Friday, April 17, 2009

If You Know Computers, You Are a Suspect...

This from the Electronic Frontier Foundation...a Boston College computer science student was arrested in an investigation into an email saying another student was gay. All his tech gear, computer, cell phone, etc. was seized.

They must have had good evidence, right? Well, um, he know about computers and he was seen using (Heaven forbid!) the COMMAND LINE PROMPT! Yes, if you use a command line, you know too much!

It is now officially a crime to be smarter than a police officer...or at least a good justification for them to seize your property.

5 comments:

kkdither said...

I've been known to use command line prompts and I don't think they are looking for me...at least for computer crimes.

You omitted part of the story that makes this make more sense. They are also accusing him of using "a college computer network to change grades."

It is no longer what he knew that made him suspect, it was what he did with that knowledge. You pull that kind of crap and you should expect to lose a few privileges, including getting kicked out of school.

OrbsCorbs said...

I once tried DOS, but I didn't inhale.

kkdither said...

Here is the link where I found that info.

Orbs, you are ripe today! lol

Anonymous said...

I tried the command prompt line on my dog and she still won't sit.

hale-bopp said...

Interesting, kk...I will look at this more. Check my original link...no mention of changing grades and your story is dated two days later. I didn't get the update.

In light of new information, I will reserve judgement for the moment and see what else comes to light.