Never heard of the internet? Now you can deposit money into someone's account as long as they've hooked their bank account up to accept funds via an email address. You don't need to use banking software, or even log onto a banking page via the web. Just send an email. On your end, you need a bank account, but, as I pointed out before, there are plenty of people willing to accept money in return. Or just look at how many people fall for the "we would like you to be our transfer agent." scams.
"To put pedophilia on someone's computer you must first possess pedophelia(a crime)."
Do you think anyone who's going to do this to someone else is worried about being caught? That's like saying nobody would sell drugs because, to sell drugs, you have to have drugs in your possession (a crime). What a joke...
"How do you gain access to their office computer?"
Physical access is ridiculously easy in many cases, and works the best.
"Photoshopping is trivially obvious; any attempt would not correspond to reality and would most likely be held up for laughter."
Gee, guess you never saw the Oswald pics that the eff-bee-eye says are genuine, but the shadows don't match up.
"Your suggestions are laughably adolescent. There's not always a way to blackmail someone. Possibly embarrass, but not blackmail. To blackmail someone, you must find something that really happened that the victim really, truly doesn't want revealed."
Nope. If they believe that others will believe it, that is sufficient. You can be pure as fresh snow, but if I can convince you that others will believe beyond any reasonable doubt that you enjoy having sex with a horse, have sacrificed babies, and voted for Bush 80 times, you'll bend...
"Almost everyone has a "friend" or "acquaintance" who could be counted on to remove a blackmail threat permanently."
Yeah, right.... and asking to have someone killed just opens them up to more blackmail. After all, why would you resort to that if the blackmail threat wasn't credible.
Most people wouldn't know how to contract a hit if their life depended on it; Heck, most people don't know who to call to have an arm broken, and by the way, that's a good thing; violence doesn's solve shit. Look at Iraq as a case in point.
When it gets to the point that you think your only solution is to rub someone out, you've obviously shown that you're just stupid. There are ALWAYS alternatives;
Grow up. Nobody is blackmail-proof, and "removing a blackmail threat permanently" is both stupid and leaves you open to even more blackmail.
As I pointed out elsewhere, there is a ready supply of dupes who are willing to let you use their bank account for questionable transactions, and then claim identity theft.
It happens all the time. It still makes the papers once in a while, but less often now, because its not newsworthy any more, its such a common occurence.
Everyone has levers. The real way to work is to expect that people can be compromised and plan accordingly. Same as it was expected that any POW would break under torture.
Good point. I guess its too much to expect any bosses to fall on their own swords or show any sort of real leadership nowadays. Its gotten to the point where even Miss Carolina couldn't cause more damage.
"Little bit of ignorance here: This is specifically one of the things I look for. I knew somebody once who got to spend a year cleaning the dorms because he lost his clearance over debt(expensive truck on an E3 pay doesn't work).
"
So it works...:-)
Yes, people in debt over their ears will sell you out - and so will people who aren't in debt.
"It might mostly psychological, but blackmailing somebody who's innocent is far riskier than somebody who's guilty. The innocent is much more likely to blare out the situation to the world."
... not really. How many innocent people have accepted plea-bargains rather than go through the time and expense of contesting stuff. A lot of people would be so intimidated by the whole situation that they'd just die of embarrassment.
Even when its patently false, it does damage. Just look at the old joke about a woman going around the shopping mall looking for random happy couples, then going up to the guy and saying "I don't care that you left me for her, but how could you leave your own daughter? You know I don't make enough money to support us, and its a crime she has to go to bed hungry while you whore around!"
Now what would happen if that was followed up a few days later with a bogus lawsuit? And then someone talked to the guy, and said "look, this can all go away if you do xyz for us... - in return, you'll receive notification that she's some psycho bitch off her meds and the lawsuit will be dropped"... and make xyz something so small, so minor, that its worth it.
Record the guy agreeing to do it, and you p0wn him forever.
Oh, come off it. Sreening for "levers to blackkmail" actually makes it EASIER to blackmail someone
first, by validating the whole "you can be blackmailed for this" experience, and second, by putting that information where it can be stolen by a mole. 50 years ago, people could be blackmailed for having sex before marriage. Now, who gives a shit? Its about time we grew up on the rest of the blackmail issue - that you can only be blackmailed for something if society continues to see it as a dirty little secret.
Honestly, its time for the US population to stop thinking like Miss Carolina and just grow the fuck up. Nobody gives a shit if you're gay, lesbian, bi, or straight, or you cheated on your spouse, or you have debt, or you used illegal drugs, or you have a Britney Speares collection. Nobody. And the sooner the government makes this their official position, and sends a clear signal to the rest of society, the sooner blackmail for this sort of crap will no longer be possible.
Of course, the odds of that happening with Idiot Bush in charge are nill.
"Also more on the same point why does someone have to have a reason? So I have a few thousand in my savings and no real debt. Does that mean I wouldnt like a few thousand more?"
Exactly. We pay politicians a lot more than the average, but they still end up sucking at the corporate teat and forgetting who actually voted for them. Or look at all the CEOs who take more than they're entitled to (Martha Stewart, Conrad Black, Ken Lay...)
My ATM allows up to 50k per day. You can always find what are known as "pret-noms" - name-lenders - who, for a percentage, will let you "borrow" their account to do the transaction, then claim identity theft.
"It's a shame that eventually anyone who doesn't want to allow the FBI to open a dossier on them and start monitoring all their past and present communications will only be allowed to flip burgars or clean toilets"
Guess you've never wondered what a "terr'rist" and a bottle of Crazy Glue can to to a toilet seat... or what any burger-flipper can do to your meal if you piss them off. Hint - that green stuff wasn't relish.
held a TS with SBI once upon a time. The main reason for background checks, as I understand it, is to ferret out any levers that could be used against you by hostile agent. Too much debt? We'll get you out of trouble if you give us info. Cheating on your wife? With a man?! It would be a shame if we had to call her. Think of your kids.
It's not that they're morally judging you, its that they're making sure that you're not unduly susceptible to influence.
This is a BS excuse. Anyone wanting to blackmail someone can always either dig up a truth, or manufacture a lie, that is good enough to "get the job done."
Want to make someone look like they're on the take? Deposit 20k in their bank account in cash. Then, a week later, before they get their bank statement, meet and greet them, and tell them what you've done, and how "gee, its going to look like drug money - do this shit for us, and we'll "fix it"". Better yet, make a lump-sum payment on their mortgage for them, when they're swimming in debt over their heads.
Want to make someone look like they're cheating on their spouse? Photoshop to the rescue. Especially if you have some unshopped pictures of the victim and the "sex object" elsewhere - for example, approach them in a restaurant, sit at their table for a minute asking for directions, and getting them to make a sketch.
Want to make someone look like a pedophile? Dump pics on their computer at work. (boot off usb, copy pics to drive, mission accomplished. Worst-case scenario, you'll have to connect the drive's cable to another machine as a slave for a few minutes).
There are ALWAYS ways to blackmail someone. If NASA believes that these sorts of background checks really work, they've been breathing too much vacuum.
Its a laptop - you could have just stuck the whole thing in the fridge and let it run for a couple of hours next to all the lunches you coworkers brought in and abandonned if excess heat was keeping it from defragging.
Its like anything else... "because its already there" its use will be expanded. The police in NYC already routinely grab camera footage from private surveillance cameras. Sure, in many cases this is a "good thing" if it helps capture someone who's committed a crime... but with the definition of crime rapidly morphing into anything critical of government policy, this is another step on the slippery slope.
Its like a hard drive failure - its not a question if "if" it will be mis-used, but "when."
Citizen, you have resurrected the vanished komissar. This is prohibited by the DMCA and the PATRIOT Act. We kannot tell you exactly what you have infringed, that too is klassified as anti-capitalist behaviour.
You are obviously a either a kommunist or suffering some form of mental incapacity. Fortunately, in Soviet Amerika, we are generous, and give you the benefit of the doubt. We have reserved a room for you at the Gitmo Health Cpa and Vakation Resort.
Your bank account has been pre-billed so you kan take advantage of our generous discount rates.
We will take kare of informing your relatives, to spare you any embarrassment; Please sign this blank konfession^Wletter to them.
This is a picture of the last person who failed to show up for their health treatments. These are pictures of his family. Yes, it is most unfortunate, they were obviously deranged.
"- - My name is George Bush, and Dick Cheney Says I Approved This Message"
"And as far as the medical thing goes. *every* insurance policy requires details of doctors visits. The doctor sends a report out before the insurance company will pay him."
Those details are between the insurer and the doctor - not shared with the employer.
Maybe I should have made the point that all measures, including punch clocks, gps, and cameras on desks, can be worked around. The "camera on the desk" is easy of the two - just cover it. Or replace the output with a video loop of you furiously working. Or replace another coworkers' feed with a webcam devoted to online porn - so their attention is elsewhere.
For the GPS - unplug it, cut the wire, wrap tin foil around the antenna, short out the fuse, mail it to yourself by overnight courier and when they download its data they'll see that you impossibly went to some distribution hub and back. Keep a duplicate unit in the cab so you can show you "meet requirements", and at the end of the day, get the real system back from wherever you stashed it and put it into the cab - 0 miles done, all nicely validated.
If people think a law is overboard, they won't obey it - especially when its not in their best immediate financial interest.
"This technology could render very visually-convincing (but not computer/analytically convincing) image censorship or alteration. I am strongly reminded of this example of photo-editing from the 1940s:
Need I remind you, komerade, kommisar Nikolai Yezhov was originally ADDED to pikture, and that our Ministery of Truth only restored the photo to original kondition? Everyone knows that in Soviet Russia, photo alters YOU! Now, your papers, please. And remember to smile for the kamera, komerad.
"I wonder how well it would work for the porn industry too; nice automatic resizing of breasts without ruining the picture! Fetishists will be SO happy!:)"
They obviously "cherry-picked" the photos they worked with. Even then, there are problems with how they "distort reality", so that the landscape isn't what its represented to be. Somehow, I think it won't have such an easy time being so "content-aware" with this picture, or any of these "beauty contest" entries. And who'd want to - the reality is more than enough without being "enhanced!"
"I wouldn't object to having to clock in and out for an hourly job to verify that I was at work."
You really believe punch-clocks work?
A friend of mine works at a company where they tried to enforce the punch-clock. All of a sudden, overtime shot through the roof. The reason? Employees also became a lot stricter in their accounting of their time - rather than taking off early sometimes, and balancing it out with staying a bit later other times, on an informal basis, any time they had to stay later it was an automatic extra hour or two on the punch card, at time-and-a-half.
Now they don't care who punches who's punch card, as long as the work gets done. The cards get punched so that management can save face by not rescinding the "you have to punch in and out" rule, and people leave early when they can, and stay a bit when they have to. Better a civilized solution; being a bunch of dickheads* can be expensive.
(*do not click on the link unless you're a dickhead)
"What right does a cab driver have to privacy from his company when he's in his company's car and working on company time?"
So you shouldn't have any problems with keyloggers and reading all your email, and a camera in the washroom so that they can make sure you're not reading a newspaper instead of/while "taking care of business". Or demanding all the details of any doctors' visit that was even partially covered by company insurance. And posting same on the corporate blog for all your coworkers to see. And you shouldn't have a problem with cavity searches to make sure you're not walking off with a red stapler...
A lot of the taxicab drivers rent their rides for $X per shift + gas... the only thing their boss needs to know about is that the cab is returned with a full tank at the end of the day, and they paid their $X bucks the the shift.
People don't have enough privacy as is... maybe the fares don't want their movements tracked all the time. "Joe Blow took a cab ride from A to B on such-and-such a date" - booked off sick and went to the ball game, or his new wife checks and finds out he went to visit his daughter from his previous marriage, who doesn't get along with said trophy wife...
People don't always lie for nefarious reasons. Removing another layer of privacy is just maing it easier for dickheads to make everyone else miserable.
Its also great for "stalking" - most people have their IM client start up automatically when they boot their computer, so you know when they're in the office, even when you aren't.
So what's with this "Online - Invisible" bit - who do they think they're fooling, marking themselves as "Online - Invisible"? Its like little kids who thing that because they can't see you, you can't see them. Hmmm, maybe its just a Windows thing...
Slashdot Mirror
"Everything you mentioned is traced:"
Never heard of the internet? Now you can deposit money into someone's account as long as they've hooked their bank account up to accept funds via an email address. You don't need to use banking software, or even log onto a banking page via the web. Just send an email. On your end, you need a bank account, but, as I pointed out before, there are plenty of people willing to accept money in return. Or just look at how many people fall for the "we would like you to be our transfer agent." scams.
"To put pedophilia on someone's computer you must first possess pedophelia(a crime)."
Do you think anyone who's going to do this to someone else is worried about being caught? That's like saying nobody would sell drugs because, to sell drugs, you have to have drugs in your possession (a crime). What a joke...
"How do you gain access to their office computer?"
Physical access is ridiculously easy in many cases, and works the best.
"Photoshopping is trivially obvious; any attempt would not correspond to reality and would most likely be held up for laughter."
Gee, guess you never saw the Oswald pics that the eff-bee-eye says are genuine, but the shadows don't match up.
"Your suggestions are laughably adolescent. There's not always a way to blackmail someone. Possibly embarrass, but not blackmail. To blackmail someone, you must find something that really happened that the victim really, truly doesn't want revealed."
Nope. If they believe that others will believe it, that is sufficient. You can be pure as fresh snow, but if I can convince you that others will believe beyond any reasonable doubt that you enjoy having sex with a horse, have sacrificed babies, and voted for Bush 80 times, you'll bend ...
"Almost everyone has a "friend" or "acquaintance" who could be counted on to remove a blackmail threat permanently."
Yeah, right .... and asking to have someone killed just opens them up to more blackmail. After all, why would you resort to that if the blackmail threat wasn't credible.
- Most people wouldn't know how to contract a hit if their life depended on it; Heck, most people don't know who to call to have an arm broken, and by the way, that's a good thing; violence doesn's solve shit. Look at Iraq as a case in point.
- When it gets to the point that you think your only solution is to rub someone out, you've obviously shown that you're just stupid. There are ALWAYS alternatives;
Grow up. Nobody is blackmail-proof, and "removing a blackmail threat permanently" is both stupid and leaves you open to even more blackmail.As I pointed out elsewhere, there is a ready supply of dupes who are willing to let you use their bank account for questionable transactions, and then claim identity theft.
It happens all the time. It still makes the papers once in a while, but less often now, because its not newsworthy any more, its such a common occurence.
Everyone has levers. The real way to work is to expect that people can be compromised and plan accordingly. Same as it was expected that any POW would break under torture.
Good point. I guess its too much to expect any bosses to fall on their own swords or show any sort of real leadership nowadays. Its gotten to the point where even Miss Carolina couldn't cause more damage.
" Survey Shows More Women Blogging Than Men"
On the intenet, men are men, women are men, and little kids are fbi agents.
"Little bit of ignorance here: This is specifically one of the things I look for. I knew somebody once who got to spend a year cleaning the dorms because he lost his clearance over debt(expensive truck on an E3 pay doesn't work). "
So it works ... :-)
Yes, people in debt over their ears will sell you out - and so will people who aren't in debt.
"It might mostly psychological, but blackmailing somebody who's innocent is far riskier than somebody who's guilty. The innocent is much more likely to blare out the situation to the world."
Even when its patently false, it does damage. Just look at the old joke about a woman going around the shopping mall looking for random happy couples, then going up to the guy and saying "I don't care that you left me for her, but how could you leave your own daughter? You know I don't make enough money to support us, and its a crime she has to go to bed hungry while you whore around!"
Now what would happen if that was followed up a few days later with a bogus lawsuit? And then someone talked to the guy, and said "look, this can all go away if you do xyz for us ... - in return, you'll receive notification that she's some psycho bitch off her meds and the lawsuit will be dropped" ... and make xyz something so small, so minor, that its worth it.
Record the guy agreeing to do it, and you p0wn him forever.
Honestly, its time for the US population to stop thinking like Miss Carolina and just grow the fuck up. Nobody gives a shit if you're gay, lesbian, bi, or straight, or you cheated on your spouse, or you have debt, or you used illegal drugs, or you have a Britney Speares collection. Nobody. And the sooner the government makes this their official position, and sends a clear signal to the rest of society, the sooner blackmail for this sort of crap will no longer be possible.
Of course, the odds of that happening with Idiot Bush in charge are nill.
"Also more on the same point why does someone have to have a reason? So I have a few thousand in my savings and no real debt. Does that mean I wouldnt like a few thousand more?"
Exactly. We pay politicians a lot more than the average, but they still end up sucking at the corporate teat and forgetting who actually voted for them. Or look at all the CEOs who take more than they're entitled to (Martha Stewart, Conrad Black, Ken Lay ...)
My ATM allows up to 50k per day. You can always find what are known as "pret-noms" - name-lenders - who, for a percentage, will let you "borrow" their account to do the transaction, then claim identity theft.
"It's a shame that eventually anyone who doesn't want to allow the FBI to open a dossier on them and start monitoring all their past and present communications will only be allowed to flip burgars or clean toilets"
Guess you've never wondered what a "terr'rist" and a bottle of Crazy Glue can to to a toilet seat ... or what any burger-flipper can do to your meal if you piss them off. Hint - that green stuff wasn't relish.
This is a BS excuse. Anyone wanting to blackmail someone can always either dig up a truth, or manufacture a lie, that is good enough to "get the job done."
Want to make someone look like they're on the take? Deposit 20k in their bank account in cash. Then, a week later, before they get their bank statement, meet and greet them, and tell them what you've done, and how "gee, its going to look like drug money - do this shit for us, and we'll "fix it"". Better yet, make a lump-sum payment on their mortgage for them, when they're swimming in debt over their heads.
Want to make someone look like they're cheating on their spouse? Photoshop to the rescue. Especially if you have some unshopped pictures of the victim and the "sex object" elsewhere - for example, approach them in a restaurant, sit at their table for a minute asking for directions, and getting them to make a sketch.
Want to make someone look like a pedophile? Dump pics on their computer at work. (boot off usb, copy pics to drive, mission accomplished. Worst-case scenario, you'll have to connect the drive's cable to another machine as a slave for a few minutes).
There are ALWAYS ways to blackmail someone. If NASA believes that these sorts of background checks really work, they've been breathing too much vacuum.
... they want to make sure you're not buying a box of Depends ...
You mean this one ...
Its like anything else ... "because its already there" its use will be expanded. The police in NYC already routinely grab camera footage from private surveillance cameras. Sure, in many cases this is a "good thing" if it helps capture someone who's committed a crime ... but with the definition of crime rapidly morphing into anything critical of government policy, this is another step on the slippery slope.
Its like a hard drive failure - its not a question if "if" it will be mis-used, but "when."
Citizen, you have resurrected the vanished komissar. This is prohibited by the DMCA and the PATRIOT Act. We kannot tell you exactly what you have infringed, that too is klassified as anti-capitalist behaviour.
You are obviously a either a kommunist or suffering some form of mental incapacity. Fortunately, in Soviet Amerika, we are generous, and give you the benefit of the doubt. We have reserved a room for you at the Gitmo Health Cpa and Vakation Resort.
Your bank account has been pre-billed so you kan take advantage of our generous discount rates.
We will take kare of informing your relatives, to spare you any embarrassment; Please sign this blank konfession^Wletter to them.
This is a picture of the last person who failed to show up for their health treatments. These are pictures of his family. Yes, it is most unfortunate, they were obviously deranged.
"- - My name is George Bush, and Dick Cheney Says I Approved This Message"
"And as far as the medical thing goes. *every* insurance policy requires details of doctors visits. The doctor sends a report out before the insurance company will pay him."
Those details are between the insurer and the doctor - not shared with the employer.
Maybe I should have made the point that all measures, including punch clocks, gps, and cameras on desks, can be worked around. The "camera on the desk" is easy of the two - just cover it. Or replace the output with a video loop of you furiously working. Or replace another coworkers' feed with a webcam devoted to online porn - so their attention is elsewhere.
For the GPS - unplug it, cut the wire, wrap tin foil around the antenna, short out the fuse, mail it to yourself by overnight courier and when they download its data they'll see that you impossibly went to some distribution hub and back. Keep a duplicate unit in the cab so you can show you "meet requirements", and at the end of the day, get the real system back from wherever you stashed it and put it into the cab - 0 miles done, all nicely validated.
If people think a law is overboard, they won't obey it - especially when its not in their best immediate financial interest.
Open source alternative via the GIMP:
- use the "magic wand" tool to select your "magic wand tool"
- "convert selection to path"
- "stroke path"
Feel free to experiment by repeatedly stroking with different values"This technology could render very visually-convincing (but not computer/analytically convincing) image censorship or alteration. I am strongly reminded of this example of photo-editing from the 1940s:
http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanish es/vanishes.htm
"
Need I remind you, komerade, kommisar Nikolai Yezhov was originally ADDED to pikture, and that our Ministery of Truth only restored the photo to original kondition? Everyone knows that in Soviet Russia, photo alters YOU! Now, your papers, please. And remember to smile for the kamera, komerad.
"I wonder how well it would work for the porn industry too; nice automatic resizing of breasts without ruining the picture! Fetishists will be SO happy! :)"
They obviously "cherry-picked" the photos they worked with. Even then, there are problems with how they "distort reality", so that the landscape isn't what its represented to be. Somehow, I think it won't have such an easy time being so "content-aware" with this picture, or any of these "beauty contest" entries. And who'd want to - the reality is more than enough without being "enhanced!"
"or match the serial numbers of the cash you payed with to your bank account."
One good reason to have a $10 coin ... without an embedded RFID chip, please ...
"I wouldn't object to having to clock in and out for an hourly job to verify that I was at work."
You really believe punch-clocks work?
A friend of mine works at a company where they tried to enforce the punch-clock. All of a sudden, overtime shot through the roof. The reason? Employees also became a lot stricter in their accounting of their time - rather than taking off early sometimes, and balancing it out with staying a bit later other times, on an informal basis, any time they had to stay later it was an automatic extra hour or two on the punch card, at time-and-a-half.
Now they don't care who punches who's punch card, as long as the work gets done. The cards get punched so that management can save face by not rescinding the "you have to punch in and out" rule, and people leave early when they can, and stay a bit when they have to. Better a civilized solution; being a bunch of dickheads* can be expensive.
(*do not click on the link unless you're a dickhead)
"What right does a cab driver have to privacy from his company when he's in his company's car and working on company time?"
So you shouldn't have any problems with keyloggers and reading all your email, and a camera in the washroom so that they can make sure you're not reading a newspaper instead of/while "taking care of business". Or demanding all the details of any doctors' visit that was even partially covered by company insurance. And posting same on the corporate blog for all your coworkers to see. And you shouldn't have a problem with cavity searches to make sure you're not walking off with a red stapler ...
A lot of the taxicab drivers rent their rides for $X per shift + gas ... the only thing their boss needs to know about is that the cab is returned with a full tank at the end of the day, and they paid their $X bucks the the shift.
People don't have enough privacy as is ... maybe the fares don't want their movements tracked all the time. "Joe Blow took a cab ride from A to B on such-and-such a date" - booked off sick and went to the ball game, or his new wife checks and finds out he went to visit his daughter from his previous marriage, who doesn't get along with said trophy wife ...
People don't always lie for nefarious reasons. Removing another layer of privacy is just maing it easier for dickheads to make everyone else miserable.
Its also great for "stalking" - most people have their IM client start up automatically when they boot their computer, so you know when they're in the office, even when you aren't.
So what's with this "Online - Invisible" bit - who do they think they're fooling, marking themselves as "Online - Invisible"? Its like little kids who thing that because they can't see you, you can't see them. Hmmm, maybe its just a Windows thing ...
What is this landline phone you speak of?
I refused to use chat for years, but for interoffice communications, its quicker than email, and better than shouting "hey, what's that url again?"