Who knows the truth? (article)

[hot_ice]

Hey people, some of you may have read this, but hopefully some haven't and will find it very interesting. It just makes me wonder what is really going on. What the public is told and what really happened might be a different story. Could a company murder someone just to get ahead of their competition? Nobody knows...

Anyways, the article can be found here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/745312.asp

If you are lazy (like me) and don't think it'll interest you, here are some snippets:

But now, the plastic cards are at the center of a global conspiracy theory — a cutthroat corporate battle, some say, to control the world’s living rooms through deception, cheating, and intimidation.

THE STORY COMES COMPLETE with alleged corporate-sponsored hacking, a $1 billion lawsuit, mysterious cash payoffs shipped in hollowed-out VCRs, and even a suspicious death.

The following year, in 1998, NDS went looking for more smart card expertise and contacted brilliant German hacker Boris Floricic. Known as “Tron” in the computer underground, Floricic was the author of a well-regarded research paper about reverse engineering smart card technology.
A few weeks later, in October of 1998, Floricic was found dead, hanging from a tree in a Berlin park. The death was ruled a suicide by authorities — a ruling many hackers reject.

A “fresh hack” could be worth up to $5 million, according to one estimate...
Rumors about the thriving pirate smart card trade abound. The most popular involves the discovery later that year of a VCR stuffed with $50,000 cash that was stopped at the Canadian border by U.S. Customs officials.

It's all very interesting to me. I would love to know what really goes on, but how can we trust anything we hear?

Greg

[NetSyn]

the jolly green giant did it!

[zaggy]

I think it has always been that way, what the public is told and what really happened are two different things. For instance, goverments have always hidden things from the public. They say it is the information age and that we have the "right" to know, but what do we know? What "they" tell us!

When it comes to things we hear everyone must be careful and not believe everything you hear.

Large companies are constantly at eat other's throats and I guess if they can get information on the others or put out information on the others, they can help their own business out.

1998: HACKER FOUND DEAD
The following year, in 1998, NDS went looking for more smart card expertise and contacted brilliant German hacker Boris Floricic. Known as ?Tron? in the computer underground, Floricic had gained a reputation for cracking pay-TV systems.
A few weeks later, in October of 1998, Floricic was found dead, hanging from a tree in a Berlin park. The death was ruled a suicide by authorities ? a ruling many hackers reject.
There has never been any assertion that NDS was somehow involved in the death. But the fact that Floricic?s father found a letter from NDS in his son?s belongings indicated the company?s willingness to consult the computer underground for security expertise. The incident also shocked the hacker community, which wondered if computer curiosity could now have deadly consequences.

It wouldn't be the first time someone's death was suspicious in big business.

Take everything with a grain of salt, keep your ears open and wait and see are about the only things we can do.

[8*B@LL]

bah, looks to be mostly an invention of lawyers and journalists. for instance, it says in one part "Who would have the technological know-how to crack the cards, and the incentive to see their technology exposed? The answer, according to Canal Plus lawyers: NDS."

BS. you know who has the incentive? people who dont want to pay. who has the know-how? you'd be surprised; if you started by working out how the first set works and just went through the evolution, there probably wouldnt be THAT much difference from card to card. if you were experianced at cracking the cards, you'd know what kind of stuff to look for, so breaking the new sets wouldnt be as hard as if you came out of nowhere.

"but what about the death? that MUST have something to do with the evil corproation!"
no it doesnt...can you say coincidence? if they were going to kill him do you think they would do it in a PUBLIC PLACE where sombody might see that it wasnt a suicide or do you think they would just do it in his house where there would be a lower probability of being seen? "but they happened arround the same time, doesnt that mean they must be linked?" no it doesnt at all...why would they kill their new resource? also(and this is an arguement i've used before and i think is rather effective). thats like saying "when i was younger a man moved in next door. the next day the supermarket had no apple pies." the two things happened arround the same time, there is a possible link between the two events(the guy may have shoped at the supermarked), but there is no way to show a real corilation between the two things.

back to the case here, maybe the guy was depressed and thought that his life wasnt ammounting to anything, so he killed himself. i mean it is rather comonplace that people who are inteligent but socially enept look to computers and the internet to deal with their insecurity. its common knoledge that insecurity often leads to depression/low self-worth. both depression and low self-worth are linked to suicide, so it's not much of a leap to say he just didnt want to live anymore(and IMO thats much LESS of a leap than saying some corporation had him killed when everything points to them wanting to employ him).