French, Canadian Hackers Use Kentucky State Computers To Store Files

from the will-the-RIAA-subpoena-them? dept

Just because your IP address is sharing files, it doesn't mean that you are sharing files. The state government of Kentucky has just discovered that for the past few months, some hackers have been using state computers to store movies and video games (and a medical textbook!?!). They don't say how they discovered this, but it would be amusing if they only discovered it after receiving an RIAA subpoena.
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  • identicon
    Beck, 29 Jul 2003 @ 8:56pm

    Legal Responsibility

    What is the legal liability for them or anyone whose computer is being used to distribute copyrighted material without their knowledge? Who bears the burden of proof?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 29 Jul 2003 @ 9:20pm

      Re: Legal Responsibility

      I would assume the burden of proof is on the accuser. So, it would be the responsibility of the RIAA to prove who was doing the illegal activities.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bryan Price, 30 Jul 2003 @ 12:18am

    New?

    2 1/2 years ago, after finally getting my RAID-5 straightened out, I installed Windows 2000 Server on a fresh IBM server. 320GBs of free space. After I got it installed, and running some other errands, it was 5 o'clock, quitting time for a state employee. I had the SP5 or SP6 on CD, ready to be loaded on as well, but I left the server as is, no service packs, no configuration either. I did have a password on the administrator account.
    Of course, somebody exploited it, and turned it into a nice little server for themselves. I found out Monday morning when people were getting DNS errors. I called my ISP, and they told me that I was using all the bandwidth of my T1. Uh-oh! Somebody had uploaded 2 gigs worth of games and what not, and posted the server's IP address either on IRC or Usenet.
    I moved the server to another IP address, turned off FTP, and waited 4 hours for people to finally realize that the server was gone for good.
    I wasn't real happy then. But my boss explained to his boss that we got overwhelmed with traffic (not saying why), and more importantly, DNS was finally working for the upper management to do their websurfing, even if it still wasn't up to speed. Which was the real important issue.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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