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Wikileaks Releases Docs Before Trial of TPB Founder Warg

Posted by timothy on from the with-a-calculator-he-could-upload-a-virus-to-the-mothership dept.

Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg is to be tried starting tomorrow in Sweden, after his indictment last month for computer hacking and fraud. Wikileaks has released several documents related to his detention and the associated charges. From the summary of this material: "This material includes inter alia the interrogations with GSW and his co-accused, internal correspondence from the Swedish Foreign Minister and the Swedish embassy in Cambodia, damage assessment reports by the companies and the authorities concerned, and correspondence between GSW and Kristina Svartholm and the Swedish prison authorities. The material is formally public, but the Swedish prosecution authority has refused to provide the documents in digital format. Photocopying this volume of paper costs around £350." Notable is the refusal of Warg's request to obtain a graphing calculator while in prison.

48 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    With a graphing calculator he'd be able to properly plot the trajectory of his prison escape cannon.

    1. Re:Of course by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

      He might start whistling into it and launch nuclear missiles. :P

    2. Re:Of course by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      With a graphing calculator he'd be able to properly plot the trajectory of his prison escape cannon.

      Not far from the truth. Many prisons use electronic locks on all the doors, which is in turn connected to a network and controlled through a server in the control center. You can build a card reader/writer from a tape head, and use the microprocessor inside the graphing calculator to read and amplify the pulses. You can also connect the GPIO pins to, say, the controller IC inside the door lock. A few hours of being left unattended, and using just that graphing calculator, engineer not only my own escape, but the entire facility.

      Think it's a bit 007? It's already been done. Security researchers have already built mockups of the exact same hardware used in prisons today and discovered that with only basic electronic components, a prisoner inside his cell could access the lock mechanism and free himself.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    3. Re: Of course by cbeaudry · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You might sound convincing, but what you are describing is BS.

      Electronic locks require voltage to unlock, which is not local to the door, especially in a prison.
      It takes much more than a few electronic parts to spoof a card, also you first need to clone said card.

      Also, this doesnt take into account the cameras, and doors that do not have card readers for egress. These doors require remote unlocking with visual verification.

      Oh also for those wondering, you cant shoot a reade to unlock a door ;)

    4. Re:Of course by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Sure, he can just pull out the hot-air rework station he was hiding under his cot, so he can remove the microcontroller from the board without breaking it.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    5. Re:Of course by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Many prisons use electronic locks on all the doors,

      They might in your country (I'm going to guess that it's somewhere between Canada and Mexico), but you've got a massively industrialised incarceration business, with an incentive to maximise profits for the corporations who run the prisons. Most European prisons (there are a few exceptions in Britain, which are struggling to break even) are state-run and incarcerate typically less than a tenth of the proportion of the population that the American penal system does. Being much smaller (a thousand person prison is "huge"), economies of scale are also smaller.

      Not having been in jail myself, but the inside of police stations that I have seen, all the locks are mechanical. No wiring to compromise ; no servers vulnerable to being hacked. To open, or close, a door needs someone with the correct key to go to the correct door, insert and turn that key. Sometimes, a key needs to be turned simultaneously on either side of the door, which makes stealing a warders keys considerably less effective.

      When was the last time that we had a successful break out from a prison higher than minimum ("parole", literally) security prison. I can't remember one. I can remember occasional riots, and a couple of warders getting killed several decades ago ; but no associated break-out. Which tends to suggest that the level of security is appropriate to the actual threat.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    6. Re: Of course by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      You might sound convincing, but what you are describing is BS.

      Hackers take aim at prison locks and other real-world targets
      Vulnerability allows hackers to open prison doors, hiding activity from central command

      Hacking Prisons - John Strauchs, Tiffany Rad, & Teague Newman
      Researchers Say Vulnerabilities Could Let Hackers Spring Prisoners From Cells

      Clearly, they're all full of shit too.

      Electronic locks require voltage to unlock, which is not local to the door, especially in a prison.

      The electronic locks run on magical sky energy. There is no voltage in those wires.

      Also, this doesnt take into account the cameras, and doors that do not have card readers for egress. These doors require remote unlocking with visual verification.

      Right, because there has never been a case of a system being thought of as so foolproof that it didn't need to be monitored. (Ominous look upwards) And what the hell is this "visual verification" you speak of? It sounds impressive, but it could mean "I had to look at the lock," in the same way I have to visually verify that my car's ignition and not just blindly stick the key wherever.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    7. Re: Of course by cbeaudry · · Score: 1

      Sorry I'm late to reply, didint notice until today that you had.

      Now...

      1. I read both articles. They are about someone from the OUTSIDE, developping a small piece of code to attack a SINGLE SPECIFIC system Siemens, that seems to have a vulnerability, and this ONLY works if you have physical access to the MAIN SERVER or manage to hack your way in to it from the internet (which I agree is possible if the state is retarded and has shit for security, such as hooking up the security network to the main network.)

      2. Voltage in wires come from a power supply. It is triggered by a relay. That trigger comes from a command, after an event (card read, button press, software command). If you are standing in front of the door, and you do not have an access card, THERE IS NO WAY TO MAKE THE SYSTEM SEND VOLTAGE. The wires DO NOT HAVE VOLTAGE at all times.

      Your comments make you look retarded.

      3. None of the links describe an inmate making a hacking device from a calculator and a piece of gum (like you described). So you are full of shit as my first post said.

      4. Visual verification means, there isnt even a reader at the door. The lock is on the secure side and it is not even accessible. A security guard from a REMOTE STATION needs to acknowledge who you are and physicaly PRESS A BUTTON or command to release the door lock so you can get out/in.

      I'm not saying its impossible to hack security systems. Ive installed them for the last 16 years in all sorts of places (including prisons) and Ive seen some really badly installed systems. But there are some basic things that people believe based on movies that are JUST FALSE. I.E. Pluggin a device in a magnetic swipe reader and trying a million codes... (In the real world, 5 tries in 1 min and YOUR OUT. System locks up for 2 mins or whatever its configured for.)

  2. a graphing calculator these days... by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 2

    a graphing calculator these days... is as good as a computer, just without the internet access. that's a strange point.

    1. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I bet he wanted to play snake. That game was bitchin in high school.

    2. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by click2005 · · Score: 1

      Are prison locks or facilities even hackable?

      I dont know about prisons in Sweden but here in the UK they get access to games consoles (and France appears Xbox exclusive), satellite TV and more so I fail to see the harm in a calculator even if it was designed to be user hackable.
      http://www.gamesradar.com/over-36000-prisoners-allowed-to-own-game-consoles-in-the-uk/

      --
      I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
    3. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by oodaloop · · Score: 2

      Maybe he just wanted to see some BOOBIES.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    4. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Most prisoners would get access to that in Sweden too. The problem here is that Mr. Warg didn't rape or murder someone, instead he did something that pissed off the authorities.

    5. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by alexander_686 · · Score: 1

      It sounds kind of silly, but it is a computer. I don't know abut the Swedish prison system, but in America communication with the outside is regulated, monitored and subject to search – legal consul being an exception. Some of the (older?) versions have a IR, so another method to communicate. So letters could be written and then smuggled out. I have visions of crime bosses running their gang from the inside. Probably not applicable in this case but everybody needs to be treated the same.

    6. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Funny

      I dont know about prisons in Sweden but here in the UK they get access to games consoles (and France appears Xbox exclusive), satellite TV and more so I fail to see the harm in a calculator even if it was designed to be user hackable.

      They have that in American Prisons too; Keeps the maladjusted from harming society without cutting them off completely -- Except, they don't call them "prisons", they call them "parent's basements" here.

      If you've ever seen an dispute between basement dwellers, you'd know full well the danger of adding graphing calculators to the mix...

    7. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Rei · · Score: 1

      Warg's restrictions are special specifically because the crime his charged with is hacking. Banning a graphing calculator is probably overreach, but it's understandable why they'd want to keep him away from computers.

      --
      sed "s/SJW.*$/... never mind. I was about to say something stupid, and also, I'm a troglodyte./Ig"
    8. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No this is like them not allowing Mitnick to use a phone because they thought he would be able to launch a nuke. It is ridiculous technophobia and is specific to this prisoner.

    9. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by alexander_686 · · Score: 2

      I am going to have to disagree with you there – but it is a subject that I struggle with.

      Convicted felons have (and should) their rights restricted. For example, in America, ownership of firearms is restricted. Reasonable.

      But for computers / internet – in a blanket sort of way? You apply online for jobs, you communicate via e-mail, you get public services via the internet. You are stacking the odds against a person to intergate themselves back into society.

    10. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Convicted felons have (and should) their rights restricted. For example, in America, ownership of firearms is restricted. Reasonable.

      It's not reasonable at all. The persons paid their debt to society. Why can they never vote or own a firearm again? Remember, the VAST majority of convicted felons were convicted of things that were non-violent drug offenses and in most cases were years or decades in their past. If they've served their time, why are they punished for the rest of their lives? We're talking about a dude that got busted in his 20s with some coke and now he's 50, has a family, a good job, and can't vote or own a gun. It's ridiculous. All punishments should be finite and have an end.

      The prohibition on voting is simply a way to keep people that might have insight into what needs to change about the prison system from having any ability to vote to change it.

    11. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So people accused of treason are kept away from pens? People accused of physical violence are kept in isolation? People accused of stealing food are starved to death? People accused of lock picking have no lock on the prison cell?

      As simple as it may seem, it just does not make sense. You cannot blame the tool for the crime.

    12. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A 2008 audit revealed that 12,948 game consoles were purchased for use in prisons with taxpayersâ(TM) money. The cost of the consoles and games totaled £221,726.

      That's £17.12 per console. Including both console and games. What are they playing, Pong?

    13. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by alexander_686 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let me ask you a question – is your objection that felons who have served their time can't vote or that the standard for felonies – those major crimes against society – has been watered down? Because it sounds to me that it is the watering down of felonies that is your issues – and I would agree with you there.

    14. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't have an issue with a non-violent felon owning a gun. Honestly, I don't really have a problem with a violent one owning a gun either, because if he wants one, he's going to have one. At least if he's registered one, we know he has it.

      And I don't have a problem with ANYONE voting, whether they're as sweet as Strawberry Shortcake or as monstrous as Charles Manson.

    15. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by meerling · · Score: 1

      It's kind of like being accused of vehicular homicide, and being denied riding the city bus, if you weren't incarcerated of course.

    16. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      450000000M

    17. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Arker · · Score: 1

      "Let me ask you a question â" is your objection that felons who have served their time can't vote or that the standard for felonies â" those major crimes against society â" has been watered down? Because it sounds to me that it is the watering down of felonies that is your issues â" and I would agree with you there."

      I cant speak for the other poster but I would say both contentions are correct. A lot of things are being called felonies now that should not be. But even beyond that, I believe the grandparent poster is correct. Once someone has served their 'debt to society' and are released they should be free again.

      --
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    18. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Let me ask you a question – is your objection that felons who have served their time can't vote or that the standard for felonies – those major crimes against society – has been watered down? Because it sounds to me that it is the watering down of felonies that is your issues – and I would agree with you there.

      I would object to both.

      Somebody convicted of a crime is either a danger to society or they aren't. If they are dangerous to be allowed in public, then they shouldn't be allowed in public - full stop. If they aren't, then quite badgering about it for the rest of their life. Frankly our criminal justice system needs to be a lot less punitive and a lot more rehabilitative. I'm fine with deterring crime, but clearly that on its own doesn't work. If a criminal can't be rehabilitated then they should get a life sentence, even if all they did was beat somebody up. If they can be rehabilitated, then they should be released once they're able to function normally in society, even if they killed 35 people. As a citizen my concern is not whether the guy across the street was appropriately punished like a 12 year old, but rather whether they're capable of not acting like a 12 year old now.

      Sure, the system will always be imperfect, but I don't really see much value in permanent sanctions. By all means use parole (and by that I mean an invasive probation where you actually help the parolee re-integrate over years with heavy contact), but once they're just an ordinary citizen, let them be an ordinary citizen (heaven forbid that criminals that rehabilitate have something to look forward to).

      When you turn people into second-class citizens they'll start acting like second-class citizens.

      Banning gun ownership by felons is also doubly silly. If you think they're not dangerous then why ban gun ownership? If you do think they have no regard for the law, then why do you think outlawing gun ownership will stop them when whatever law they previously broke failed to do so?

    19. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

      I think it's perfectly reasonable to keep someone who's been shown to be criminally irresponsible with firearms from having access to them. Ever. (But then I am about as anti-gun as they come, make of that what you will.)

      The real cause for concern here is that drug offences that shouldn't be offences in the first place are treated as felonies, so that anyone with a personal interest in changing the drug laws is effectively silenced. And of course, anyone who's read a bit of history knows that drug laws (those of the US in particular) are not much about public health and very much about identifying and neutralising non-conformists.

      And let us not forget that marijuana was outlawed specifically because it was seen as a "Negro" drug...

      BTW, once you've done your time, you can apply for re-enfranchisement. I'm not saying it's always granted, but it does happen.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    20. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by silentcoder · · Score: 2

      This is a fairly common thing, though not always practical. In Brazil crime bosses regularly DO run their gangs from the inside. A few years ago the Brazilian authorities tried to end this by putting cellphone signal blockers around prisons.

      The result was violent gang-on-police war in the streets of Sao Paulo as the gangs basically attacked the police head-on. It lasted several days and then mysteriously ended - the popular belief being that the government quietly caved and disabled the signal blockers.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    21. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      >No, it's like how convicted pedophiles are not allowed to live or hang out near schools.

      Or teenagers who got caught sexting.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    22. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      No this is only semi true. Prisoners who go to school in the Prison has access to computers during class. These computers have sometimes been connected to the Internet but not since the accident that you brought up.

    23. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      I'll try to be respectful here, but I do have a question: A felon has, by definition, disobeyed the law. What makes you believe they would respect the laws in regards to firearm possession?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    24. Re:a graphing calculator these days... by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      As many others have replied, I object to both your propositions. People can and do change. Even a murderer that gets back out should be given their constitutional rights back again. After all, do you really think any law is going to even slightly hinder their ability to get a gun if they want to use it to commit a crime? I'd argue that the law actually creates an black-market that wouldn't otherwise exist and likely aids someone with ill intent.

  3. Re:Not really a leak by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Informative

    In Sweden, these type of documents are accessible to the public, you just order them and pay an administrative fee. It's nice that Wikileaks releases the documents digitally tho.

    that was in the summary. that it costs 350 to get these in paper format since the prosecutor refused to give them in digital form...

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  4. Cost to Copy? Here's a Cheaper Way by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Either a 'Droid, or iPhone camera would do an excellent job. And then you can email it!

    1. Re:Cost to Copy? Here's a Cheaper Way by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Are we having a bad day mate? Or has 350 pounds become trivial for the unwashed?

  5. Re:Not really a leak by kthreadd · · Score: 1

    I guess they want the documents to be public, but not too public.

  6. Industry level security? by jovius · · Score: 2

    In the Logica incident report it says that after the incident they run the same password cracking tools as the perpetrators and managed to crack a very large number of user passwords. Their summary:

    In general, the passwords set by Logica, Applicate and their customers are:

    • - Very easy to discover by a dictionarv attack
    • - Often is still the default password that where set once when the account where
      created
    • - Not complex (as per password camplexity goes)

    Since RACF stores its passwords in uppercase only, and that there is a restriction on what
    characters can be used, the keyspace is samewhat limited, thus letting the attacker running a
    brute force password cracking attem pt gaining yet a nother advantage.

  7. Re:Not really a leak by alexander_686 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but that is true for a lot of government documents. One used to have privacy via anonymity. The information was public but was hard to get to. You had to got the court house – if you knew the right jurisdiction, and you could paw though the records until you found what you wanted. (Or did not find – but what did that mean? Maybe you were not looking in the right spot.) Now it's all getting out there...

  8. O.o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    350 british pounds is a small fee to you?

    Can i bum 100 off ya? I uhm, need to buy a small coffee.

  9. Re:Not really a leak by game+kid · · Score: 1

    "Public documents? At a low cost!? Guffaw! Let them eat Kickstarter!"

    --
    You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  10. Re:wikileaks shakes the world... again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Ok, show us where we can get our hands on the material when not living in Sweden or paying for it?

  11. Re:wikileaks shakes the world... again! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The prosecution were attempting the censor the information by making it difficult to access. Censorship doesn't have to be absolute to be effective. Now the barrier to reading these documents went from £350 to £0 and the electronic format is easier to handle (searching etc.)

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  12. Re:Not really a leak by meerling · · Score: 1

    well, it was being renovated...

  13. Wikileaks: xerox your way to freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "The material is formally public, but the Swedish prosecution authority has refused to provide the documents in digital format. Photocopying this volume of paper costs around £350."

  14. Re:wikileaks shakes the world... again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If it is just processing cost then the government should be happy wikileak is publishing the same document more efficiently in a better format for free. In fact they should even link to wikileak directly as a cheap and faster alternative while thanking them for their good work.

    On the other hand if it is about censorship then they will be mad about it. They will blame wikileak for all the evil in the world and use the legal system to bully someone into compliance.

    Let see what they do next...

  15. Re:Not really a leak [sic] by lpq · · Score: 1

    It's a leak to the public of "paywalled" information.

    At current exchange rates, $533.00, is hardly what most people would term an "administrative fee".

    If that's your idea of such, I could see alot more reason for making
    fines and penalties proportional to income in order to make such penalties equivalent in weight for those who are very well off.

  16. Re:wikileaks shakes the world... again! by noh8rz10 · · Score: 1

    it's like belonging to the No Homers club...