Journo was arrested, says Qld cop
Queensland Police have told a press conference in Queensland that they did indeed arrest tech journalist Ben Grubb in their investigation of a Facebook vulnerability demonstrated at Australia’s AusCERT conference on Sunday. The arrest has outraged both the IT community and Australian media. The police media unit had originally …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Well, they've sort of got a point
Don't know all the details here, but I can see where they might have a point. Vulnerabilities are usually disclosed via *examples*, right? Using the real account of another person, presumably without their prior permission, seems entirely unnecessary. You could just create a couple of example accounts and be perfectly able to demonstrate the flaw without violating anyone else's privacy.
so...
they should arrest (and steal the property of) anyone else who watched the presentation too, on the grounds that they are now "potential hackers". #thoughtcrime
You got the wrong guy guv'
Yes but they didn't arrest the guy who did it. They arrested a journo who reported on it.
@AdamWill
Indeed. They assert that attaining a picture from FaceBook without the authority to do so (either given to you explicitly or because it's shared publically) is a crime. And receiving that photograph (which Ben Grugg allegedly did - possibly the reason for the iPad search) is a crime just as receiving a stolen Car is a crime.
It's a little crazy but the law can be like that. Because it doesn't "get" the internet. Anybody who has browsed to a page containing that image may have technically done the same thing.
They should have the common sense to understand the difference. But the law itself is an ass, as they say.
oh, yes.
missed that bit, admittedly. but this whole thing about being 'arrested for questioning' seems like bizarre bit of Australian law I'm not entirely sure we're understanding...
Not that sttrange
Over in Blighty(tm) we have similar stuff. Cops arrest people and the media have a geat time getting us to assume that the they are holding dangerous crims or terrorists or kiddie-fiddlers. Press becomes judge and jury and offers up 'danger to human race' to be pilloried.
Cops do 'questioning' thang and find nothing of interest - person(s) don't get charged with any crime and are still - in the eyes of the press - guilty as fuck.
See under 'terrorist charges', 'Bristol landlord' and others.
we don't.
but no, we don't. you have to be arrested on suspicion of having committed an offence. now sure, the cops might occasionally arrest someone they don't really think did it but who they at least have enough plausible evidence to claim *might* have done it, but they do need at least that much. Or they can arrest you for something else and ask you about what they really want to know. Point is, though, they can't just arrest you, not on the suspicion of any crime, but for questioning.
I suppose it's similar to the American concept of being held as a material witness...
What they were really after...
They had a strong , albeit weird, suspicion that Ben had fresh #planking pictures taken at AustCERT on his Ipad. Qld Police do not take kindly to that form of expression as previously discussed here.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/15/planking_death/
Just wait till the merde hits le fan when they hear about teabagging XD
Nice one
Great confluence of articles. Almost had me snorting my beer out my nose.
"ethical hacking" We need it.
"ethical hacking" is what has made the internet as safe as it is. This is something only a halfwit or a bureaucrat dose not understand.
Re: "ethical hacking" We need it.
Yes, we absolutely do!
But we cannot underestimate the importance or exaggerate the execution of the "ethical" bit.
That is exactly where that %//(&&§ failed. There is no way you access someone's protected or assumed private data, also not for demonstration purposes, without this persons explicit consent.
Period.
This guy was driven by petty personal motives (Pictures of rival's wife, remember?), so his integrity seems to leave wanting. Which should exclude him from staring in any convention and rids him of every claim for respect.
Depends on your ethics
'Ethical' is not fixed.
(We've seen on the telly how fickle these people from Ethix can be)
Ethical Hacking
Hey everyone,
Ethical Hacking would refer to the fact that something 'ethical' was going on here. I know when we perform an ethical hack at our office, then there is an agreement between the parties as to what they will be accessing and the way they would access it. To go outside of that agreement is frowned upon sternly.
Christian stepped over the line here, he could have teed it up earlier with another person at the conference but in this case decided to add a bit of drama in order to make his point.
While we are looking about this, the fact that Ben get arrested for receiving a photograph that is published, well lets face it Facebook is an open forum, and its hardly secure (as we have known for some time), just goes to show how far the law is behind the Internet
halfwit...
Mmm, if the Aussie police are anything like their British counterpart then describing them as a halfwit might be overdoing assertions of intelligence.
'ethical hacking'We need it.
'ethical hacking' is what has made the internet as safe as it is now. This something only a halfwit or a bureaucrat dose not understand.
Yes we do
But this ass clown was NOT ethical when he hacked into a rival's account for the demonstration.
He should be prosecuted.
QLD police
Are they really that stupid? Arresting a journalist is basically painting a huge "I'M A FASCIST" target on yourselves.
Hacking!
Hacking is illegal no matter which way yo look at it (ok white hacking systems when a company ask you to find vulnerabilities in their systems is fine), However the way they did that reeks of well either jealousy or revenge.
Who should be arrested
Any chance they will arrest Mark Zuckerberg for allowing the photo (and any other hacked image) to be downloaded in the first place
@mika7367
"Hacking is illegal no matter which way yo look at it (ok white hacking systems when a company ask you to find vulnerabilities in their systems is fine),"
So what you really mean is that hacking is NOT "illegal no matter which way yo look at it" - it just depends on how you look at it?
This topic is closed for new posts.
