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Tour de France Champion Accused of Hacking
ub3r n3u7r4l1st writes "A French judge has issued a national arrest warrant for US cyclist Floyd Landis in connection with a case of data hacking at a doping laboratory, a prosecutor's office said. French judge Thomas Cassuto is seeking to question Landis about computer hacking dating back to September 2006 at the Chatenay-Malabry lab, said Astrid Granoux, spokeswoman for Nanterre's prosecutor's office. The laboratory near Paris had uncovered abnormally elevated testosterone levels in Landis' samples collected in the run-up to his 2006 Tour de France victory, leading to the eventual loss of his medal."
FINALLY that phrase makes some kind of sense.
A hacker that doesn't weigh 250 lbs, doesn't live on Cheetohs, and actually exercises!
Landis grew up a Mennonite, sometimes refered to German Baptists, often mistaken as Amish. I'm not saying it's impossible for him to have learned the skills to do something like this, but I'm sure he has almost no access to a computer while growing up and his riding training probably kept him from honing his skills online.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
The warrant only applies to France. They are not seeking extradition. I do not know if Landis was actually guilty or not, but given the suspicious behavior of the lab and the French authorities during the initial doping case, it sounds to me like they simply want to prevent him from cycling in France ever again.
If the way he was riding last year in any indication, he would not be a contender for even a stage win in the TdF, but there is concern that he could take 20th overall, knocking the highest placing Frenchman to 21st.
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
Oh come on, a hacking cyclist? Everyone knows professional cyclists are even dumber than professional soccer players. The French just can't stand loosing from Yanks, look at all the allegations they made against Lance Armstromg.
Why does the heading refer to him as a champion? He is no champion. He cheated and had lost the medal.
Can't imagine how these clowns manage to function when they only keep one copy of all their results.
actually engaging in it.
He's not a TdF champion, he's a cheat who had his medal withdrawn. The guy who finished 2nd, Oscar Pereiro, is now officially the winner.
I guess his privileges was elevated as well then.
This particular quote got me confused, because "hacked files" can both mean "illegally changed files" or "illegally obtained files":
"Landis used the hacked files for his defense, that's how we discovered the whole scheme," Bordry said. "He wanted to show that the lab made mistakes in the handling of the tests."
Supposing this is true, what does that mean, exactly? That Landis adulterated results in a scheme to fake his innocence or that the flaws that he exposed were genuine mistakes but discovered by him through illegal means?
Has he just uncovered himself as a member of Anonymous?
The quality of the lab's work is in question, as well as the chain of evidence and the behavior of the testing and adjudication process. This is an effort to draw the light away from the French bungling of matter. I doubt Landis himself did anything but that doesn't mean somebody didn't do something on his behalf and without his knowledge. Perhaps he did know, in which case he needs to study the Presidency of Ronald Reagan as regards "plausible deniability." President Reagan wrote the book on that.
Doping himself was unforgivable. Now if he had doped a young girl and then raped her, the French would be celebrating him as a hero.
a reply.
Come on, noone is suggesting he did it himself
And I believe the actual point Landis is making is that he felt the drug testing companies were somehow in error, somehow-or--other hacked into their network, and unearthed evidence that supports his claim.
It's not surprising that a drug company would go on the offensive to try to cover up their mistakes. That's the entire point Landis is trying to make here. It doesn't look like he's necessarily even denying the doping charges. He's questioning the evidence gathering and handling process that led to the accusation.
Unfortunately, breaking a different law when attempting to gather counter-evidence usually gets your counter-evidence thrown out in court. BUT, sometimes when it's a "court of the public" and a PR issue, it can prove useful. And I believe that's where he's going with this.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Doesn't he suffer from Asperger's Syndrome? We need to keep him in the US so he doesn't harm himself if he gets extradited.
The title is inaccurate, as Landis is not a Tour de France champion. What an athlete is stripped of a title, it means you shouldn't be using that title to describe the athlete any more. Logical, no?
Tour champion? Last time I checked it was Oscar Pereiro who won the Tour in 2006. "Blonde mennonite rider on testosterone accused of hacking" would be truer, and more commercial.
My photography
Uh.... I have two state time trial championships, and finished fourth in my class at the American Mountain Bike Championships. Top cyclists are pretty smart people, and you have to be to get your body in the kind of shape to perform at that level.
A friend who has won over 6 state championships says the strongest guys doesn't always with, but the smartest strong guy usually does. He fits that description to a T.
Place nail here >+
start their comment in the subject and continue it in the body. At least have the courtesy to start the message with ellipses so you know there was something prior, and not just a poster with poor grammar.
I guess I'm a little confused about the French laws and I'm hoping someone can help. They issued an arrest warrant because "Judge Thomas Cassuto ... is seeking to question Landis...." In the U.S. you don't issue an arrest warrant simply to question someone, do you? Maybe I'm just a little confused about the legal terminology, but I doubt I'm the only one. Some searches didn't really prove fruitful (they actually seem to support my view regarding the U.S.).
So, do the French actually file charges against Landis as part of the warrant or does it simply mean they plan to detain him for questioning and then let him go?
new here
.. everyone knows Lance is the better HaKrz. But on a serious note; why can the cycling world and especially the French accept the fact that riders from all over the world; not just the French are top level athletes. Lance is the man; and I am afraid the French can't stand the FACT he is an exceptional athlete. Sad they have to take it out on the entire USA team. No French Fries today; thank you. I'll have Sauerkraut.
... I'll have a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster with a side of Plutonium Nyborg
This is the reason geeks drives girls out of CS.
New Economic Perspectives
headbutted his mom.
New Economic Perspectives
..not hackers
...is a French magistrate.
Seriously? An American ex-Mennonite biker "druggie" is supposed to have 1337 contacts who also have expert knowledge of male endocrinology, so they can craft new test results?
Incroyable!
As an IT professional, I have a different view on the matter.
1) We all know that the vast majority of security incidents occur from within an organization
2) If you're looking at data, and 1 sample is far beyond the standard deviation, you toss out that 1 data point.
3) If you don't follow manufacturers requirements, you do not get support, and YMMV with that equipment.
4) You use unique ID numbers to associate different data entries
What does this have to do with Landis?
1) The time stamps on the datafiles used in the case against him have differing creation dates and modification dates. This was after the initial red flag went off
2) The SOP for the T/E test specified that a sample outside the standard deviation of 4 was unacceptable. Landis sample B was 14:1... Had they been following their own SOP, they would have tossed this result as erroneous
3) The computer used to interface with the lab equipment ran OS/2, but the manufacturer of the lab equipment had only certified the machine against Windows.
4) The samples used in the case against Landis had a different ID number than Landis.
This whole case just illustrated the level of incompetence at the lab. To this day, I wholeheartedly believe that Floyd Landis won the 2006 TDF. Not because I'm naive, but because the case against him was so flawed. Had this been held in a US Criminal court, it would have been thrown out. But the WADA doesn't follow a typical court model, nor does the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In regards to the stage in question. Landis was one of the first to race with a power meter, not just in training, but in the race. He had realtime numbers on his wattage output. He was able to determine that his effort was within his limits based off his training. Also, he used a huge quantity of water, but only drank a small portion of it (this is shown on the footage). He actively worked to keep his core temperature down by pouring something like 14 water bottles over himself.
--alop
Floyd's got to think twice before visiting France again. Maybe the French would prefer he stay at home this racing season.
have a secret copy of the REAL result of the test, saved in a certain bunker somewhere.
New Economic Perspectives
and see the fireworks goes off!
Come on, the German has conquered Paris in ONE week during World War II.
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Can't help imagining a bunch of Gendarmes rushing out of the station and hopping on their pushbikes with hopeful looks on their faces.
Squirrel!
Noone gets to appeal this decision in court.
Yes, they do. It's called the CAS. Court Arbitration for Sport (or something like that)
several riders are kicked out of the race and stripped of any stage victories after failing a doping test.
They do this differently now. They let the race finish, then kick them out of whatever results they had for the race. No one is paying attention after the last stage.
the winner failing a drug test smeared the reputation of the tour even further.
Landis just got caught. Previous Tour winners have admitted to systematic performance enhancing drug (PED) use. (Riis) It's important to note, the tests are nowhere near perfect and are subject to a great deal of political interference. For example, how is it Marion Jones who started systematically using PED at 16 (16!) was never caught. I'd argue it was a combination of poor testing and USA Track and Field. At the top of any given sport, it's a very small community. In Jones' case you are telling me visits to BALCO resulting in fantastical improvements wasn't widely known?
Stage racers have bad days. It is unlikely that one bad day can be followed by a heroic, **crush** the field, ride the next day. PED's make it very likely.
The doping tests are a huge invasion of privacy,
In exchange for getting paid to ride *very* nice bikes, you have to pee in a cup. I'd take that trade. It's not an invasion of privacy. The basic point is MANY athletes will cheat given the opportunity. And many cyclists were cheating a whole lot. They still do. So, the consequences are, every Pro Tour rider pees in a cup.
Now the question whether this treatment professional cyclists get is fair is another matter
The back story here is EPO use in cycling was extreme. http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/02/cyclist-dies-in-sleep.html Cycling got what was coming to them. Given the Olympics are going on, one has to wonder what PED's the cross-country skiers/biathletes have. Same kind of performance demands as cycling. Hopefully, other sports like biathlon have done their walk of shame already.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Armstrong is perhaps the single most tested athlete on the planet,
This is impossible to prove. I believe it's used to bring a little more drama to the whole Lance Armstrong cult. (OLN, I'm looking at you) I'm not saying anything about Armstrong because I don't have enough facts. I never will have enough facts. I'm grateful for what he's done for the visibility of the sport.
The reasoning is fundamentally flawed. Again, I really don't care about the guy one way or the other. This is more of a heads-up on using weak logic to support beliefs.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I am not a doper, but the charge of using someone else's testosterone for one day only during the Tour would mean that the accused was perhaps the stupidest doper ever. Testosterone is typically used weeks ahead of the event to build strength and endurance, but needs to be built up for a while before it kicks in. Using this drug would not have caused Landis to run away from the field the next day (though I suppose it could have been a placebo effect). Hiring hackers to mess with the French authorities is another colossally stupid move. These things always come out eventually. So at least it's consistent, the French think Floyd is stupid, and are able to prove it in court.
This is a nice summary of Landis' side of the argument up to the PDF link. These are fundamental issues to testing that should be addressed.
I don't agree with the last paragraph. Using a PowerTap to add credibility to his performance just doesn't fit within the context of decades of 'bad-day->next-day' performances. I could be wrong though. It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
works.
Infuriate left and right
Many Tour de France competitors, upon hearing the news, immediately blasted Landis with accusations of "ZOMG HAX!!!11" and "ROID WHORE!!!!11"
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
""Under UCI rules, the determination of whether or not a cyclist violated any rules must be made by the cyclist's national federation, in this case USA Cycling, which transferred the case to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)." The evidence was good enough for the USADA but it's not good enough for the experts on slashdot?"
You just don't want to be enlightened.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
He WON. Period. Whether he was stripped, vacated, whatever, it does not erase the fact that FLOYD LANDIS CAME IN FIRST.
Jockeys intentionally apply whips to the horse next to theirs, thus messing with the other jockey whip timing, and their horse will suffer or slow down due to this.
New Economic Perspectives
It's always the way with the Tour de France - Win Sunday, in hiding Monday, in shame Tuesday.
It's a waste of time to watch this race.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
The French accusing an American Tour de France champion of doping?!
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