Slashdot Mirror
Hundreds of Police Agencies Distributing Spyware and Keylogger
realized sends this news from the EFF:
For years, local law enforcement agencies around the country have told parents that installing ComputerCOP software is the "first step" in protecting their children online. ... As official as it looks,ComputerCOP is actually just spyware, generally bought in bulk from a New York company that appears to do nothing but market this software to local government agencies. The way ComputerCOP works is neither safe nor secure. It isn't particularly effective either, except for generating positive PR for the law enforcement agencies distributing it.
As security software goes, we observed a product with a keystroke-capturing function, also called a "keylogger," that could place a family's personal information at extreme risk by transmitting what a user types over the Internet to third-party servers without encryption. EFF conducted a security review of ComputerCOP while also following the paper trail of public records to see how widely the software has spread. Based on ComputerCOP's own marketing information, we identified approximately 245 agencies in more than 35 states, plus the U.S. Marshals, that have used public funds (often the proceeds from property seized during criminal investigations) to purchase and distribute ComputerCOP. One sheriff's department even bought a copy for every family in its county.
As security software goes, we observed a product with a keystroke-capturing function, also called a "keylogger," that could place a family's personal information at extreme risk by transmitting what a user types over the Internet to third-party servers without encryption. EFF conducted a security review of ComputerCOP while also following the paper trail of public records to see how widely the software has spread. Based on ComputerCOP's own marketing information, we identified approximately 245 agencies in more than 35 states, plus the U.S. Marshals, that have used public funds (often the proceeds from property seized during criminal investigations) to purchase and distribute ComputerCOP. One sheriff's department even bought a copy for every family in its county.
Fuck the po-lice
If anyone ever wanted an example of why LEO agencies cannot be trusted, this is it.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
This is a misleading story and summary.
I got the impression the police were distributing this as some kind of internet filter, and secretly using it to monitor your computer.
It's not.
The are advertising it for what it is. A keylogger... so you can spy on your kids.
It's a crappy piece of software, and the company that produced it made some disreputable marketing claims.
The police are not using it to spy on you.
I have a 6yr old. The way I monitor his internet activity is simple. The computers in the living room right next to the couch. I can see everything he's doing, any time hes on it. I have the password so he can't log on without me entering it for him. Every game he plays or site he visits I go checkout myself. Btw, Adventure Time Battle party is his favorite and it's actually pretty fun for adults to.
I did not RTFA of course, but another possibility is to give the ability to dump kiddie porn on a target's computer to create more suspicion and give them leverage and a PR boost. I used to think the Police were above such things and that the "plant a gun" meme was rare, but as we have seen in St. Louis and making public records available that show the victim might not be a great guy... maybe this happens more than we think.
now we know: marketers. I wonder if Alan Moore's snake god already told him.
It comes down to knowing your kid.
I have a 6 yr old too. If she sees me looking at something on the computer, she'll come up, looking away and say "Daddy, is that kid appropriate?" before looking. I have no concerns that she'll break the rules, so I don't feel the need for any preventive controls. If I had a child with a different temperament I would react differently of course. For what its worth, my day job involves ensuring that people employed by my company are safe on the internet. Generally my 6 yr old is better behaved :)
On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
While you might agree or disagree with the laws themselves, the government is not displaying hypocrisy in this instance. The CEO for StealthGenie was not arrested for providing software, but advertising software for an illegal purpose. Since it is legal for parents to spy on their minor children, had StealthGenie advertised their product only for that use, it would have been legal. While duct tape is perfectly legal, it is illegal for me to advertise duct tape as "The best tape for securing your kidnapping victims". This is the same situation as StealthGenie.
A great example of this in the real world is water bongs. In my community, it is legal to make a bong and legal to sell them. So, every shop that does so advertises them for tabacco use. Now, the shop knows that 99%+ of their customers will use the bong for marijuana, but as long as they don't advertise that, they are fine.
Really? Wow, I've been living in a totalitarian state the past decades and didn't even notice it. How odd that I could easily travel to the US.
Dude, get your facts straight before you make yourself look like a douche. "Socialism" is a big bad word in the US, but the rest of the world uses it to laugh about you and your irrational fear of something you don't even know.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.