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Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

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Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#81

Post by jmull »

simias wrote: post #27

I scoffed a bit at this part: >Try it in Adobe Acrobat (via the “Save as Other” command under “File” on a Mac) and you’ll quickly be redirected to Adobe’s website and presented with a handful of subscription packages that will allow you to transform your documents. [...] Indeed, it’s probably a little safer, all things considered. If I was doing shady stuff the last thing I'd want to do is send my incriminating docum…

It's actually much worse than sending incriminating documents through the mail, even printed brazenly on a postcard.

To capture incriminating physical mail, the authorities have to already be monitoring you at the time you send the documents. With email they are typically able to go back and capture emails from days, weeks, and years prior.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#82

Post by Chathamization »

stcredzero wrote: post #56
jacquesm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buffet's quote applies to non-criminals as well.

More in the US than elsewhere. In Germany, you obey the speed limit, and only rubes pass on the right. In the US, everyone drives 9 mph above the posted limit if they're being careful, and people pass on the right willy-nilly, regardless of what local laws say. But if the police really want to enforce that on you, they can. There are tons of "blue laws" in the US, some from over a hundred years back. Sometimes the po…

It's kind of strange. In the U.S., people get angry if they get a speeding ticket for going 12 miles over the speed limit (see any conversation about speed cameras). There doesn't seem to be any push back against having speed limits; rather, it seems like most people think we should have them and then ignore them.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#83

Post by burkemw3 »

Bucephalus355 wrote: post #29
jacquesm wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manaforts crimes are as bad as they are because he and his buddies were instrumental in destroying a country that was already fighting for its survival and many people have died and will continue to die as a result of this. If you compare the reaction to the VW scandal to what is happening here it is funny how the 'end result' is so much worse in the case of Manafort that it is a miracle he's just indicted for what a…

Yes I see what you mean, and wow thanks for putting his crimes in a broader context. It’s my hope that “financial crimes” are just going to be a convenient way to indict the many many people who have committed crimes like him. Back in 2016, a weird / interesting / pretty smart idea in Clinton’s platform was to help the US deficit by only enforcing current tax laws. Lol that’s all it was, enforcing the laws that were…

Matt Levine at Money Stuff has a recurring comment of (US) securities laws being the best tool currently available for what many people view as social issues.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-01-25/climate-c... and the linked https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-11-06/exxon-mig... are the examples I've found so far, but I remember him making the comment repeatedly.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#84

Post by Nokinside »

When I was involved with a contract negotiation, they emailed me a pdf offer with addresses, names and important numbers retracted with black and asked if these terms are OK with me and we can talk about the numbers.

I noticed that when I select a region of text with a mouse, the retracted' black text becomes white text over black background. It revealed name of our competitor, addressees and numbers in their offer, the whole retraction was just a typographic trick.

When in doubt, print -> scan -> convert to pdf.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#85

Post by scblock »

jacquesm wrote: post #21
ajross wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Manafort knew what he was doing here, and was doing it for technically sound (albeit legally fraudulent) reasons: Word documents, unlike PDFs[1], store editting history. Manafort knew this, and wanted to evade that tracking. Where he fell down was in the actual conversion step, and in failing to realize that his email to Gates about the conversion were themselves a history of the edit. But his technical instincts…

Exactly. Conversion to PDF 'flattens' the document.

In what way do you mean flattened?

Authorship and metadata? No, that is often still present, and many tools will include author and software data by default.

Layers? No, PDFs can have extensive layers.

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#87

Post by fencepost »

For people thinking that he should have known better on a technical basis, maybe but remember that during the time in question he was a 64-68 year old man (= graduated college around the time Unix was being rewritten in C) who's never worked in a technical field. By the time most of these capabilities existed Manafort had been management/executive for years or decades.

That's not to say that he couldn't have learned were he interested, but his daily life had very little intersection with this kind of thing until he spiraled into a hole of debt, at which point "do I trust this person" ranked a lot higher than "how are this person's technical skills?"

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#89

Post by ball_of_lint »

freehunter wrote: post #5

There are certain things I cannot believe are still this difficult with as advanced as user-friendly technology is: sending files to someone else, and converting documents. Sending files to someone else is a problem with a ton of solutions, some of them better than others, but none of them actually solving the problem. Email often has size limits and spam filters block certain attachments. Dropbox is often restricted…

Keybase has a pretty great solution for this. They allow you to upload files sent to anyone based on a popular public account name, so freehunter@hackernews for example. Then once that user makes a keybase account, they can access any files attached to accounts they link to their keybase.

https://keybase.io/docs/kbfs has more info

Re: Manafort Left an Incriminating Paper Trail Converting PDFs to Word

#90

Post by staunch »

Strom wrote: post #70
staunch wrote: post #43

This is an example of bad technology failing its user. These programs should protect user privacy by stripping identifying information by default, allowing the user the option to preserve it. All technology should protect its users by default, otherwise everyone is at risk, not just the bad guys.

> This is an example of bad technology failing its user. I don't think that's fair to say. You can literally import PDF files in Word via the most common File > Open dialog. [1] You can also save as PDF in Word via the File > Save As dialog. [2] These are not exactly some obscure hidden functions. -- [1] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/edit-pdf-content-in... [2] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/save-…

But the default does not protect users. Putting the onus on users to protect themselves is the problem.
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