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I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

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Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#41

Post by champagnois »

It makes me wonder -- does everyone end up investigated for their interest in HTTPS and trying to think up encryption methods?

It seems even having a passive interest in computer science or cryptocurrency would inevitably lead to one taking a class or buying a book on these topics. The business person in me always brainstorms the various potential business applications of any technology -- and that inevitably leads to a lot of discussion.

Any system of policing that results in entire professions and swathes of hobbyists being considered and treated as enemies of the state is essentially the same level of injustice as the witch trials of old and shows our species has not improved all that much.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#42

Post by SamBam »

belval wrote: post #23
not2b wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "if there is any truth to it" remark was unnecessary. The author was very well known on the net when it was a much smaller place (the old Usenet days), and implying that he made it up is, to say the least, impolite. His Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Earnest

You may know him but I did not, so I erred on the safe side and added the "if there is any truth to it" as it's a much safer default to assume that everything I read on the Internet is possibly made up.

I'd say it still sounds a bit hostile. I'd suggest "assuming it's true" as a nicer way of saying it.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#43

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

belval wrote: post #23
not2b wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "if there is any truth to it" remark was unnecessary. The author was very well known on the net when it was a much smaller place (the old Usenet days), and implying that he made it up is, to say the least, impolite. His Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Earnest

You may know him but I did not, so I erred on the safe side and added the "if there is any truth to it" as it's a much safer default to assume that everything I read on the Internet is possibly made up.

I think what /u/not2b was getting at in the bigger picture, is that we can decide for ourselves if something is not likely to be the truth.

But if you explicitly add "if there is any truth to it" to your post, then it suggests to the reader that the story is probably false and that's not a very useful premise to start from.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#44

Post by wheybags »

oliv__ wrote: post #12
waiseristy wrote: post #8

Quoted post unavailable.

I agree you should be able to do that without consequences but there's nothing brave about pulling down an American flag and stepping on it.

In Afghanistan? Maybe not. In the USA? That could be something very brave indeed. (Rabid patriots please recall brave does not mean good nor bad)

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#45

Post by vmception »

waiseristy wrote: post #8

Quoted post unavailable.

Reports aren't indictments or any curb of freedom from the government

You have to argue in front of a federal judge that the existence of reports chills your speech, but you also have to prove you were effected, so its like schrondinger’s speech where the judge cant curb a government behavior if you cant prove something you didnt do, happened.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#46

Post by lokimedes »

torpid wrote: post #27

My FBI file was for hacking into my school district's AS/400 that handled my school's attendance and grading system. Somehow using a public IP address with no access restrictions allowed a clear telnet path in from home. Compounding username and passwords that were all the same for every employee. I didn't change a thing, just LOLed and told someone. Bad mistake. This was the late 90s. Oh well, 2 week suspension and…

I had sysadmin rights on my school’s Windows servers after some very simple social engineering (for a 10 year old). The real irony was that I was called to the principal’s office on multiple occasions because I seemed to be able to fix things on the network that the local “admin” (e.g. music teacher) couldn’t. Fun times indeed.

It completely ruined my respect for authority figures. Which in retrospect has been the most valuable outcome from being the local “that kid from Wargames”

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#47

Post by partiallypro »

torpid wrote: post #27

My FBI file was for hacking into my school district's AS/400 that handled my school's attendance and grading system. Somehow using a public IP address with no access restrictions allowed a clear telnet path in from home. Compounding username and passwords that were all the same for every employee. I didn't change a thing, just LOLed and told someone. Bad mistake. This was the late 90s. Oh well, 2 week suspension and…

I had two friends that did similar in the early 2000s, except that while the school knew there was a breach, they never caught who did it. Had all student social security numbers, grades, attendance, etc pulled into a thumb drive on the school network. I imagine this happened a lot around various school districts, especially in that time when school networks were less secure.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#48

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

chheplo wrote: post #24

He was able to tinker with a radio at age of 10, in 1940. I had my first electronic at 19, in 2003, growing up in India. Today, almost anyone in the world can have access to the latest tech easily. Great minds were there and are everywhere in the world, they just didn't have access to resources. Think how fast the research monopoly of US is going to shrink.

Growing up in a Third-World country, I was tinkering with electronics at age 10 and built my first crystal radio at age 11 from junk parts. Dumpster-diving isn't hard as long as you don't mind the occasional dead dog.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#50

Post by fnord77 »

torpid wrote: post #27

My FBI file was for hacking into my school district's AS/400 that handled my school's attendance and grading system. Somehow using a public IP address with no access restrictions allowed a clear telnet path in from home. Compounding username and passwords that were all the same for every employee. I didn't change a thing, just LOLed and told someone. Bad mistake. This was the late 90s. Oh well, 2 week suspension and…

just curious - has this ever shown up on employer background checks?
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