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January 27, 2005 04:51 PM
Broken: Arrest for using lynx Web browser
In this Boing Boing post today, Cory Doctorow writes:
A Londonder made a tsnuami-relief donation using lynx -- a text-based browser used by the blind, Unix-users and others -- on Sun's Solaris operating system. The site-operator decided that this "unusual" event in the system log indicated a hack-attempt, and the police broke down the donor's door and arrested him.
well ive heard that its possible for terrorists (or anyone really) to make "donations" to certain organizations only to have that money diverted to real terror cells.
no idea if its true or not though.
this still doesnt make any of this less stupid by the way.
People need to learn to read. I bet they arrest firefox users too :-P(i'm on IE because i cant get ff on this comp to run. grrr)
Umm, let's not jump to conclusions. If you check out the link that is so helpfully provided on boingboing, there's nothing in the news story to indicate that this wasn't a genuine hacking attempt.
I'm not saying it didn't happen the way Doctorow presents it, but all he's reported is an excerpt from "a mailing list", updated with some info that his source is "leery of going public". I have similarly reliable evidence that there are millions of dollars waiting for me in Nigerian bank accounts.
Uhm, Lynx does things the same way as other browsers, only, it doesnt request the non-text files (i.e. flash or music or image or....) If this is true, then there is a huge miscarriage of justice.
though the means were excessive and the admin was an idiot. lynx was seen as a threat because many hacking scripts use it because its and integrated part of the OS
"...lynx was seen as a threat because many hacking scripts use it because its and integrated part of the OS"
Um. No. Let's count the errors in this comment:
1) Lynx is not an "integrated part of the OS." It may be packaged along with the OS for that particular system, but it is not integrated.
2) If hacking scripts use it because it's a so-called "integrated part of the OS," what does that say about Internet Explorer, which truly IS integrated into Windows? What about all the myriad security flaws in IE? What about all the virus-infected and/or zombie boxes running unpatched Windows out there? (Not to suggest that patched Windows *isn't* broken---it certainly is)..
Anyhow.. 'Nuff said.
"lynx was seen as a threat because many hacking scripts use it "
It would seem to me that the people who write such highly-sophiscated 'hacking scripts' should know that lynx has a "useragent" option:
lynx -useragent="Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows NT 5.0)"
Alright, just to correct few things. Unix Solaris was running that British Telecom server. That dude, his name was Daniel Cuthbert, wasn't using lynx but browser Safari on Apple. He said that trying to throw the police off the trail. At that time he used to work as IT security consultant for ABM Amro and got fired after that arrest. He was found guilty under Section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act of 1990 and fined £400 plus £600 costs. The alarm was triggered (Intruder Detection System) when he tried to gain unauthorized access into site’s higher directories cuz he didn’t get the thank you screen after donating £30. He thought that it was a phishing site.
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Previous: Shopping.com image | Main | Next: Padlocked safety valve
On the one hand, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. On the other, grr, I guess the police will just arrest whoever without examining incidents or questioning people now.
Posted by: Maurs at January 27, 2005 05:12 PM