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> Actually it is. Specifically what law did he break? If someone leaves you a voicemail with a message you don't agree with, is that a crime? If someone send

> Actually it is. Specifically what law did he break? If someone leaves you a voicemail with a message you don't agree with, is that a crime? If someone sends you a fax with the same message, is that a crime? [1] If someone sends you an email with the same message, is that a crime? If you connect a printer to the internet and someone sends the printer a document with the same message, is that a crime? I'm sure someone can find a way to apply the CFAA to this, but at the end of the day a printer is not a house. A printer connected to the internet is a server that turns files into paper documents. If you don't want people using your printer, don't place it on the internet with zero authentication or access controls. [1] advertisements are illegal, not sure about arbitrary messages.

jessaustin 11y ago
Yeah the fax analogy is spot-on. Nowadays the fax and printer are often the same machine.
- mikeash 11y ago
  The fax analogy is terrible. It's normal to set up a fax machine that anybody can send stuff to without authentication. Nobody ever does that with internet connected printers. If you find one accessible and unsecured, you know it was done by accident.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    TFA seems to contradict at least your "nobody ever does that". ISTM that while many of the unsecured printers were mistakenly so, many others were intentionally so. But we don't need to speculate about motivations. There is very little functional difference between a fax machine and an unsecured printer. The addressing scheme and transmission protocol are different, and the fax is limited to B&W, but those are the only differences of form or function. The differences are in the expectations that some people have. They'd shred obnoxious faxes without comment, but at least for now they won't do that for obnoxious printouts.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      Where does it say that many of the unsecured printers were that way intentionally? If you're referring to "Many university printers allow printing from outside their computer networks," that to me is pretty clearly just a way to say, in a nontechnical way, "many university printers are not secured."

jessaustin 11y ago

Yeah the fax analogy is spot-on. Nowadays the fax and printer are often the same machine.

mikeash 11y ago
The fax analogy is terrible. It's normal to set up a fax machine that anybody can send stuff to without authentication. Nobody ever does that with internet connected printers. If you find one accessible and unsecured, you know it was done by accident.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  TFA seems to contradict at least your "nobody ever does that". ISTM that while many of the unsecured printers were mistakenly so, many others were intentionally so. But we don't need to speculate about motivations. There is very little functional difference between a fax machine and an unsecured printer. The addressing scheme and transmission protocol are different, and the fax is limited to B&W, but those are the only differences of form or function. The differences are in the expectations that some people have. They'd shred obnoxious faxes without comment, but at least for now they won't do that for obnoxious printouts.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Where does it say that many of the unsecured printers were that way intentionally? If you're referring to "Many university printers allow printing from outside their computer networks," that to me is pretty clearly just a way to say, in a nontechnical way, "many university printers are not secured."