[ale] Linux apparently illegal in MA

Sat Apr 18 04:46:48 EDT 2009

On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:09:35 -0400
Robert Reese~ <ale at sixit.com> wrote:
> >
> > Clearly he had enough sh!t to know how to do the effort defined in
> > the allegation.  The fact that he fixes computers (even ones
> > suggested to be Linux) suggest that he knows more than the average
> > joe (or jane). So he would be in my top ten list of suspects.
> 
> Are you suggesting he's in the top 10 people in the entire Boston
> area, including those enrolled in CS majors?  And exactly what is he
> accused of that was illegal?  Sending a mass email to the student
> population outing his roommate is not illegal.  Stupid, and probably
> actionable, but not illegal.  Based on the word of the victim
> spouting unsupported allegations, the detective in the case decided
> that a decade of weekend classes needed to finally be put to use in
> this case.  And succeeded in using a bazooka to hunt a squirrel.

Pretty much.  There was pretty good indication in the application that
the officer really didn't like the alleged criminal, either.  The fact
that some stupid clerk thought that the warrant application was proof of
probable cause is absolutely terrifying, I think.  The bar is
apparently so low that it doesn't much matter who you allege did what,
minor modifications to that application could single a warrant out for
probably any of us on this list.

The parts that angered me the most were the ones that indicated that
use of non-FAT file systems, encryption, password protection, etc.,
were signs that one had something to hide and must be trying to make
life difficult for law enforcement.  I mean, seriously; I see nothing
wrong with someone securing their computer down to the firmware if it
can be done.  Often it can't, which is pretty sad, but it'd be nice if
it were possible.  Hell, I think it'd be nice for there to be some way
to re-flash firmware such that you had to supply a key just to decrypt
the firmware to be able to boot the system, say, by having just enough
firmware on-board to load a firmware image from some storage device
that would have to be provided by the user.  At least then a computer
is worthless to anyone else in the event that it is stolen, whether by
a criminal or by LEOs.

> All I can see that he might be nicked for would be the movies and
> probably music, neither of which are included in the charges for
> which the warrant was issued, and if he indeed hacked into the
> grading system and changed grades which is by far the most serious
> offense he may have committed.  However, all of that was on the word
> of a disgruntled roommate.  Interestingly, the self-professed trained
> and experienced "Cyber Crime Investigator" (not to mention the fact
> that he's chatted, emailed, and bought stuff online) believes that
> jail-breaking iPhones is illegal as well as "fixing" computers to use
> encryption.

Yep.  The only thing that was confirmed by staff at BC being that those
emails were sent, makes this whole thing look like it's sitting on
nothing at all.  I really don't know how that wasn't caught before the
thing was executed.  The thing even read like the cop had an agenda
being furthered by the roommate's agenda.

And even if the alleged criminal _did_ change grades in the system,
that is for BC to file complaints for/fire him for/handle
internally/whatever.  Obviously the staff would have to be involved in
that.  It'd be like me calling up the police and saying that my
girlfriend was involved in something at work of which I had no proof
and the police carrying it all the way somewhere.  The only way I can
think of that the roommate would have any proof is if his grades were
altered by the accused, and then he'd be just as culpable for
requesting it.  And yet, no mention of that in the warrant application.

> And Det. 'Ricky Ranger', who has served just TEN warrants in sixteen
> years, charges the kid with "Obtaining computer services by Fraud or 
> Misrepresentation".   Huh?  Where is THAT alleged??  He did charge
> the kid with "Unauthorized access to a computer System", a
> nefariously vague charge, but doesn't specify what computer system.
> If it is the grading system, I find it interesting that during the
> detective's interaction with the Director of Security for I.T. at BC
> they go into great depth of how the kid visited a gay website and
> accessed the email system from his dorm but there is nary a word from
> the security honcho about a break-in of the grading system.  Hmmm....
> I guess accessing gay porn is much worse than changing grades.

I am fairly convinced that the officer tried to paint as dark a picture
as he could to the probably relatively closed-minded court clerk.  The
only things I see that stand out in the warrant is homosexuality,
hidden files, multiple operating systems, and encryption.  Well, shit,
call me guilty on 75% of the above, I must be doing something nasty.

I mean, yeah, he _must_ have something to hide if he's using an
operating system that is rare (oh, nevermind the fact that it's only
"rare" for this cop's purposes, and that companies ranging from Apple
to IBM to Symantec to Microsoft all are aware of it; rare, indeed).
And nevermind the fact that, well, Linux is what, the continuation of
but one line in 40 years of development of UNIX-like systems, being the
oldest truly common operating system family over the decades.

Hey, copper-boy could extend the "multiple operating systems" argument
to IBM and say that they must be doing something horribly wrong; they
probably encrypt a good lot of their data, too, all over the place.
Maybe this officer should ask his buddy at the MA State Police to raid
the IBM buildings in the area.  There's sure to be at least one.  And
hey, they can probably find a gay man, some dot files, at least four
operating systems, and a good lot of encrypted data.  Maybe even more
than four operating systems; how many operating systems _has_ IBM
developed over the years?

Someday, some idiot will think that "OMG opaque bit stream" will be
enough to request a warrant, and some other idiot will grant it.

> > Were you paying attention back then?  It was perceived as a bomb
> > threat in a post-9/11 world.  Granted these days it would probably
> > go unnoticed, but back then it was touch-n-go....and not just in
> > Boston (a city that lost two originating planes that hit and
> > destroyed the twin towers...unless you are one of those loonies
> > that believes it was an inside job.....).
> 
> Yes, I was paying attention, perhaps more than the average person
> (but for different reasons).  And it was absolutely moronic back
> then; as if a terrorist would plant a brightly-lit, colorful cartoon
> bomb that screamed, "Hey, look at me!".  It was absurdity bordering
> on lunacy.  A person can almost see how they lost those two planes in
> the first place.

Indeed.  I don't know how they didn't lose their job then, and I don't
know how they won't lose their job now.  Police are supposed to be
knowledgeable and observant, lest they be shown to lack credibility.
Hopefully, the EFF can mop the floor with these dolts.  They claim to
be experts, yet know nothing, and the technical claims in the
application---if they can even be called technical---are so inaccurate
that by themselves I cannot see how these idiots have any remaining
credibility.  If the BCPD officer is supposedly an expert, I don't know
how he couldn't sniff the bullshit coming from the MA State Police
officer, who was clearly also clueless.

> >  Also note: that the "two
> > guys" associated with the LED cartoon characters months later
> > "showed much more remorse, acknowledged their roles, and
> > apologized" according to the URL that you posted.
> 
> Sure, after relentless persecution and extended stays in jail.  There
> is little doubt the apologies were coerced.  Also look at the source.

And yet, people will continue to claim that "the system works."  After
all, what's a few innocent people when we catch so many _real_
criminals, right?

> > Back to Maybe-We-Need-Another-Tea-Party.. we do, but not for a BC
> > student, but rather for the original reason that tea was thrown
> > into Boston Harbor.
> 
> Not for the constitutional violations but for taxes?  I don't
> disagree we need to wipe out the current tax structure (and IRS) and
> go with a Fair Tax solution, but I do see the spirited relentless
> attacks on Constitutional liberties by Boston and Massachusetts to be
> enough reason for another Tea Party.

We certainly need _something_.  The level of incompetence in government
continues to rise, and the people don't care.  The amount of trust I've
had in government for years to actually serve me or protect squat hasn't
been raised from nil as far back as I can remember, years spent as a
brainwashed youth in that regard notwithstanding.

	--- Mike

-- 
The number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more
expected.
                            --- Ritchie & Thompson, June 1972
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