Comments on: Norm Coleman Pwned (howto)

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:47:34 +0000

Richards didnâ??t download the database herself, but she posted a screen capture of what sheâ??d found online after she made the discovery. An IT consultant for 10 years, she published her findings on her blog to educate others about the risks of improperly managed websites, she said.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:55:37 +0000

Please note the comment left above by Adria herself. It was stuck in moderation because of the links, and has been freed, but would be easily missed as it is upstream.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:28:08 +0000

Jay: Why is a database something you can’t look at if it is on the WWW? There is no a priori assumption that an accessible file (be it HTML, PHP, db, whatever) is private. If there was, than every time a new startup (like a blog or a company web site) became accessible before official start date was viewed there would be a privacy invasion. And that happens all the time.

By: Epinephrine

Epinephrine — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:27:33 +0000

The problem occured when she opened the db file. Accidently landing on an improperly secured page is one thing. Accessing (even though it was poorly protected) private information is illegal. The fact that she admits on the video that she suspected this was database information removes any ‘plausible deniability’

If you find a wallet on the street, I assume you can look in it to try to figure out to whom it belongs. If she did open a DB, it could well be to confirm that it was in fact something that needs to be reported, not with malicious intent.

As I’m not American, I’m not sure how it works there, but here intent matters a great deal: Poking around in someone’s wallet looking for info? Bad. Poking around in a lost wallet to find info to aid you in returning it? Fine. Morally (or is it ethically?), the question does come down to her intent, and legally in Canada one needs both the act and the intent in order to be guilty of any crime.

By: Virgil Samms

Virgil Samms — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:18:19 +0000

Poor miking is annoying.

By: kelebek

kelebek — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:16:58 +0000

yorumsuz

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:46:09 +0000

jay, she didn’t open the file. She took a screen shot of the directory with the file in it and passed the screen shot around. She’s been very clear since the beginning that she didn’t want anything to do with the contents of the file.

By: jay

jay — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:36:21 +0000

to the best of my knowledge, there’s nothing actionable in that. She did the equivalent of using the normal postal code instead of the normal address form.

The problem occured when she opened the db file. Accidently landing on an improperly secured page is one thing. Accessing (even though it was poorly protected) private information is illegal. The fact that she admits on the video that she suspected this was database information removes any ‘plausible deniability’

I am not unsympathetic to her, indeed that’s why I wish she had protected her identity.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Yes, in fact, as Adria has pointed out to me privately, the common usage has become such that the term Hacker probably can’t be used any more as I’ve been using it since it first came into the technology jargon.

On one hand, as an anthropologist, I fully accept and understand when a word simply changes meaning. That is how language works. But part of me refuses to accept changing my own use of a common word as I’ve always used it just because everyone else has become stupid.

But the important thing at this point is that Adria Richards does not need to be labeled incorrectly. She’s a hero, not a villain.

By: Joshua Zelinsky

Joshua Zelinsky — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:05:00 +0000

Greg, Adria is a hacker by any reasonable definition. And you are correct that one definition of hacking is very good use of resources. Thus one refers to hacking the linux kernel or a clever hack that turns a VCR into a toaster. But to the general public, hacking doesn’t mean that. It means access to computers or electronics through clever, complicated, and generally nefarious means (probably with lots of big screens filled with ACCESS GRANTED in big green letters or ACCESS DENIED in big red letters and lots of cool phrases thrown in). To call what Adria did hacking is to make the general public think that a) Adria did something wrong and b) suggest that the Coleman campaign might have any valid explanation other than “we’re incompetent.”