Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website • Hacker News Board

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#31

Post by TimTheTinker » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #23

psychometry wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me you're the Republican governor of a deep red regressive shithole state without telling me you're the Republican governor of a deep red regressive shithole state.

Authoritarian blue states do this crap too. This has nothing to do with the set of policy positions on your party's official platform and everything to do with being a totalitarian jerk, a characteristic that abounds among politicians and high level government officials in general across many parties and nations.

Well done. Authoritarianism is alive and well across the political spectrum.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#32

Post by aynyc » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #23

psychometry wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me you're the Republican governor of a deep red regressive shithole state without telling me you're the Republican governor of a deep red regressive shithole state.

Authoritarian blue states do this crap too. This has nothing to do with the set of policy positions on your party's official platform and everything to do with being a totalitarian jerk, a characteristic that abounds among politicians and high level government officials in general across many parties and nations.

Examples?

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#33

Post by buitreVirtual » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

The news is not only the lack of understanding of what hacking is and what a security fuck up is. The news is the cowardice of this clown of a governor trying to deflect blame to those reporting the vulnerability. If he is too embarrassed to admit his government's fault, he will be rewarded with twice the embarrassment for reacting like a corrupt despot.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#34

Post by _0ffh » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

I don't think I can blame a politician for being technically illiterate, especially one that old. But what the heck is up with the state bureaucrats who report to that guy?

I mean someone it the freaking state bureaucratic hierarchy should at least be lucid enough to consult someone who has an actual clue about things as these.

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#35

Post by anm89 » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #25

joshenberg wrote: post #19

Quote from the St Louis Post Dispatch article is even more groan-worthy: "In the letter to teachers, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said “an individual took the records of at least three educators, unencrypted the source code from the webpage, and viewed the social security number (SSN) of those specific educators.” I guess webpages are kinda like encryption for idiots.

If it is served via https, it is encrypted. Edit: sorry, forgot the /s

if it's in plain text in the html served, it isn't

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#36

Post by vngzs » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

The EFF will likely take this case. Have the reporters contacted them?

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#37

Post by JohnTHaller » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

'Parson said Thursday that he wasn’t sure why the reporter accessed the information. He claimed it was part of a “political game by what is supposed to be one of Missouri’s news outlets.”'

Yes, everything that makes us look bad is part of a conspiracy by the other team. Ignore the facts, please. Pressing CTRL-U is hacking!

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#38

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

jmull wrote: post #21

> Parson said...the reporter was “attempting to embarrass the state and sell headlines for their news outlet.” Literally a reporter's job.

“I’m going to weaponize the law because you embarrassed us.”

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#39

Post by codegeek » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

Of course he would. It is the typical political response these days. Double down on your mistakes and never accept responsibility on your end. So what if a bunch of SSN's were exposed ? It was only in "View Source" which is hacking . Come on now. /s

Re: Governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website

#40

Post by jmull » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #25

joshenberg wrote: post #19

Quote from the St Louis Post Dispatch article is even more groan-worthy: "In the letter to teachers, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said “an individual took the records of at least three educators, unencrypted the source code from the webpage, and viewed the social security number (SSN) of those specific educators.” I guess webpages are kinda like encryption for idiots.

If it is served via https, it is encrypted. Edit: sorry, forgot the /s

Not once it's loaded by the browser it's not.