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Ex-US State Dept. Worker Pleads Guilty To Extensive Sextortion Case (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: The former U.S. Department of State man accused of hacking into hundreds of victims' e-mail and social media accounts, stealing thousands of sexually explicit photographs, and threatening at least 75 victims that he would post those photos and other personal information unless they agreed to his demands has entered a guilty plea to the nefarious attacks. Michael C. Ford, 36, of Atlanta, was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Aug. 18, 2015, with nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud.
... did he do all of this from a server in his house?
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
A very tame example of why we shouldn't be allowing warrantless bulk data collection - the obvious better examples are those of journalists assassinated - such as Michael Hastings.
Come on, everyone knows to be a govt. employee you have to have sworn never to do illegal drugs, and to instead medicate bad feelings with pills that make you unable to have feelings. Potheads and hippies are the real plague.
*sheer
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Vulcan wouldn't care, but Mars might...
Then again, she really got around.
http://www.ancient.eu/venus/
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
"The majority of Ford’s phishing, hacking and cyberstalking activities were conducted from his computer at the U.S. Embassy in London." For all we know the next Aldridge Ames is working in the London embassy. It's not like state department security is going to catch him.
I don't see the news here - The NSA, GCHQ, CSEC etc. do most of that every day. They might not sell or post the data but it certainly feels threatening knowing they have it.
A very tame example of why we shouldn't be allowing warrantless bulk data collection - the obvious better examples are those of journalists assassinated - such as Michael Hastings.
I'm not defending this guy in any way, but if you read the article, it doesn't appear he used data from any government bulk data collection program. In fact, I don't think he used any special access he might have had working in the State Department. He just happened to be employed there. That doesn't make what he did okay, and it doesn't make government warrantless data collection okay, but one doesn't really follow from the other in this case at all.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
One of the constants in human history is that people can and will abuse any power they get - and government employees who have the power of government behind them will abuse the power over the citizens with even more vigor. This is why placing too much power in the hands of government is ALWAYS bad.
How's all that government spying on the citizens working out? The government has clearly been vacuuming-up data on all the people "to keep us safe", but it did not stop the Boston Bombing nor the shootout at the Pamela Gellar meeting in Texas (both of which SHOULD have rung every alarm bell @ DHS) nor San Bernadino, etc. Do we REALLY know how and for what all that data is being used?
Now with government access to all the electronic health records thanks to the ACA, are we really sure NO government employees are or will use any of that data for any nefarious purpose?
Remember the VA scandal: Government workers intentionally lost, deleted, returned, or otherwise deliberately mishandled veteran healthcare data to make it appear that they vets were getting the healthcare they were entitled to - while actually letting over 70 of them die.
Remember the IRS/TEA Party scandal: Government workers decided to delay action on various people based on their perceived political positions AND apparently transferred data on these people to other agencies to trigger harrassment via those other agencies.
Nearly every major airport in the US has had incidents of TSA employees abusing their ability to rifle through checked bags in order to steal valuables from the flying public.
There are countless examples of police misconduct, not only things like the current Chicago shooting where a mayor apparently decided to get through an election cycle where he needed both the police union and the black vote and therefore kept the shooting video suppressed, and the police appear to have filed fraudulent incident reports to hide an unjustified shooting. There have been many cases like the California CHP office Craig Peyer who used his patrol car to pull women over at remote locations and raped and murdered one (that we KNOW of).
The list of abuses of power by government employees is truly endless. There is simply some percent of the human race that cannot be trusted with power over other people, and there is no way known to man to keep them out of government employment.
Very painful new word - "sextorsion" sounds like someone getting their knickers in a twist.
HEY HEY HEY now ... don't go pointing out how completely clueless someone is being by showing how they could have basically no relationship with each other. How dare you fuck up his pushing of his own retardly formed political agenda with facts or reality. Arsehole.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
If this were a conservative administration, they would be blaming the POTUS.
It would be interesting to see a breakdown of those blackmailed Liberal vs Conservative.
the current administration does have a track record of looking the other way when conservatives are singled out.
Is this you? Are you a cow or an apping app apper?
Troubling, but it still looks like car crash+fire to me.
Why do your employers try? I'd rather have the cow guy. At least he's occasionally good for a laugh.
oh wow. LOL.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
rotflol
A very tame example of why we shouldn't be allowing warrantless bulk data collection - the obvious better examples are those of journalists assassinated - such as Michael Hastings.
There is no discussion of bulk data collection and based on what he was doing I think the more likely case is that one or more of the girls called the police who brought in the FBI and stung him. No bulk data collection required.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Pics or it didn't happen.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
Stuff that matters, maybe. But news for nerds? It this TMZ now?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I completely Disagree. The outcome of a trial is based on a jury, which is rarely a rational group of folks. People accept plea deals to avoid life-crushing penalties if they lose at trial. And don't tell me you really believe everyone convicted by a jury is actually guilty.
Let's find out
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
And why would ANYBODY be so stupid to admit to any crime?
You generally get a lighter sentence.
If you know you're guilty (and more to the point know you're going to be found guilty in a trial) for most non-capital crimes it's sensible to bite the bullet and plead guilty.
One of the horrible things about innocent people who are found guilty is that they get longer prison sentences and often no parole when they won't show remorse for a crime they didn't commit.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I will never understand why so many people seem to have email accounts that are full of naked pictures of themselves.