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Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

jack.bio

121–130 of 212 posts

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering it was created during a major moral panic after the movie "War Games" came out, by a bunch of politicians who knew nothing about computers (aside from, again, watching the movie War Games). As a direct result, anything and everything can be a crime (e.g. violating a private company's Terms & Conditions), and the punishments are completely disproportionate to the actual criminality. See the AT&T/iPad data…

See the AT&T/iPad data leak, where AT&T were leaking private information on the internet with no security checks at all. Someone found it, told the press, who in turn told AT&T, but the FBI still investigated it as a "crime", raided their home, charged them with "conspiracy to access a computer without authorization." AT&T go no punishment at all. I think you are missing some nuance here. They found a vulnerability w…

> I think you are missing some nuance here. They found a vulnerability where they could just increment an "id" and get access to another user's information.

That's not nuance; the information was publically available on the internet without any security. Even search engines had indexed it before it was patched.

> They then went ahead and scraped as much as they could.

They told the press instead of releasing it.

> AT&T did not leak the information, Andrew did!

So AT&T dumping it all onto the open internet without any security isn't culpable, but the person who let the press know that their information was available to everyone is. That's quite an interesting take.

I'm struggling to see the nuance... You just repeated back what I already said, but added that you dislike the person personally, which is absolutely fine, but we're talking about miscarriages of justice not running a popularity contest. If you feel like they committed other crimes (which they likely did per Wikipedia), that is unrelated to THIS supposed crime.

> Was the vulnerability extremely basic? Yes.

There was no vulnerability. You just needed to request a record from a public web-server, which the server happily provided with no extra steps.

Let me ask this: When you request e.g. google.com, and they return a HTTP response, why is that not a "vulnerability?" Because we'd both agree it objectively is not. So then, why, when AT&T provides a URL with information they're meant to keep private but available to the public, and you then request it, that is suddenly a "vulnerability?"

Here is the actual URL you needed to call:

https://dcp2.att.com/OEPNDClient/openPage?IMEI=0&ICCID=

You just needed to take any iPad's ICC ID and +1 for the next customer's record. So what is the "vulnerability?" Being able to count consecutively?

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they shouldnt be paid at all. they're in prison for a reason. they have a debt to society. a great many of those people didnt do 'one bad thing' then got caught. it was just the last bad thing they were caught for. any many of them did 'the bad thing', then continued doing other bad things up until the point they were put in prison.

I don't agree with your "slave labor is ok if the slave committed a crime" position, and find it morally indefensible.

Stepping aside the fact that I think most everyone here is playing fast-and-loose with the “slave” terminology here… Why do you feel prisoners doing low wage labor to be wrong?

Practically everyone in human history since the dawn of time has had to go out and produce something of value. Why, all of a sudden, should a murderer or rapist get to sit on their ass and consume what we all produce? I find nothing questionable about a humble job for them at all.

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#124
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ØØ7 Don't forget that the cost is not only the bureaucratic fee; you also have to buy a vintage Aston Martin or Lotus, to display the plate.

Shouldn’t be a problem with all that medieval money lying around. /s Does a kit car count? You can build a Lotus for around the cost of a Honda civic. Like a Lotus 7.

Money? You mean you don't just go to Q and procure one?

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#125
post #43

I swear I read some case a couple years back where a kid was facing serious prison time for automating requests to w publicly available government website. "Unauthorized access of a computer." I think the author may have just admitted to what the government considers a serious federal crime, as stupid as it is to consider it a crime.

Arguably the most famous one is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#United_States_v._...

I once had a flatmate who worked in IT at MIT at the time that happened. I don't remember the details, but it was a sad fluke that the feds even got involved - something like it was reported at the wrong time of day/when the person who should have got it was off-shift, or the feds happened to be doing something with the state police when the report came in and wanted to make a big news splash.

Whole thing was incredibly fucked up.

Interesting to see how much more thorough the Wikipedia page is now.

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#126
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not free everywhere. Many institutions in the USA charge you for your stay. You can stay in jail for a year and have the case dismissed and still be on the hook for thousands of dollars in rent.

True. If you win your case, the taxpayer no longer pays. Lots of places have those pay to stay laws. But if your case has not been officially lost, you can't be set to forced labor either. (Of course our BS system in many places still charges exonerees after the fact despite the fact that it was a wrongful conviction.)

Sadly, you can even be set to forced labor even if you're unconvicted, based on SCOTUS case law. A jail can legally force you to perform "housekeeping chores" to maintain the facility.

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#127

> Most people never think twice about the random mix of letters and numbers the DMV assigns them. I started thinking about it when someone parked next to me in a nearly-identical model - same brand, year, etc, the only difference was some roof accessory - and a nearly identical license plate. (Think ABC D12 and ABC E12). I started trying to open their car door, and was confused until I noticed some things in their fr…

When you realize the total combos of car key possibilities, you have a decent chance your key would work, too!

Had two GM 3500 cargo vans, one a 2002 Chevy Express, the other a 2001 GMC Savannah. Same vehicle different badges. Noticed the keys were a bit similar and found that the Chevy key could in fact unlock the GMC with some wiggling but not the other way around. It did not work in the ignition lock.

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering it was created during a major moral panic after the movie "War Games" came out, by a bunch of politicians who knew nothing about computers (aside from, again, watching the movie War Games). As a direct result, anything and everything can be a crime (e.g. violating a private company's Terms & Conditions), and the punishments are completely disproportionate to the actual criminality. See the AT&T/iPad data…

See the AT&T/iPad data leak, where AT&T were leaking private information on the internet with no security checks at all. Someone found it, told the press, who in turn told AT&T, but the FBI still investigated it as a "crime", raided their home, charged them with "conspiracy to access a computer without authorization." AT&T go no punishment at all. I think you are missing some nuance here. They found a vulnerability w…

"The guy who did it sucked" is generally not a good justification.

It's an easy trap to fall into (we all want consequences for shitty people), but it's also a blurry line to hold.

"First they came…"

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#129

This has nothing to do with TypeScript

Generally speaking, if someone specifies "TypeScript," I expect the type system to be the interesting part of the writeup. Otherwise, it could say "JavaScript."

(It could say "React," but still, the interesting part is that you built a scraper/visualizer, not that it used React.)

Re: Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree with your "slave labor is ok if the slave committed a crime" position, and find it morally indefensible.

Stepping aside the fact that I think most everyone here is playing fast-and-loose with the “slave” terminology here… Why do you feel prisoners doing low wage labor to be wrong? Practically everyone in human history since the dawn of time has had to go out and produce something of value. Why, all of a sudden, should a murderer or rapist get to sit on their ass and consume what we all produce? I find nothing questionab…

Two answers:

1. Why should they be restricted to ludicrously low wages? If they're producing something of value, they should be compensated. Not only is it morally wrong to, you know, enslave people, on a more practical level it would be very helpful for people who are leaving prison after serving their sentence to actually have some money saved up, so they have better opportunities, to avoid recidivism.

2. The reason they can sit on their ass and consume what they produce is that they effectively become wards of the state. They're still human beings, and if we have decided to incarcerate them, we become responsible for them, and they still have rights as human beings.

A humble job is fine; I'm not saying they should be sitting in an aeron chair bullshitting on Slack for 8 hours a day. But slavery for pennies on the hour is wrong.

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