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Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

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Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#151
post #86

Why can vandalism result in a prison term? I'd expect paying damages is a sufficient punishment for stupidity. Genuinely curious why the consequences are structured this way.

Deterrence. To some, the damages are pocket change.

FTFY: Revenge.

Prison certainly didn't seem to deter this guy, nor does the death penalty deter murderers.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/files/DeterrenceStudy2009.pd...

Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#152
post #123

Long ago, I worked for my uni's departmental IT group. We made our own etherkiller, hung it on the wall with a sign "USE IN CASE OF SUN". Never used it in anger, but it was fun to dream about...

> USE IN CASE OF SUN What does it mean?

Could imply that should it be sunny outside, the etherkiller allows creating an outage which leads to taking the day off?

Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally off-topic question to this thread, but what's the reason for being kicked out of those stores for saying "bong"? I would have guessed that as long as employees don't use the term, it's fine for the company for the customers to suggest what they'll actually be using it for.

Going to throw out a guess and say it's because selling you an item after you called it a bong is admitting that it's indeed a bong.

Ah, that makes sense, question answered.

My second question is that if bongs and water pipes are the same thing, why does the law distinguish their purpose by their name? It seems like given "I want to buy a water pipe for smoking the marijuana" and "I want a bong to smoke tobacco", the second should be legal to request, not both.

Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#155
Wow!! I was the one who not intentionally popularized USB Killer. It happened 4 years ago. I owned a website, where I published translations of articles and one of them was about USB Killer. The article[1] was #1 on Hacker News[2] for several hours and made it viral on all major online publications. What I saw next was crazy. People around the world started to experiment trying to re-create the device - youtube videos, articles, blog posts, etc. I received a ton of mails with clarifying questions about the circuit board and so on, but I had zero clue how it all worked, since I simply translated the original[3] article from Russian. And then someone finally recreated this USB and the whole thing became a little market. Niche websites started to sell it and the device was a lucrative product for youtube kids to make their videos more fun. Wow..

[1] https://kukuruku.co/post/usb-killer/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9176195 [3] https://habr.com/en/post/251451/

Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#157
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use that word again, we'll have to ask you to leave. They're water pipes .

Totally off-topic question to this thread, but what's the reason for being kicked out of those stores for saying "bong"? I would have guessed that as long as employees don't use the term, it's fine for the company for the customers to suggest what they'll actually be using it for.

Because you might be a police agent trying to make them admit that they are knowingly selling something illegal.

Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#158
post #123

Long ago, I worked for my uni's departmental IT group. We made our own etherkiller, hung it on the wall with a sign "USE IN CASE OF SUN". Never used it in anger, but it was fun to dream about...

> USE IN CASE OF SUN What does it mean?

We had made an ill-considered deal with Sun Microsystems for a bunch of workstations maybe 18 months before they went away for good.

The machines were badly laid out, poorly specced, and prone to annoying failures.

They deserved, but did not receive, mains power right to the ethernet port.

Re: Former student destroys 59 university computers using USB Killer device

#159
post #71
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The manufacturer calls it an "ESD tester" yet there is an "anonymous" version available plausible deniability. selling devices specifically for committing crimes is illegal. that's why all the bong shops say it's "for tobacco use only".

If you use that word again, we'll have to ask you to leave. They're water pipes .

Can we get something a bit more technical to give it a more refined and scholarly name? Perhaps Hydrostatic glassware.
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