"Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

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In his application, the investigating officer asked that he be permitted to seize the student's computers and other personal effects because they might yield evidence of the crimes of "Obtaining computer services by Fraud or Misrepresentation" and "Unauthorized access to a computer system." Aside from the remarkable overreach by campus and state police in trying to paint a student as suspicious in part because he can navigate a non-Windows computer environment

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I know that my quote and thoughts are a little bit offtopic in regards to this news, but its the offtopic that worries me a bit more concerning that any OS other than microsoft is seen as "suspicous" to some law enforcements.

Doesnt the state police or campus security have any school education whatsoever?


Taken from:

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http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04...are-suspicious

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Errr... He got nailed because his hostname and MAC addresses showed up in the logs as the one sending the offending emails. Read the warrent, especially the "Basis for Probable Cause" bit. This whole "black screen with white letters" bit got blown out of proportion. He did something stupid and got nailed for it, period.

Yes SirDice, you are right. As i said, its the offtopic part that bothered me a bit, as you call it "overbloated".

Also i first read it @

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http://athens.indymedia.org/front.ph...cle_id=1018782

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where the main idea of the article is the overbloated part. Actually... if you would like i would gladly translate it into english for you if you like. The original report is as you stated, but offshore the entire story appears differently :p

Cheers.

Yeah.. A dutch security site picked it up as "Police finds linux users suspect". That bit about the "black screen with white letter" got written up as the reason why he was brought in. Ridiculous sensationalist journalism which got nothing to do with the real reason why he was brought in.

Scarey....

I use dos to troubleshoot issues....and everyso often I have a shoulder surfer ...usually some misogynist knowitall

"nobody uses DOS anymore"

:rolleyes:

I find here in Canada our government is full of luddites and its scarey on how much information they have control of.

MLF

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"nobody uses DOS anymore"

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Wow, I use the command prompt all of the time, in Windows, Linux, and Mac. It is ideal for automating some of the tasks that need to run on a routine basis.

I agree with SirDice, that most media is focusing on one statement in this case, that really wasn't the issue to begin with. You basically have a technologically incompetent judge, who has probably watched one too many episodes of 24. What else is new? :D The fact remains, that the suspect was sending offensive emails. And that is why he was arrested, not because of knowing how to use an alternative OS.

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misogynist

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had to look that one up. ;)

Actually if everyone where on guest accounts to begin with... you could prevent everyone from using the command prompt.

Hmmm,

Looking at the case I would say that the College/Police have screwed up.

1. I don't see how sending an offensive e-mail is a criminal offence. Sure I would imagine it violates the AUP/Code of Conduct or whatever, but that is an internal discipline issue.

2. There does not seem to be any prima facie case for

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"Obtaining computer services by Fraud or Misrepresentation"

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3. Altering student grades is certainly a criminal offence, but where is the evidence?

The uncorroborated allegations of one of the parties to a dispute would certainly not be acceptable over here. Anyway, how difficult would it be for the College to check if any grades have been illegally altered?

If they haven't then the witness is totally discredited? If they have then you have to prove who did it.

As for illegal downloads and cracks that is more a matter for the owners of the IP, although it might also fall foul of the AUP.

I would guess that the EFF are on a winner with this one ;)

Since guests can't touch anything on disk there would be no reason to use the command prompt.

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I use dos to troubleshoot issues....and everyso often I have a shoulder surfer ...usually some misogynist knowitall

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Women have never offered much to society. Most still make attempts to stay relevant within household settings but can easily be replaced with nudie mags and a dishwasher.