How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
mjg59.dreamwidth.org
How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#2Glad to see a case that could've very easily gone sideways due to its technical nature come out right.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#3Ironically I think the technical analysis argues that he could infact be guilty.
He goes from, 11 seconds is a big gap to, anything within 90 seconds could be the same person.
The real question is, how often did the timeouts coincide.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#4Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#5Ironically I think the technical analysis argues that he could infact be guilty. He goes from, 11 seconds is a big gap to, anything within 90 seconds could be the same person. The real question is, how often did the timeouts coincide.
Your assumption is that a 11 second delta is a somewhat better evidence than a 90 seconds delta, but the provided article successfully defended this isn't the case IMO. It depends on the last activity of the user
The article also shows that there's a 40 second delta between the harassing account and the harassed person himself, further semonstrating this doesn't mean anything and can happen purely by chance
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#6A whole other part of this argument that could be made is about the inherent assumption that a ping timeout is caused by an event that only affects one machine.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#7Ironically I think the technical analysis argues that he could infact be guilty. He goes from, 11 seconds is a big gap to, anything within 90 seconds could be the same person. The real question is, how often did the timeouts coincide.
It does not. He said that if we're using approximately similar times to establish identity, then by using that logic, it could also establish that Schestowitz was that alleged sockpuppet account. (Transitively, does that mean Garrett and Schestowitz are the same person? Have we ever seen them in a room together? Hmm.)
But honestly, anyone who ever spent any amount of time on IRC is used to seeing 50 people drop from a channel at once. That was usually due to netsplits, which isn't the case here since there was only one IRC server involved, but that wasn't the only cause. "Uh-oh, the IRC server got too laggy and couldn't service all requests within the configured timeout. Time to disconnect everyone!"
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#8A whole other part of this argument that could be made is about the inherent assumption that a ping timeout is caused by an event that only affects one machine.
For sure. Having lived on IRC for a while many years ago, I assure any bystanders that this is assuredly not always the case.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#9Ironically I think the technical analysis argues that he could infact be guilty. He goes from, 11 seconds is a big gap to, anything within 90 seconds could be the same person. The real question is, how often did the timeouts coincide.
Your assumption is that a 11 second delta is a somewhat better evidence than a 90 seconds delta, but the provided article successfully defended this isn't the case IMO. It depends on the last activity of the user The article also shows that there's a 40 second delta between the harassing account and the harassed person himself, further semonstrating this doesn't mean anything and can happen purely by chance
I do agree, though, that a pattern of synchronized account activity actually suggests something more than a single example.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#10The facts were never argued, the other party failed to follow procedure.