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Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

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Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#31

Post by billswift »

kragen wrote: post #25
spoondan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is sending a forged e-mail accusing your roommate of being gay illegal? It sounds juvenile and malicious. But I don't see how it's a crime. Anyway, you've misread the warrant application. The forged e-mails were tracked to a dynamic IP address. They searched for anyone else using the same computer name ("bootleg-laptop"), and found that the accused had used the same computer name but NOT the same MAC address six mont…

Is sending a forged e-mail accusing your roommate of being gay illegal? It sounds juvenile and malicious. But I don't see how it's a crime. Yes, given that we live in a society where many people think homosexual behavior is grossly immoral, that's prima facie defamation.

No it is not illegal. Defamation, even if it exists, which in this case looks pretty doubtful, is a civil tort.

Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#33

Post by jhancock »

tokenadult wrote: post #29
CaptainMorgan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Though, allegations are allegations and what weight do they hold, especially in this case? I argue they don't hold much- it looks more like a civil dispute between two former friends. Plus, keep in mind, 10% is more than enough reasonable doubt- especially in a case where the law and the police are still considered noobs to the game. But this part kills me: "Mr. Calixte has access into ""'s computer as he set it…

10% is more than enough reasonable doubt That's not the correct standard of evidence for the allegations supporting a search warrant. Yes, I am a lawyer.

10% may not be the "correct" standard, but I have seen police arrest and search people with zero evidence.

Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#34

Post by jhancock »

tokenadult wrote: post #5
Anon84 wrote: post #2

Driving a car in the vicinity of a Bank may be a sign of criminal activity Fortunately, that is not the case in 99.99% of times.

I actually had a police car drive up to my car when my wife and I were resting during an evening cross-country road trip in what happened to be a bank parking lot. The local police did think it was suspicious for a car with out-of-state plates to be be parked near a bank after banking hours. But we just explained that we had been driving for a long time on the nearby Interstate in very bad weather, and were too tired…

I can only assume you and your wife aren't black folk. If so, you may have had a very different experience.

Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#36

Post by ja27 »

spoondan wrote: post #22
ja27 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if the bank robbers had left a note with their name and address on it, they would have been justified. D-bag kid's forged emails were traced back to his IP address, which then led to his SMB name and MAC address. It'll be hard to get out of that. Plus, unless I'm mixing up the censor squares, it's his roommate that made the accusation in the first place. So it's not really like they just picked on a random kid…

Is sending a forged e-mail accusing your roommate of being gay illegal? It sounds juvenile and malicious. But I don't see how it's a crime. Anyway, you've misread the warrant application. The forged e-mails were tracked to a dynamic IP address. They searched for anyone else using the same computer name ("bootleg-laptop"), and found that the accused had used the same computer name but NOT the same MAC address six mont…

I couldn't follow that part of the document, but it sounded like he accessed the email account of his roommate (or someone else). That can be held to be illegal. In fact, if they can claim a $5,000 damage amount, it's a federal crime.

As for MAC address, they can be changed. Mine's been DE:AD:BE:EF:CA:FE for years. Not that I think the kid sounds like he'd bother to do that. He could easily swap NICs though.

Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#37

Post by greendestiny »

frisco wrote: post #17

Has anyone actually read the warrant application? The allegations were made by a close acquaintance of the accused who directly observed him changing grades for students and cracking into other systems; the emails in question were traced back to the accused's hostname. The EFF article completely mischaracterizes a 90% legitimate warrant. http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/inresearchBC/EXHIBIT-A.pdf

I think the popularity of this article has more in common with the popularity of the "how to care for your introvert" article. Basically the group is trying to define itself, and persecution is one of those very common rallying points. People with beautiful and misunderstood introverted abilities are being singled out by the man. If you enjoy this kind of thing there are sites like reddit which are perfect for expressing it.

Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#39

Post by tokenadult »

jhancock wrote: post #33
tokenadult wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10% is more than enough reasonable doubt That's not the correct standard of evidence for the allegations supporting a search warrant. Yes, I am a lawyer.

10% may not be the "correct" standard, but I have seen police arrest and search people with zero evidence.

How often have you seen police arrest and search people? I'm always amazed at how rarely I've seen that, even when living in the heart of big cities.

Re: Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

#40

Post by plinkplonk »

tokenadult wrote: post #29
CaptainMorgan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Though, allegations are allegations and what weight do they hold, especially in this case? I argue they don't hold much- it looks more like a civil dispute between two former friends. Plus, keep in mind, 10% is more than enough reasonable doubt- especially in a case where the law and the police are still considered noobs to the game. But this part kills me: "Mr. Calixte has access into ""'s computer as he set it…

10% is more than enough reasonable doubt That's not the correct standard of evidence for the allegations supporting a search warrant. Yes, I am a lawyer.

"That's not the correct standard of evidence for the allegations supporting a search warrant."

It would be great if you could explain (to us non lawyers) what did constitute a correct standard of evidence.

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