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Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

theregister.com

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Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#81

Post by frzj »

elzbardico wrote: post #64
frzj wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is factually wrong. They are doing it based on the principles of equality and freedom. This is exactly what those terms mean. Your freedom is only limited if its execution limits the freedom of others. In this case he was free to browser the documents, but he was also impeding on the freedom of that corporation. Same with equality, it seems immoral when the rich always win. But morality is just a WAY OF DEALING…

Several revolutions along the history of mankind show that freedom will frequently be enforced only by the revolutionary acts of the people. The government is only an agent of the dominant class.

I haven't studied revolutions much but I know they are the ultimate form of authoritarianism. The last one actually enforced freedom. There is no opressor class in capitalism, both want the state and most even confirm it every 4 years. In a democracy the government is exchangeable but the economic conditions remain. That's why Democrats will always increase the mil budget and the Reps will always leave some social welfare.

Please continue the discussion if you disagree.

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#82

Post by TechBro8615 »

jzb wrote: post #31
mattmanser wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Police statement from the article: He was taken into custody and later released under investigation. Following a review of all available evidence, it was determined no offences had been committed and no further action was taken So they already dropped it.

“already dropped it” That doesn’t make it okay. Being taken into custody is something I’d consider an overreaction and frightening for a person to endure. They should’ve looked into it before moving to pick them up in the first place. If the shoe was on the other foot- an activist claiming a developer broke in to obtain info- I bet police would’ve done more research.

I don’t know mate, even if there is only the potential for a dangerous crime, we need to keep these criminals off our communication infrastructure until we know for certain. Perhaps a better idea is a public/private partnership between all the big search engines, social media companies and police organizations who want to join and can pay dues.

Information sharing between members of the federation would reduce crime and spread of violent content. For example, when Google links a visitor to a harmful website, they can ping the local police with basic metadata about that user (could reuse the code from GDPR export). Google can lend its AI to categorize the alerts so local police know to be on the lookout for e.g. support for “The Big Lie” or local militia groups.

This way, the officers can stay aware of any potential threats to the safety of the children in their town, but maintain the ability to act proportionally and in context. Continuing with the example of a violent Google search, the alert might be a “P0”, but the police live in the same community as the suspect. If they’re not familiar with the data subject yet, they can use the alert to get a warrant for more information from Google. Or maybe they know the alert is a false alarm because the suspect is actually a government worker researching misinformation networks, so they instruct the AI to ignore alerts like it in the future.

We need to be on alert. With the proliferation of encryption, protecting citizens from harmful and increasingly dangerous information has never been more critical.

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#83

Post by woah »

crtasm wrote: post #75
woah wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the man arrested in this case was opposed to social housing for low income residents. What the police did was obviously wrong, but it doesn't really fit your narrative.

I'm not sure it's resaonable to sum up someone from a "Campaign to stop Leathermarket CBS building on the popular ballcourt, removing children's outdoor sports space and green spaces" as "opposed to social housing".

He was opposed to them building social housing

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#84

Post by perl4ever »

mattmanser wrote: post #72
trhway wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I personally think it's fair enough, the company claimed it was secure, therefore he hacked them. The police reacted, but when he could show it clearly it is absolutely not fair. The fair would be if the company had to show before the arrest that it was minimally secure. I mean they for sure had the HTTP transaction in their own logs - like GET document, response 200. They couldn't have reasonably in good faith clai…

Firstly, all those logs can be easily falsified and you're got absolutely no clue at all what that company showed to the police to convince them. So get off your extremely manufactured high horse. Secondly, even if you could somehow wave a magic wand and know the logs were real, you're approaching this as an expert and not as a layman. A crime was reported, it was followed up, an arrest was made (maybe that means som…

>maybe that means something different in America? It's just an arrest

From what I see on Wikipedia, there is restricted access to someone's criminal record in the UK, but on the other hand, you can't get a complete version of your own record, and arrests may be obtainable by prospective employers in some circumstances.

"Arrests that do not lead to an official finding of guilt, i.e. a conviction or the acceptance of a caution, are not considered part of a person's criminal record and are not typically disclosed as part of the process. However, an enhanced disclosure may include such additional information, which is supplied at the chief police officer's discretion. Enhanced disclosures are typically used to screen applicants for positions such as police officer, social worker, and teacher, which involve contact with vulnerable groups and children.

Individuals and the self-employed cannot apply for a DBS check of their own criminal record, as they cannot ask an exempted question (a valid request for a person to reveal their full criminal history, including spent convictions) of themselves. Only organisations registered with the DBS can ask an exempted question and submit applications for criminal records checks. There are two types of registered organisation: a registered body, which is the employer; and an umbrella body, a registered body that processes criminal record checks for non-registered organisations who can ask the exempted question."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_record

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#85

Post by Gunax »

You're thinking it's ridiculous, but this is exactly what happened to Weev.

He found URLs that were not 'supposed' to be exposed, which apparently constitutes unauthorized access... You know like typing in a URL to the browser instead of clicking a link.

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#86

Post by dheera »

unholythree wrote: post #73
jdjdu wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cooperative people accused of non-violent crimes should NEVER be taken into custody until proven guilty in a court with fair trial. Uh, so if someone set fire to a bunch of homes in a neighborhood, and there's video of them doing it, but they did it knowing the homes were empty, they should just be left free until the trial is over? I'm sorry but I feel like a lot of online comments on criminal justice are very shor…

A quick google search indicates arson is considered a violent crime in the US even though it is a property crime. I assume because of the high potential of injury or death. I do however agree with you that there are some property or financial crimes in which arresting a suspect would be warranted, especially if they had incentive to flee or intimidate potential witnesses.

Property crimes, yes, arrest.

Financial crimes, no. Holding them hostage isn't useful or productive. As long as they are cooperative with investigation, let them be until a verdict is reached.

It's too easy for governments to accuse people on a whim of financial "crimes" that aren't really crimes. That sets a very bad precedent for misuse of power. Next thing you know they'll be randomly arresting people from their bedroom for suspected tax evasion instead of auditing them. Not good for those who did follow the rules.

There are real crimes, yes, but there is too much grey area and there is no danger to people or property to let financial crime suspects be at home.

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#87

Post by raxxorrax »

sxp wrote: post #2

https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/10/police_raid_man_for_d... is a better article with pictures. The key bit is > The raid by four Metropolitan Police constables took place after Southwark campaigner Robert Hutchinson was reportedly accused of illegally entering a password-protected area of a website. > "I was searching in Google and found links to board meeting minutes," he told The Register. "Board reports, none…

I don't think this is name dropping and obvious that it wasn't sufficiently protected. These cases seems trivial, but they are certainly governmental abuse. In a perfect world, there would be consequences. Not for the officers but for those requesting the raid.

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#88

Post by lenkite »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #82
jzb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“already dropped it” That doesn’t make it okay. Being taken into custody is something I’d consider an overreaction and frightening for a person to endure. They should’ve looked into it before moving to pick them up in the first place. If the shoe was on the other foot- an activist claiming a developer broke in to obtain info- I bet police would’ve done more research.

I don’t know mate, even if there is only the potential for a dangerous crime, we need to keep these criminals off our communication infrastructure until we know for certain. Perhaps a better idea is a public/private partnership between all the big search engines, social media companies and police organizations who want to join and can pay dues. Information sharing between members of the federation would reduce crime…

Would you still hold this opinion if all your personal computing devices are held for multiple weeks based on any arbitrary allegation and the record of your false arrest is available to all future employers ?

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#89

Post by zaarn »

trhway wrote: post #78
mattmanser wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, all those logs can be easily falsified and you're got absolutely no clue at all what that company showed to the police to convince them. So get off your extremely manufactured high horse. Secondly, even if you could somehow wave a magic wand and know the logs were real, you're approaching this as an expert and not as a layman. A crime was reported, it was followed up, an arrest was made (maybe that means som…

>maybe that means something different in America? It's just an arrest an arrest record searchable by all the prospective employers (until you spend an effort/money to seal it in jurisdictions where it is possible, and even then you still would have to disclose it any time you deal with federals). Good luck finding a job anywhere where computers are present with an arrest for hacking.

I don't believe you can get arrest records for a background screening on a employee like that in the UK (or the rest of Europe). You'd need a damn good reason why you want one so thorough and last I checked, in my country that means you're going for teacher, social worker, government office, etc. And even then this wouldn't be reason for denial if the arrest is not related to your job or you can reasonably explain the matter.

Re: Activist arrested by London police after downloading docs found on Google search

#90

Post by zaphod4prez »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #82
jzb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“already dropped it” That doesn’t make it okay. Being taken into custody is something I’d consider an overreaction and frightening for a person to endure. They should’ve looked into it before moving to pick them up in the first place. If the shoe was on the other foot- an activist claiming a developer broke in to obtain info- I bet police would’ve done more research.

I don’t know mate, even if there is only the potential for a dangerous crime, we need to keep these criminals off our communication infrastructure until we know for certain. Perhaps a better idea is a public/private partnership between all the big search engines, social media companies and police organizations who want to join and can pay dues. Information sharing between members of the federation would reduce crime…

A Modest Proposal indeed, and so commonsensical it's a wonder it hasn't been implemented already!
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