Why Is P2P Software The Focus In Latest Identity Theft Arrest?
from the that's-not-the-issue dept
The press has been buzzing about the fact that a Seattle man was arrested for identity theft earlier this week -- with most of the focus being on the fact that he used P2P file sharing software to find personal info about people which he then used in his identity theft scam to get credit cards under his victims' names, order products and then sell them online at half-price. Clearly, if he's found guilty of doing this, the guy was involved in a pretty massive fraud and deserves to go to jail. However, the P2P angle is an odd one, as one of the charges is "accessing a protected computer without authorization." The thing is, it wasn't without authorization. It was just that the individuals incorrectly configured their own file sharing software to expose private details. Just as some politicians want to blame P2P software for gov't employees misconfiguring it, it seems wrong to blame this guy for accessing documents that people stupidly made available. It sounds like the guy probably did plenty of other things that will get him locked up for a long time -- but unauthorized access isn't necessarily them.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: file sharing, identity theft, p2p
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Awesome!
We need more inventive thinkers like this. Too bad he had to use his powers for evil!
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Darwinism
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RIAA lawsuits: distant implications
If they manage to get that portion of the complaint tossed, the flip side is that people will not be able to use that in counter-claims against the RIAA.
This will probably be a good case to watch.
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That would mean that even of people are ignorant and can't properly configure their software, you still aren't allowed to access it. And well, since the gov is pretty much as dumb as that... well.. you figure it out heh.
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No, that's like saying "if people can't remember to lock their door when they leave their home, then you should be allowed to enter their home and it not be illegal". Just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's right or legal.
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Just negative PR
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think about it
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RE: Why Is P2P Software The Focus In Latest Identi
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