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364 Idaho Inmates Hacked Their Prison Tablets For Free Credits (bleepingcomputer.com)
According to local Idaho media, 364 inmates across at least five institutions exploited a vulnerability in their prison-issued tablets to assign nearly $225,000 worth of digital credits to their accounts. They were then able to use these credits to buy music and games. Bleeping Computer reports: The hacked tablets have been used at low-security level prisons across the U.S. for a few years now. They've been offered through a partnership between CenturyLink and JPay. Spokespersons for both companies said the vulnerability inmates exploited was identified and fixed. Officials from the Idaho Department of Correction (IDC) said there was no loss of state funds as a result of the hack, as inmates transferred only JPay-managed (fictitious) digital credits to their accounts. Most inmates transferred small amounts of credits to their tablet accounts. JPay said it recovered more than $65,000 worth of digital credits from the 364 inmate accounts. The company has suspended the ability to buy games and music via digital credits on the tablets of offending inmates. Email functionality was left intact, and the company plans to recover the incurred losses.
Good job. Let the prison-industrial complex take it on the chin for once.
> ...fictitious digital credits...
> ...company plans to recover the losses...
Yes, that should take about a minute since $0 = $0.
E
What'd they do, steal a spud or two? What the fuck is there to do in Idaho? What kind of name is Idaho for a state anyway? Let's forget about Idaho and talk about Wyoming. What kind of name is Wyoming for a state anyway? Now, Montana. That's a state! And what a name!
Tablets in prisons make correctional officers and managers happy. Inmates maintain community ties, they have something to do with their time, and like any privilege that can be taken away it's a tool the administration can use to control behavior.
the whole thing makes it seem like they did something horrible, when all they did was game the system to get some more games and music to pass the time with. I'm not opposed to that either. Prison shouldn't be about punishment, it should either be about containment (e.g. folks so dangerous we can't have them running the streets) or reform. Anything else is just sadism.
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Can we keep the Russian Trolls off the site please?
5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
"Allowing internet access to convicted criminals is NEVER a good idea!"
A felony DUI (for example, injuring a passenger while drunk driving, or prior DUI convictions, or their being kids in the car) will easily get you jail time, and deservedly so.
But there is no threat to society in him having access to the internet while serving time.
Since these are low security prisons, prisoners should be allowed to watch TV in several lounges, listen to an AM/FM radio in their cells, and use a land-line phone for a few minutes a day. Other than that, they should have access to carefully selected books, and newspapers. No internet access at all, not even email.
Allowing internet access to convicted criminals is NEVER a good idea!
Email is the modern replacement for snail mail so prisoners should have some access to it. However all their emails, except to and from their lawyers, should be monitored.
For maximum security prisons, prisoners should get a few minutes a week on a land-line phone.
Also you seem to have missed all the exploitative practices regarding prison supplied phone services
So they gave tablets with weak security to inmates at a prison.
And the tablets had a mechanism to buy services - music, games, etc.
And 364 convicts broke the security and stole services - an average of $618 worth each, as much as $11,000 in one case.
Why is this surprising?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It must have been some harmless fun, lord knows they need it.
[($)]
Since these are low security prisons, prisoners should be allowed to watch TV on their tablets, listen to internet radio in their cells, and use a cell phone whenever they want. Other than that, they should have access to any books, and newspapers they want. 24 hour internet access, especially email. For maximum security prisons, prisoners should get the same.
Allowing internet access to convicted criminals is ALWAYS a good idea!
FTFY, you fascist asshole.
All prisoners should be forced to read random Facebook posts and Twitter feeds
all day. Recidivists must also watch all Trending vids on youtube.
So, tough guy, are you really sure you want to hold up that liquor store?
USB, USB, USB!
$17 for a 15-minute local phone call it about time for rates to come down.
Hacker has been used as a label for a criminal for multiple decades. Move on, neckbeard, no one cares that hacker meant something different to the 70s MIT AI lab programmers.
under Obama. Trump raised them again...
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What the fuck is there to do in Idaho?
Drugs. And then what else are police going to do? Only 0.6% of Idaho's population is black, so harassing black people only occupies so much of their time. What's better than the low hanging fruit of drug users, especially in a state that's rabidly anti-pot, lacking even any form of medical marijuana use.
They'll likely all get the hole and extra time - exactly what those running the system wanted to happen. It's called a honey trap. Those morons would have never caught it if they didn't know ahead of time.
As in designed to be trivially hacked perhaps?
You're advocating all these reform and rehabilitation classes, but fail to realize how less likely to succeed at them inmates are when you crack down so hard on entertainment and communication. You want to confine them to educational/rehabilitative material every waking hour? And take away incentives to behave? Maintaining strong ties with family and partners has been shown to be more effective at reducing recidivism and disciplinary issues, limiting that is both sadistic and directly contravenes the goal of rehabilitation.
Honestly it sounds like you're trying to reconcile an intellectual desire to rehabilitate with an emotional desire to inflict punishment. Everything you suggested depriving inmates of makes rehab much less possible, as does that being the only content available. Not to mention the soul crushing level of supervision and restriction that would be required to have a go at your 'zero crime' fantasy that seems to include the trivial like this story. The prison system you're advocating will leave people so dehumanized and demoralized that all the rehabilitation programs in the world won't prevent the sky high recidivism when they get out and act like the animals you treated them like.
Have a look at the statistics, at what types of prisons result in the lowest recidivism: it's the ones that treat inmates like humans, and offer priveleges like entertainment access, computer/internet access, and keep them integrated with their families and community. Taking all that away and replacing it with nothing but edu/rehab games/movies/programs around the clock is sadistic and trying to call it a 'reform school' is an ironic joke.
well arent you a bitter old cunt.
I agree, when I was in(not for a crime as petty nor as safe as DUI) I was in there with DUI offenders. 3rd dui = manditory 1 year in prison in nevada. I felt bad for most of those guys. They were completely out of their element there. And it has to be rough mentally. There are things that you see there that you can never unsee. Things they would never have seen otherwise. Sometimes they even get caught up in some bullshit and end up getting fucked over or worse beaten raw because they dont understand the environment. I dont think DUI offenders should be incarcerated with the likes of the rest of the murderers, robbers, and violent offenders.
No internet access at all, not even email. For maximum security prisons, prisoners should get a few minutes a week on a land-line phone.
Nonsense. Social interaction decreases recidivism. It should be encouraged. Nearly all of these people are going to reenter society someday.
If they personally want to be, of course that's fine. Inflicting the greater harm of prohibition on other people, including non-users impacted on two ends from black market issues and civil rights loss, however, does indeed make them 'horrible monsters'. It's sadomoralism: inflicting greater harm on everyone to send a moral message than the harm that would exist if you simply allowed the activity and provided education, treatment, and rehab. It extends to all drugs, but pot is by far the most egregiously awful since it lacks the physical harm and addiction of hard drugs.
Wow! People with time on their hands can conquer just about anything. Kids and Criminals. Maybe these convicts have potential with the DOD. A recent story said that the DOD can't find & hire enough Cyber-Warriors to meet their needs. Right now these convicts are under Government authority and control. I'll bet any of them would jump at the chance to leave prison and work for the USA Federal Government. What a missed opportunity by the DOD. Regrettably, most will return after committing more crimes or run for office and become politicians. It's a real opportunity for the DOD to rehabilitation these convicts and keep them out of our Legislative Houses.
That's Funny! If I had mod points, I would mod you up as "funny".