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People Staring at Computers (2021)

kylemcdonald.net

41–50 of 130 posts

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#41

Dunno how the hell one would not expect this to be be highly illegal. The guy literally wrote a software tool that covertly sends images from an unsuspecting device's camera to his personal servers, and installed+activated it on target machines belonging to the US's 3rd largest company by market cap in 2010 (now 1st largest). I get that in the pre-Snowden world, it felt like you were building a cutesy proof-of-concep…

since he had legal access to the computer, I don't think what he did is legally want different than running OBS on your own computer.

He did not have legal "access" to the computer; this isnt how the law, or even basic common sense, works.

Apple made store computers available for demo, installing spyware on them clearly violates the level and kind of authorisation apple was providing. THe law makes these distinctions.

But likewise, so does anyone with half a brain. You cannot come into my house an d install a keylogger on my PC, even if I make it available to you to play around with for other reasons.

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#42

The police forces were created to protect property and 'the system', not people, and that's what they continue to do. https://worxintheory.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/origins-of-the...

> The police forces were created to protect property and 'the system' If that is the case, why is civil asset forfeiture a thing? It seems to undermine property rights and is a glaring failure in the system.

Not your property, the aristocracy's property. Cops don't work for peasants.

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#43
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The police forces were created to protect property and 'the system', not people, and that's what they continue to do. I think it's rather naive to consider otherwise. Somewhere along the way we were fed this childish mythology about the importance of the individual, which is definitely captivating, stirring one's imagination with sparks of creativity, but the truth is that institutions and 'the system' are the bedr…

In these discussions, there's always an implicit assumption of certain intentions being the "real" ones. Statements like "police were created to..." first imply that there was a creator whose intentions define the police through incarnations, a kind of "god of police," and, more likely, if it was not a single individual, it is a "pantheon of police" composed of its creators and sustainers. And then we have the image…

What is to make of the overlap between institutional goals and those of individuals?

We live in a time where people are developing institutional abstractions as their civil bedrock. How can we reasonably differentiate institutions that are fundamentally man-made from the men who are the means of the institution’s goals?

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The police forces were created to protect property and 'the system' If that is the case, why is civil asset forfeiture a thing? It seems to undermine property rights and is a glaring failure in the system.

Not your property, the aristocracy's property. Cops don't work for peasants.

The "aristocracy" has their property seized all the time, for unpaid taxes and a litany of other crimes.

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#45

The police forces were created to protect property and 'the system', not people, and that's what they continue to do. https://worxintheory.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/origins-of-the...

The whole "let's turn this into a libertarian political-philosophical discussion" angle is a misdirection.

(And an increasingly common one, eg., cf. crypto).

The guy installed spyware on laptops in a commercial store and then publicly displayed the data collected. It's an open-and-shut case.

Almost any person who went to that store, and any store owner, would be furious. It is these people the law here protects(, and damn right too) -- the interests of the artist aren't "the little guy's" and more than a burglar is the underdog.

A burglar claiming the police are corrupt for protecting property owners is as meglomanical as this guy. This isn't some middle-aged academic wishing he were in a mythical past, he's a guy breaking into computers, stealing data, and using it to boost his own career.

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not your property, the aristocracy's property. Cops don't work for peasants.

The "aristocracy" has their property seized all the time, for unpaid taxes and a litany of other crimes.

Those aren't the true aristocracy.

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#48

The police forces were created to protect property and 'the system', not people, and that's what they continue to do. https://worxintheory.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/origins-of-the...

The whole "let's turn this into a libertarian political-philosophical discussion" angle is a misdirection. (And an increasingly common one, eg., cf. crypto). The guy installed spyware on laptops in a commercial store and then publicly displayed the data collected. It's an open-and-shut case. Almost any person who went to that store, and any store owner, would be furious. It is these people the law here protects(, and…

> It's an open-and-shut case.

Why was it dropped then?

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#49
post #2

> "Ok. Is there anyone else in the house?" > "No sir." > They opened up two doors and found my roommates sleeping. "Who is this?" > "Oh, those are my roommates." I didn't realize it was 8 am. I was up late the night before, and I figured it was ten or eleven already, and that they had left for work. That's making false statements, a felony punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

It is a felony to knowingly give false statements, meaning to lie.

"It is a felony to knowingly give false statements"

I think that's only true if you lie to a federal agent. Lying to a cop is usually a misdemeanor. Depends on the state and the circumstances.

Re: People Staring at Computers (2021)

#50

Dunno how the hell one would not expect this to be be highly illegal. The guy literally wrote a software tool that covertly sends images from an unsuspecting device's camera to his personal servers, and installed+activated it on target machines belonging to the US's 3rd largest company by market cap in 2010 (now 1st largest). I get that in the pre-Snowden world, it felt like you were building a cutesy proof-of-concep…

Agree. it's not art. he made literal spyware
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