Here's a reason you should be concerned about internet privacy. Forget stupid "nothing to hide arg

A mate of mine is banged up inside right now, for just this. He downloaded a file ho thought was a windows update, from what he thought was a legit site. Paid for the passkey thingy, and opened it to find child porn. He deleated it and thought nothing more of it. Until the police raided his home, took his pc and locked him up. Even though his entire history on the computer showed no signs of noncery, and his version of events were backed up by the forensic people. He still got charged, and will spend the rest of his life on the sex offenders register. (or how ever long he's got to be on it) Poor bastard man. He's a good mate, and I know he's not into kids. But the law is a joke, and the law is what goes these days. No matter how wrong they are.

governments have killed more people than disasters and wars combined, enough with this

Originally posted by morpheusxxz
As other poster said above that downloading copyrighted music is illegal. Whenever the terms like torrents or limewire comes up, people always assume that it is illegal. Moreover this is not what he was accused of. Even after the forensics proved that the file was not viewed, prosecuting him just shows how low the government is. And the recent case of Megaupload raid just proves that they can come in any time and just beat your ass.

And you're so naive to think that this guy only downloaded and uploaded non-copyright stuff?
It's the same stupid excuse as "i use torrent programms but only to download Linux distributions"
This guy downloaded music, certainly copyrighted stuff and porn movies - they are copyrighted. So he did illegal things (even though a lot of idiots here on ATS believe that stealing media is their god-given right and they do nothing wrong)

And overall, he doesn't deserve it any better. In this day and age you have to be pretty stupid to
a) use a piece of crap programm like Limewire, where everyone knows it's full of child pornography, viruses, trojan horses and mislabeled stuff
b) use it without any safety features like a Proxy connection
c) stealing copyrighted media
Maybe he learns from it, i highly doubt it though.

There has to be more to this story.
Firstly how did the guy know it was child porn if it has never been opened?
Why did he delete it without opening it? Ok maybe a filename, so he purposefully downloaded something with child porn in its title?
Secondly I'm sure the feds don't pick hpuses at random in the hopes of finding cp on his computer.

Also, I doubt they scared him into pleading guilty, if he supposingly deleted it straight away why would he be worried about being prosecuted for sharing.

I think there is more to this story than op's bias article is saying. Everyone is so caught up in anti government rhetoric and complaining to see this.

reply to post by Xertious


Scaring people into pleas happens all the time. Between defendents being scared to death and being ignorant of the law along with government employee defenders who dont give two #s about you and overzealous government employed prosecutors who just want a case closed the system is heavily bent toward screwing your ass just because it wants to.

Plea-bargaining tempts the innocent

Why innocent people confess

The Memphis Three

The Devil's Bargain

People need to stop accepting what goes on as if it's all righteous and grand. Anyone can be railroaded. It's one thing to be screwed by a crook. Your neighbors understand you're the victim. Being screwed by the grand and righteous system though gets all your neighbors to see you as the crook despite being the victim.


ETA: Viruses frame PC owners for child porn

Terrifying article.

Here's the 20/20 case I referred to earlier

Tami Loehrs, who inspected Fiola's computer, recalls a case in Arizona in which a computer was so "extensively infected" that it would be "virtually impossible" to prove what an indictment alleged: that a 16-year-old who used the PC had uploaded child pornography to a Yahoo group.

And here's the "lesser plea" screwing him:

Prosecutors dropped the charge and let the boy plead guilty to a separate crime that kept him out of jail, though they say they did it only because of his age and lack of a criminal record.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Oh, I know it happens, what people fail to realise in these situations is that the prosecution tends to do this because they know they're unlikely to get him for the greater charge.

My point was that he had the competency of using limewire he should know its a gray are which can be argued either way. I suppose we don't know how stupid he really was.

Also why was he not prosecuted for all the other copyright music videos/porn?

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


It's sad it has to be like that eh? I do the same thing, I once got robbed of all my externals and backup DVD's, since then I encrypt EVERYTHING. My computer and hard drives are pretymuch useless to anyone but me. Passwords are not dictionary attackable, to brute force it would take over 100 years

When I can afford a new HD or computer, I am going the truecrypt hidden OS route.

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


There has been much said on the issue of copyright as opposed to filesharing. People who say it is theft are wrong, for it to be a copyright infringement, one would have to try and pass off the information as if it were his/her own. If the person is not profiting from the work of the artists and is not trying to credit himself/herself with the artists work, he or she is not infringing copyright. Furthermore, filesharing is not theft because the original file is not being stolen.
Let's say you have a Lamborghini and I want one too. If I were to steal your Lamborghini, it would be theft. If I were to copy it, however, it would not be theft because you'd still have the original, and I would have one too. Filesharing is just that, sharing of files. The original file stays intact, therefor it cannot be theft. If the original file also remains in the artist's name and is not trying to be passed off as another persons work (i.e. I don't download a Lady Gaga song and rename it to my own song or blatantly steal the melody and lyrics from it and reproduce it as my own creation), it is not infringing copyright.

Hope this sets things into perspective for you, this whole "p2p is theft" mania is a sham.

reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy


I have been a "pirate" since back in the day when I got my first recordable tape deck. Us criminals would actually make copies of our tapes for our friends! The horror the horror. If you ever made a mix tape, you are a criminal, according to that mentality

Hell, how come it's OK for rappers to loop someone else's work as a beat, and make money off of it. Yet if we make copies for our friends and online communities for free we are looked at as criminals?

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


A lot of people are uninformed when it comes to using programs on computers. I'm not sure why it is so funny to you. Also, you're getting all hyped up about the stealing music part of this post. That is a whole other topic. It's about the child pornography. If it's true that it was an accident, I feel bad for the poor sap. On another note, I will never be able to wrap my head around the fact that there are people who enjoy child pornography. People like that just need to be castrated and thrown into a dirty jail cell for the rest of their miserable lives. It's definitely a sick world we live in.

Originally posted by SteffieJo
reply to post by ShadowAngel85

 

A lot of people are uninformed when it comes to using programs on computers. I'm not sure why it is so funny to you. Also, you're getting all hyped up about the stealing music part of this post. That is a whole other topic. It's about the child pornography. If it's true that it was an accident, I feel bad for the poor sap. On another note, I will never be able to wrap my head around the fact that there are people who enjoy child pornography. People like that just need to be castrated and thrown into a dirty jail cell for the rest of their miserable lives. It's definitely a sick world we live in.

I agree with you about child pornogrophers/rapists.

But this thread is about privacy, this was just one example of why the stupid "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about" arguement is wrong.

I haven't been posting because I'm so mad right now I don't trust myself.

It is not just this one it is a constant barage. ATS exposes it daily... like this one from domo1 or this one from jude11.

I just want to scream my head off...


ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
It is ABSOLUTELY VITAL to fully encrypt your computer. Mine is fully encrypted with AES-256 bit protection. It will not even boot or load windows without a 45 character password. It is not that I don't have anything to hide, it is for privacy and personal protection.

Nowadays the smartphones come on proprietary hard to modify operating systems and you cannot install full drive encryption on the phones which should make people nervous.

Here is a related story that you guys might like:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit on 073030p://4America/ChicagoThu, 19 Apr 2012 07:56:05 -0500 by THE_PROFESSIONAL because: (no reason given)

Off topic and probably wrong, but I noticed your signature line with the punctuation and spaces removed is exactly 45 characters too. Is your super-secret password "theonlygoodisknowledgeandtheonlyevilignorance"?

I have been on the internet since around 1993 or 1994 and I can tell you that it has changed a lot but one that that has not changed in all that time is that you never know what your downloading for sure. Your at the mercy of whatever someone named a file or how someone packaged it and if anyone has ever used something like newsbot or other automated pilot type software you know that you can end up with some very questionable stuff coming into your computer. Is it irresponsible to do this? Yes.. Are people still going to do it in order to be able to leave for work and then come home to a hard drive full of porn to sift through? Yep.. Does that mean they should go to jail and be listed as a sex offender? No.. Not if they got rid of the items they didnt want and were not intentionally trying to download said items. Doesn't mean its right but we don't live in a perfect world and none of us are perfect but in my opinion there are much bigger fish to fry than some guy that had one or two files that he deleted off his hard drive.

[no its just another sign that bush rammed through superpowers thru with little or no congressional insight. all because the saudis hit us on 911 first thing next president needs to do is shut down home land security and structure it like it should be. custums should be involved with only physical smuggling across border immigration the same border patrol should be run to stop physical smuggling, illegal immigration and terrorist trying to attack border . internet crime is supposed to fall under fbi computer crime division' niot homeland security.

Originally posted by ShadowAngel85
And overall, he doesn't deserve it any better. In this day and age you have to be pretty stupid to
a) use a piece of crap programm like Limewire, where everyone knows it's full of child pornography, viruses, trojan horses and mislabeled stuff
b) use it without any safety features like a Proxy connection
c) stealing copyrighted media
Maybe he learns from it, i highly doubt it though.

Well I see this a bit different, the same I argue about "natural Drugs" as marijuana and coca leaves: IF it is out there, as Cannabis growing in thw wild as well the coca plant, WHO can come and tell me I cannot use it? And the internet, if it is available, - NOT HACKED - but if a file is available, be it a nuclear war head blueprint, CP, Tesla secret blueprints, you name it, who has a "right" to say I cannot look at it? The internet is the same as a storage locke that i purchase at an auction, How do I know this locker is not full of CP magazines from the 60's or private blueprints for home made nuclear devices or some formulas for a new airborne mass killing poision. So now I am guilty because I bought a locker full of CP or have in my posession "lost secret blueprints for WMD"? And also concerning the computer. How? - even if I am the only one posessing/using a computer in my house can say say "I" downloaded it? Maybe while at work someone stole himself into my house and did it? Did anyone physically "SEE" me doing it? And if you are on the political # list of the government, oh then CP is the easiest claim to shut you up.
Also a bit on CP:
Do "We" the public actually get to SEE this claimed CP at a trial? Maybe they are just nude pictures or movies from a nudebeach? The entire CP # is driving me crazy! Its the same as in the 50's with the Commy word. And the moment one tries to actually "logically debate" the entire issue, the SHTF. Diffent decade different "Scare word", And wht riles me most is that also so many here are against government control and invasion into our privacy but then shut up and join the hysterical bandwagen and cry "CP" Without having a damn clue what it actually is or better said what it NOT is.
Even prior to the invention of the internet, the FBI and US Postal services would take adds out in ADULT Porn mags and advertise sex literature/pictures etc that were clearly CP and underage, then the poor schmuck ordering it got then arrested with CP possession, also he was thinking that it was legal material he is ordering. How else would someone dare advertising it?
Sex and chldren is a highly emotionally charged issue, and the Government KNOWS this. Nothing makes a person go so blind with rage as Childsex. And even the most rational people tend then to put the blindfold on and howl wolf like the rest of the mases.
Ever thought about this idea?:
IF CP were not an issue and illegal, maybe then your neighbour would stop making sex pix of his daughter, because you SEE the images and KNOW the child and can REPORT it and identify the victim.
Keep cryig wolf on CP and then don't wonder when your privacy gets flashed down the drain.

reply to post by pianopraze


"nothing to hide" untill ATS become blacklisted.

If people can't see where this road leads to they really don't deserve to be warned anymore and should just get the cuffs slapped on in the future.

reply to post by Romekje


It's more likely that the people who cant see what's coming will end up being the ones slapping on the cuffs.

Given they are clouded by nonsense like "patriotism" "justice" "law" and of course "what have you got to hide?" they're prime candidates for becoming mindless enforcement drones.

This whole issue is about so much more than privacy and child pornography. Laws and effective actions are already in place to deal with spreading child pornography on the internet or anywhere else. What happened to that guy in the OP is exactly what should have happened minus the gun pointed to his head. Accidental or not he should have called the police immediately when he realized what the file was. That said...

No new laws are needed, no new tools are needed we already have cyber tasks forces to deal with hacking, illegal file sharing and illegal content backed with plenty of money to carry those through more than efficiently. SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, and now CISPA are nothing more than poorly disguised attempts to censor and control. The government knows damn well what is occuring at a rapid pace because of the internet and that is we're waking up, we're becoming information junkies and that is dangerous to "them".

People say "I've nothing to hide" etc. but then if they say that then they have no privacy.
Privacy = something to hide. People surely have things to hide.
Governments and corporations definitely have things to hide and protect.

"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Maria von Ebner-Eschenbach.
The real enemy are the f***tards who are willing to give your freedom up under mob rule.

Try listening to an audio track called "Birthrights" by headmix collective or headmix..
Limbo

I am on the fence about if the guy in question just downloaded CP, then deleted it when he was 'done' with it (as stated a lot of people think deleting it makes it 'go away!).
A few years ago I downloaded some kind of legit video program and they had some sample videos and one was labeled something like "Swimwear Babes" and I downloaded it and it was some fat guy on a bed with a little girl under 10 (probably). A lot of the people on the forum wrote: "WTF, this is child porn!" etc, well, I looked up an email that you can alert them about stuff like this (If I remember it was the FBI) and I copied the ip address and told them what was going on. I got an email back saying they would contact me if they found anything, etc.
I forgot about it but at Christmas I got an electronic card from them thanking me saying "It's people like you that protects our children, thanks!"
I was very surprised and pleased to receive acknowledgment from this. So if you do run across something like this do what I did (you can google the right email), this protects you as the know if you 'accidentally' downloaded something inappropriate you should do your best to make sure the crap is removed from web so it can't be downloaded again!