Linux Forcibly Installed On Congressman's Computer In Act of Terrorism

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Linux Forcibly Installed On Congressman's Computer In Act of Terrorism

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @12:22AM from the rms-detained-on-hooliganism-charges dept.

fermion writes with news of Windows computers being forcefully liberated: "The campaign headquarters of Michael Grimm, a U.S. House of Representatives member from New York, were vandalized. What has not been reported everywhere is that Linux was installed on one of his computers, erasing data in the process. Is this a new attack on democracy by the open source radicals, or it is just a random occurrence?" From the article: "'In fact, one officer said to me today they see this as a crime against the government, because I am a sitting United States congressman and they take it very seriously. You know, especially in light of what happened with Gabby Giffords, we're not in the world today where we can shrug things off,' Grimm said. ... [GNU/]Linux, an open-source operating system, was installed on Grimm's computers, erasing the hard drive contents, which included polling and voter identification data. But staff had backed up the hard drive contents hours beforehand. Grimm and his staffers said the vandalism — cement blocks were thrown through the office's windows — is a cover-up for the attacks on the computers."

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Attack against Microsoft by Mkaks · 2012-09-26 00:22 · Score: 5, Funny

I see this as a radical open source movement. Some people hated to see that government was using Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on their computers and decided to take the matter in to their own hands. Linux was forcibly installed on the computers and the suspect was caught seen masturbating in a dark corner as the progress meter went further and further.
1. Re:Attack against Microsoft by SJHillman · 2012-09-26 00:28 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Police say that they suspect a member of the radical Penguinite cult is behind it. Other devices belonging to government officials are being inspected for Linux installations. Suspected devices include laptops, tablets, automobiles, toasters and those sneakers with flashing lights in the heel.
2. Re:Attack against Microsoft by mellon · 2012-09-26 01:47 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Holy Crap, Batman! I think I see The Penguin's evil fingerprints on this computer!
3. Re:Attack against Microsoft by martas · 2012-09-26 05:56 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  When caught, the suspect is reported to have said "Hey, her USB ports were clearly exposed, she was asking for it!"
  
  --
  weinersmith
4. Re:Attack against Microsoft by pixelpusher220 · 2012-09-26 06:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Why do I wonder if the 'Feds' couldn't figure out that there was simply a Linux CD in the computer that was auto-booting...
  
  --
  People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
5. Re:Attack against Microsoft by CheeseTroll · 2012-09-26 07:59 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  After all, if it had been a legitimate forced-install, the computer has ways of shutting down those ports so the naughty bits can't take hold on the internal disk.
  
  --
  A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
There's more to this story. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-26 00:26 · Score: 5, Interesting

Elsewhere it was revealed that it was a young kid who threw the rocks, and a staffer "accidentally" wiped the computers with a Linux disk.
I say accidentally because he was being investigated for illegal use of campaign funds, and some of the data that may have been of interest to the investigation was lost. And it's not exactly trivial to accidentally wipe your disks with a Linux disk. I can see someone doing it, but you do have to go through enough steps that you have to have been trying to do *something* with that disk even if it wasn't wiping the system.
1. Re:There's more to this story. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-26 00:36 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  To follow up, here's the link: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/09/rep_michael_gri_1.php
2. Re:There's more to this story. by realxmp · 2012-09-26 00:37 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Elsewhere it was revealed that it was a young kid who threw the rocks, and a staffer "accidentally" wiped the computers with a Linux disk.
  I say accidentally because he was being investigated for illegal use of campaign funds, and some of the data that may have been of interest to the investigation was lost. And it's not exactly trivial to accidentally wipe your disks with a Linux disk. I can see someone doing it, but you do have to go through enough steps that you have to have been trying to do *something* with that disk even if it wasn't wiping the system.
  Yep, New York Daily New has the story here. Apparently like the data wasn't deleted and whoever they had to do their IT didn't know enough about Linux and partitions to realise.
3. Re:There's more to this story. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-26 00:40 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I'd also like to note that the only place the word "terrorism" appears is in the headline of the slashdot summary. The word is not used at all in either the summary nor in the linked article.
  captcha: distorts
4. Re:There's more to this story. by Mitchell314 · 2012-09-26 00:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yeah, terrorism is supposed to inspire terror. It's kinda in the bloody name. While concerning, my imagination fails to give me goosebumps with this news.
  
  --
  I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
5. Re:There's more to this story. by FoolishOwl · 2012-09-26 01:03 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Because 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda' is just so fucking difficult. Maybe it would have worked better to have the staffer throw rocks, and a young kid wipe the hard disk.
6. Re:There's more to this story. by interkin3tic · 2012-09-26 01:09 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  You just can't hire competent criminal IT staff these days.
7. Re:There's more to this story. by Rogerborg · 2012-09-26 02:00 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Bingo. An ex-employer of mine suffered a "break in" where the only things stolen were some executive laptops - which had conveniently been left out on their desks - and some of the papers in the safe - which the burglars apparently managed to guess the combination to.
  This was after they'd stopped paying all the staff, but just before administrators were called in to go through the accounts and contracts. Say, can you guess what information went missing in the "break in"?
  The staff just sighed and asked which side of the window the broken glass was on. It was that kind of a place.
  
  --
  If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
congressman=ruling class? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-26 00:32 · Score: 5, Insightful

because I am a sitting United States congressman

Does anyone else get an air of elitism when people say things like this? "I work for the government, I'm better than you, and these things should only happen to you plebs." I feel that as long as our politicians think like this, we're doomed as a democracy.
1. Re:congressman=ruling class? by SJHillman · 2012-09-26 00:36 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I sensed an air of laziness. If he were useful, he would be a standing, running, jogging or working congressman, not just a sitting one.
Consensual Install by Firemouth · 2012-09-26 00:48 · Score: 5, Funny

I'd say this was consensual install. Had it been legitimate non-consensual install, the computer has a way to prevent itself being impregnated with an open source operating system if the install was not consensual.
This is a non-story. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-26 01:14 · Score: 5, Informative

This congressman is currently under investigation for misappropriation of funds. Here's a much more convincing story:

1. Congressman misappropriates campaign funds
2. Congressman comes under investigation
3. Congressman slips IT guy $50 to ransack the office at night and make some key financial data "disappear"
4. Congressman acts shocked and appalled, decries this act of "terrorism" and labels himself as a helpless victim.
5. Media gobbles it up because it contains the word "terrorism"
6. ...
7. Profit! (from misappropriating campaign funds)
Link doesn't mention anything about illegal funds by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-26 01:49 · Score: 5, Informative

Your link doesn't mention anything about illegal funds, I was going to call you out for trying to mislead but then I Google'd it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/michael-grimm_n_1853232.html
Wow, pretty murkey Eric Cantor (Republican head of the House!) in there too receiving the monies, so you can bet this one will be buried quick.