun to a person you believed was going to use them to kill someone, then yes, you could be charged with a crime.
Since there are so many legitimate uses for guns, and the gun lobby is so powerful, and it's nearly impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you thought whoever you were selling a gun to was going to use it for non-illegal means, it's very unlikely for this to happen.
This may come as a shocker but the body armor police use wont stop most rifle rounds. "Cop Killer" bullets are a myth.
Criminalizing the dissemination of information is ridiculous no matter what.
BINGO! As soon as you peel back the line on this one, you open up a grey area of ridiculous criminalization. The modem itself, modified, is like a VCR, a gun, a car, or a goat. Sure, there are illegal things that you can do with all of them, and some of them are really best used for illegal purposes (hint... not the goat). Still, that shouldn't make the provision of these things illegal. It's information or a tool. It's intent agnostic.
Now, the instruction can indeed constitute participation in a crime, but telling someone to go do something is way different than telling someone how to go do something.
Example:
Hey, Joey, go kill that guy.
or
Hey, Joey, if you shoot someone in the face, they will probably die.
Emmanuel Goldstein would agree
He was innocent of what he was accused of. Being charged with a crime that the police and prosecutors know you did not commit is being charged with a crime that you are innocent of.
No, if he did in reality go there with the intention of stealing the $20 CD, in that state it would in fact be "Felony Commercial Burglary (Burglary being defined in California Penal Code as entering a premises with the intent to commit larceny)". The police simply dropped it to a smaller petty theft (at the same time making it stick without a costly court case) as it was indeed a $20 CD.
I am probably in a minority here, but I think the police acted in the right way, the person got what they should have gotten. The punishment for petty theft for committing petty theft.
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What if I'm hunting deer that happen to have body armour on?
The Yasashii Syndicate ||
Modifying equipment to get a higher level of service than was paid for is, in fact, stealing. Morally and legally.
Uh, no. Modifying equipment is not stealing, especially when its your own damn property.
Using that equipment to steal is stealing.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
More accurately:
Car analogy.
You go to the gas station. You go inside and pay for $20 in gas. You go back to the pump, and modify it to give you $40 in gas instead.
Utility analogy.
The water company installs a meter at your house, to keep track of the water you use and charge you for it. You modify the meter to only report half of what you use.
Really, if you're going to use bad analogies, at least try to make them remotely accurate.
RTFA. He ceased criminal activities long ago and now simply sells the unlocked routers. They got him on conspiracy and aiding and abetting computer intrusion and wire fraud because someone bought a router from his group's site and used it to get unlawful access to internet. The biggest piece of evidence beside all that is a post he made on his forum asking for a valid MAC address. Supposedly, just because he (allegedly) asked for the MAC add, he committed all 6 crimes he was convicted of. That's bullshit, he's fighting it and I would too. Definitely a "your rights' issue.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
I agree with the spirit of what you say, but I'm blown back by what you actually said.
It's bad for civilians to prepare themselves to kill cops.
If cops prepare to kill civilians, well, that's ok.
Modding me -1 troll doesn't make me wrong.
Because they can fearmonger alongside claiming these powers.
Do you hear fearmongering about Saddam anymore? Nope, because he's dead. Saddam's execution was used for a short term goal... the elections which took place just days after his death.
The OP asked why they haven't caught Osama, and I'm just asserting that perhaps it is not in the government's interest to do so.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
Simple - he's then in a position to prove his claim that he's a legitimate supplier of legitimate goods, as acknowledged by experts in the industry purchasing and using his equipment.
Example:
Your client is arrested and charged with being in the possession of tools to facilitate crime, specifically a pry bar, which is used by burglars, and a body dent puller, which is used by car thieves to pop car locks. Also, a mask with filters, so he's also suspected of terrorism.
Your client then produces multiple invoices showing that he owns and runs a legitimate automotive garage, and those are just common tools of the trade - and the mask is OSHA-mandated safety equipment for anyone using a paint booth.
Heck, in Texas it's illegal to walk around with a pair of wire cutters in your back pocket - "might be used for cattle rustling." So what are they going to do - arrest electricians on house calls? They're in violation of the law, but the application of the law doesn't make sense in that context. Electricians need wire cutters.
In this case, though, he also posted a notice asking for a MAC address for a specific network. The operator of a network buying test equipment would already have these. That's an indication he's guilty, at the very least, in one specific case. He'll be smart to squawk loudly as a tactic to get a plea bargain, and that's what he's doing.
Isn't it obvious? Convert them to Spam. Soylent Green forever.
Not to my knowledge. If you know someone is planning a crime, then sure, you are obligated not to help them, but in the general case, you have no duty to report it. Here's some random internet discussion on the subject: link link. Nothing I could find mentions mere knowledge of planned felonies - all refs required concealment or aiding in commission of the crime.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
It's nice to see that street thugs these days are keeping up on their Agatha Christie.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Wow! Someone found a way to explain this very simple concept without using an unnecessarily complicated analogy involving cars.
Bravo
Required reading for internet skeptics
That is the worst car analogy ever!
I want to shoot the messenger!
Ok for one, the FBI is not the agency that would be going after Osama. The FBI is the federal government's primary police force. As a police force, they are concerned with domestic matters. They deal with things inside the US. They do not chase people in other countries, they don't have any jurisdiction there. To the extent they operate at all in foreign countries, it is as legal attaches and such to give advice and support to local law enforcement.
Second, while this may be an alien concept to single-minded geeks, people and most especially organizations/agencies can and do work on more than one thing at one. Just because a group is working on X does not mean they cannot also be working on Y. You want this, particularly in the case of law enforcement. I mean my local police force has unsolved murders, a couple quite old. However I do not want them devoting 100% of their assets to that. I am glad they also spend time looking at current burglaries, assaults, and even simple things like directing traffic when a traffic light breaks. Just because there's an open murder case doesn't mean I want them ignoring all their other duties.
Finally, it may amaze you to learn this, but there are plenty of places hostile to America that someone might hide. When the people there don't like the US, and when it is completely and totally outside of the US's jurisdiction, it makes it real hard to do anything there. It isn't as though Bin Laden (if he's even still alive, guy may well have died of kidney failure) is sitting in a house in New York. He's hiding in a Muslim area in a country that doesn't much care for the US, and probably who's central government doesn't have good control of things. Can't just walk over there with an arrest warrant.
If anyone starts looking for these, keep in mind that there are two types of license-plate obscuring devices: those that are illegal, and those that don't work.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
It's also illegal to tint your car windows too darkly as someone could have a gun and the police wouldn't be able to see it. I've seen people get fines for their windows, I've never seen a tinting shop get in trouble.
Apparently you've never seen AP or teflon(illgeal in 90% of places) coated rounds.
Teflon has nothing to do with bullets' armor piercing capabilities or lack thereof. The reason some AP bullets are coated in Teflon is because they have very hard jackets and the Teflon reduces wear on the gun barrel.
Teflon coatings are not illegal under federal law; the federal anti-AP ammunition statutes focus on the jacket and core composition, not on coatings. There are a handful of states which ban the coatings.
for awhile the talons were very popular until they were outlawed as well.
The Winchester Black Talons are not and were not armor piercing. They were pretty normal jacketed hollowpoints, coated with Lubalox (not Teflon) which gave them the black color. Black Talons were voluntarily removed from the market by Winchester, but have never been banned in any jurisdiction. Winchester replaced them with the very similar Ranger SXT round, which doesn't include the Lubalox coating. Winchester does use the coating on some rifle rounds.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Depending on the jurisdiction and if that person did murder someone or not, you may actually be guilty of Negligent Homicide.
Or if that person did murder someone from TV's "The Hills" or Paris Hilton, you may actually be guilty of Negligible Homicide.
Or if you murder someone in a pink girly dress, you may actually be guilty of Negligee Homicide.
For a more accurate analogy however, if your alterations somehow caused you to stop paying taxes for the roads, then yes, that would too be illegal.
There was a guy here in central Illinois last year that was making his own biodeisel out of used cooking oil he collected from local restaraunts. They didn't have to pay for disposal of the oil and he didn't have to buy fuel.
He got in trouble for not paying the state's motor vehicle tax, which is collected at the pump.
So your analogy is 100% correct; it's happened.
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