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A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

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Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#21

Post by JustSomeNobody »

erikrothoff wrote: post #8

I'm torn by a lot of things here. The validity of the claims in the article, the correctness of the hacker to simply delete data, but also the "stalkerware" as described by the article. Surely there's got to be a better way of dealing with this atrocious software? How can it be legal in the first place?

The software may not be illegal, but particular uses of the software are. I think[0] I prefer it that way less we go down a slippery slope of deciding what software should be legal vs illegal.

[0] And do please try and convince me if I should think differently about this.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#22

Post by username223 »

erikrothoff wrote: post #8

I'm torn by a lot of things here. The validity of the claims in the article, the correctness of the hacker to simply delete data, but also the "stalkerware" as described by the article. Surely there's got to be a better way of dealing with this atrocious software? How can it be legal in the first place?

Same. Retina-X Studios sounds creepy, but so is vigilante justice. Hobbes' "war of all against all" is a pretty terrible way to run a society, and replacing physical war with information war doesn't make it any better.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#23

Post by jim_dow_jones »

larrik wrote: post #12
jim_dow_jones wrote: post #7

I see no reason to praise the hacker. He destroyed a legitimate company's private data for no purpose other than his flawed moral reasoning. The company provides a way for parents to monitor their children and other legitimate business practices. Obviously, the software can be used for nefarious purposes but so can almost any other software. U.S. representatives and senators try to ban encryption using the same exact…

They also store extensive sensitive data and media about/from/with children with piss poor security. Is that not unambiguously bad?

Their security was bad, no doubt. I don't see how that justifies deleting their data, though.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#24

Post by thisacctforreal »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #13
jim_dow_jones wrote: post #7

I see no reason to praise the hacker. He destroyed a legitimate company's private data for no purpose other than his flawed moral reasoning. The company provides a way for parents to monitor their children and other legitimate business practices. Obviously, the software can be used for nefarious purposes but so can almost any other software. U.S. representatives and senators try to ban encryption using the same exact…

I see a legitimate business opportunity, a phone walking service. You collect the children's phones and take them to the mall, the library or wherever teenagers go these days, and meanwhile the kids can enjoy life without parental surveillance. You do wonder what the 24-hour panopticon does to adolescents' mental health and to the health of the parent-child relationship.

Don't forget to lend the client a phone to forward calls to.

Charging a monthly flat-rate for x hours / y days might also help deter abuse.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#25

Post by keithpeter »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #13
jim_dow_jones wrote: post #7

I see no reason to praise the hacker. He destroyed a legitimate company's private data for no purpose other than his flawed moral reasoning. The company provides a way for parents to monitor their children and other legitimate business practices. Obviously, the software can be used for nefarious purposes but so can almost any other software. U.S. representatives and senators try to ban encryption using the same exact…

I see a legitimate business opportunity, a phone walking service. You collect the children's phones and take them to the mall, the library or wherever teenagers go these days, and meanwhile the kids can enjoy life without parental surveillance. You do wonder what the 24-hour panopticon does to adolescents' mental health and to the health of the parent-child relationship.

Of course the walkers would have to check the facebook status every 5 minutes and post cupcake pictures to instagram at least once to maintain a credible profile.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#26

Post by Thriptic »

I'm always amazed that people feel the need to utilize these products. People are aware that trust is the bedrock layer of relationships right? The minute someone installs this product, their relationship with the person they are monitoring is already over, they just don't know it yet.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#27

Post by paul7986 »

nodesocket wrote: post #4

How is this even possible that a 3rd party application can intercept all text messages, call history, and photos and still get published to the Android Play Store? Ins't Google supposed to be reviewing the apps?

Unless that’s changed Google doesn’t review apps like Apple does.

Re: A Hacker Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers

#28

Post by JumpCrisscross »

falcolas wrote: post #2

This is one of those cases where I probably should feel bad for the company being repeatedly hacked to the point of being ripe for being shut down, but I just can't muster the will right now. If you are in the business of collecting data without users' explicit permission, and can't protect that data from being accessed or deleted, you shoudln't be in business.

I wish they had done one more thing: notified everyone on whose devices this software was installed. If someone put this on my phone without my knowledge, I would want to know. (I would also almost certainly sue.)
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