Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site • Hacker News Board

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#401

Post by RobRivera » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:25 PM UTC

abvdasker wrote: post #47

I'll risk making this a partisan issue and say the anti-intellectual and anti-science bent seems increasingly prevalent among Republicans like Mike Parson and their constituencies. One of the most shocking statistics I've seen recently is the Pew poll which shows that in the space of 2 years Republican attitudes about higher education saw a 20-point swing such that that most Republican voters now believe college is n…

I've a bold take on your offered perspectives:

Journalism has been degrading its own reputation through supplanting the standard journalistic integrity with biases.

Science is in the middle of a crisis of integrity where 'publish or die' and intradepartment funding incetives push academics to pursue publications of a certain flavor, not to mention the standard of 'how was this result p-hackes' many must have to read.

this isnt a republican issue, this is a governor behaving with a survivalist mindset and abdicating any real leadership by forcing a hammer on a whistleblower.

also, is it so difficult to see how a 20 yr old will question the value of a 200k education? Ever see that Columbia School of Journalism piece? observe the data on climbing tuiting prices? I treasure my education, but have trouble explaining the true value when younger people simply see an increasingly diminishing return on that investment.

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#402

Post by dang » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:25 PM UTC

hackersword wrote: post #184

sillysaurusx wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't make this a partisan issue. I live in Missouri. I've voted for Republicans in the past. You're alienating people like me from being on your side. It doesn't matter that you're probably right. It comes across as you posting this to make yourself feel good, and holy moly the sense of superiority from your camp needs a chill pill. Parson is evil. I'll be doing my duty as a citizen and trying to vote him out…

Quoted post unavailable.

Attacking another user like this, and taking threads further into flamewar hell like this, is not ok on HN and will get your account banned. Please review the rules (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and stick to them in the future. At minimum that means (a) editing out swipes, which help nothing; and (b) making your substantive points thoughtfully.

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#403

Post by amohn9 » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:25 PM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #71

I don't see this mentioned anywhere but the HTML page the journalist visited is public so there's no CFAA/DMCA violation there. Once the HTML page (data) is cached by the journalist's browser, they're free to do anything they want with the data. The journalist ran "his hacker tools" against his own computer which is also not a crime. Like others, I'm sad to see such a technically illiterate response when there should…

Accessing public pages is exactly what weev was tried for. He found you could iterate the id argument on a public url to expose email addresses. He was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#404

Post by tantalor » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:26 PM UTC

xbar wrote: post #88

tantalor wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> free to do anything they want Copyright could apply.

Journalists reporting on security vulnerabilities in public systems getting sued for copyright violations would be novel, especially when the actual data involved (SSNs) is not data covered by copyright protections for the owners of those public systems. Perhaps you are trolling?

No, I just meant the fact any page is public doesn't mean you can copy it freely in the general case. Usually the opposite is true.

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#405

Post by logifail » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:26 PM UTC

prions wrote: post #110

anovikov wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider myself a liberal, and i agree with the point that college is net detrimental to society. It makes people waste their best years, teaches them mainly, useless stuff, barely breaks even in terms of lifetime earnings, and makes people bitter because they feel they are not valued by society the way they believe they should. This world needs a lot more new plumbers than new liberal arts majors. It is the societ…

Youre underestimating the value of a college degree. Research like [1] shows that degree holders have significantly more lifetime earnings than high school. You also miss how the democratization of education has benefited our society and helped lift millions out of subsistence lifestyles and class lock-in. "This world needs a lot more new plumbers than new liberal arts majors" This is a completely subjective and poli…

> You[']re underestimating the value of a college degree

Tony Blair's university pledge has failed, says his son

"Tony Blair's landmark target for half of school leavers to attend university is no longer fit for purpose, his son has said – claiming that the former prime minister agrees with him [..] critics have argued that it encouraged an unhealthy focus on higher education which led to a proliferation of pointless "Mickey Mouse" degrees and lured undergraduates into racking up large debts without a meaningful increase in their salary prospects."

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#406

Post by vanattab » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:26 PM UTC

hackersword wrote: post #236

chacham15 wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you expect people to pretend the trend isn't happening in order to comfort you? This is a strawman. The parent was saying that in order to have an effect and convince people, you shouldnt alienate them. You can do this without lying or ignoring things that are happening. In fact, the people you're most likely able to convince are people in the middle and by alienating them you're actually causing the trend that…

Republicans have been trying to hold Democrats to a higher standard for 40 years, all the while playing low ball ... it has been a GREAT strategy for them that is nearing end game (courts stacked, gerrymandering, control of state houses, etc) The "other side" has ZERO capacity/will/desire to ACTUALLY engage in meaningful dialog , but sole goal is to "win" no matter what the cost. There is no logical appeal that can s…

Anyone who thinks only one of the two sides refuses to engage in meaningful dialog makes me think they have drunk far too much Kol-Aid from on side or the other. The fact of the matter is that nether side has tried to engage in reasonable dialog and exploration of the other sides views because it's apparently not good politics to due so. Both side's take a few random snapshots from extremists on twitter and try to paint the entire other side with that brush despite there being much more common ground between voters of the two camps. A significant proportion of "politically engaged" democrats think that half our country are literally Nazis and many "politically engaged" republicans have equally ridiculous caricatures about the average dem voter.

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#407

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

thesagan wrote: post #348

Afforess wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain which of abvdasker's, hackerswords's, unsui's posts were not nice? I sincerely want to know, so I can argue against you further without being "unnice".

“Cut the bs” paints someone as a bad faith conversationalist. You can reply to that but I think I’ve said my part.

[deleted]

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#408

Post by logifail » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

cdcarter wrote: post #203

logifail wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Post-secondary education, regardless of the specific major a student chooses, does provide a significant benefit to society: especially in the early years, it teaches students how to think critically . (My highlight) I wish that were true, but it isn't always the case. My counter-example is my ex-colleague who started her science PhD at the same time as me in the same research group as me waaaay back in the late 19…

I'm not sure how this is a counter-example of students being taught to think critically. Are you saying you did not think critically in your thesis but passed anyway?

My colleague didn't seem to think at all. I've no idea why she did a PhD, and I don't think she knew either.

EDIT: (Follow-up Q) who exactly is supposed to be teaching critical thinking?

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#409

Post by vanviegen » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

lancemurdock wrote: post #125

abvdasker wrote: post #47

I'll risk making this a partisan issue and say the anti-intellectual and anti-science bent seems increasingly prevalent among Republicans like Mike Parson and their constituencies. One of the most shocking statistics I've seen recently is the Pew poll which shows that in the space of 2 years Republican attitudes about higher education saw a 20-point swing such that that most Republican voters now believe college is n…

I suppose I fall in the a republican camp so i'll bite. College is too expensive for what it gives. You gain a ton in maturity, soft skill building but unless you're in a STEM major, the material does not prepare you for the real world. Depending on what my kid wants to study, I will not be encouraging college. So much journalism is so insanely biased. I respectfully disagree to anyone who thinks Biden is treated the…

> I respectfully disagree to anyone who thinks Biden is treated the same as Trump was.

Of course they are not. How could they be, considering the large difference in behavior towards journalists and the world in general?

Re: Gov Parson pushes to prosecute reporter who found security flaw in state site

#410

Post by input_sh » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 6:27 PM UTC

pugets wrote: post #204

charonn0 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're alienating people like me from being on your side. On one side are the computer scientists and engineers who understand the nature of the problem. On the other side are ignorant and/or dishonest actors out to avoid being embarrassed. It's all on you if you pick the wrong one out of loyalty to a political party.

It's okay for people to vote D on some issues and R on some other issues. That's pretty much an inevitability for any person with diverse views in a two-party system. Besides, at the end of the day, how different are the two sides? One party wants to prosecute a reporter who found a site vulnerability, and the other party wants to prosecute the man who exposed the world to the dragnet surveillance being conducted by…

> One party wants to prosecute a reporter who found a site vulnerability, and both parties wants to prosecute the man who exposed the world to the dragnet surveillance being conducted by the NSA.

FTFY, unless you think Rs have any interest in dropping charges against Snowden. So even in your own examples, one party clearly has the upper hand, and it's not R.