11 ms·

Woman removes SIM card from smart energy meter, uses $193k of 3G data

166 points by mambodog 15y ago

cooldeal 15y ago
Does seem like excessive punishment to me, especially for someone who is in such hardship. Did Telstra really lose $193K on this incident? The cost to the state to imprison such barely harmful acts is definitely not worth it. All she deserves is a slap on the wrist, a small fine and some probation time.
- HelloBeautiful 15y ago
  No, she got the proper punishment for stealing from the corporate masters of US. She'll be trapped by the prison industry for the rest of her life. EDIT: OK, my bad. But Australia is run by the same ppl in the same way. NWO and the world government are around the corner anyway :D
  - monochromatic 15y ago
    You mean of Australia. Kind of loses its punch, doesn't it?
  - w1ntermute 15y ago
    > No, she got the proper punishment for stealing from the corporate masters of US. If you'd bothered to actually read the article, you'd know that this happened in Australia, not the US.
  - demallien 15y ago
    Sigh. Except of course Tasmania isn't part of the US but one of the 6 states making up the Commonwealth of Australia. Otherwise it was a great theory...
lawnchair_larry 15y ago
The real crime here is what the wireless provider is charging the power company (and by extension, the consumer) for that data. Wow.
- nbpoole 15y ago
  The smart meter probably doesn't transfer that much data under normal circumstances. I'd assume most of the expenses were due to exceeding the "data plan" for the card.
  - SwaroopH 15y ago
    true but as OP said, such overage charge is plain robbery.
    - eropple 15y ago
      That's silly. These SIM cards are used for very low monthly transfer. The companies agree to them _because_ the devices won't use much bandwidth. Properly configured devices (i.e., when SIM cards aren't being stolen and used in laptops) will not ever encounter these overages. There's no "robbery" involved.
      - marshray 15y ago
        Sure seems like someone should have looked at their data bill more often than every four months. So did they shut off the SIM once they knew it was stolen and being used, or did they allow her to rack up those ridiculous charges on purpose?
      - nagrom 15y ago
        So, why don't they internally cap the data available to a card of that type? This is a technical solution that would take what, 10 minutes? 20 minutes? Rather than allowing someone to run up $193k of overage charges (all the while cackling manically and rubbing their hands), why not behave in a reasonable fashion? In effect, this charge is a life sentence to a person. You don't expect the lady to pay this back anytime in the next 30 years, do you? Bear in mind that she needs to fulfill her regular needs with a criminal record hanging over her head. And since the fine is administered by a court, I don't imagine that it will be defaultable. If an individual did this to someone, there's no doubt that it would be looked-upon differently. It's done by a corporation with no physical body and people defend it. The goal of a society should, in general, be to construct a reasonable, fair place for people to live. This woman did not get treated fairly.
yuvadam 15y ago
This is yet another case that shows that 3G data is absurdly priced way above any reasonable equilibrium.
- josephb 15y ago
  It shows that Aurora are being bent over a barrel by their suppliers data rates. Negligent for not securing their meters and SIM cards better in the first place. Do we really believe they didn't negotiate the bill down with their supplier when they found out about it. Even Telstra is usually willing to help out a little.
  - 9ec4c12949a4f3 15y ago
    Interesting idea there. Lets just hack the gas meters to report false data.
  - owenmarshall 15y ago
    >It shows that Aurora are being bent over a barrel by their suppliers data rates. Doubtful. Aurora likely negotiated an extremely low monthly rate, knowing that these devices would use very little data in very predictable ways. Aurora should've locked the SIM to a specific device. That's definitely on them.
thailandstartup 15y ago
>Justice Tennent jailed Monks for 18 months, with the last 12 months of the sentence suspended on condition she be of good behaviour for three years. >She was ordered to repay Aurora $193,187.43. This is a horrendous miscarriage of justice. 4 months internet access = approx $80.
- monochromatic 15y ago
  Well then she should have used a reasonable rate plan and only spent $80, instead of using someone else's plan and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars of their money.
  - Jun8 15y ago
    She is a clueless, poor person. I agree she should be punished somehow, but this is a life devastating sentence, especially the $193K. How can you be so draconian? If we want to follow the law to the letter we don't need judges, something like Watson would be more than adequate (and cheaper).
    - monochromatic 15y ago
      If Aurora actually paid that 193k, then she should repay them for it. But it's not clear to me from the article that they did, and I can't really imagine that they did. If Aurora never paid that bill, she ought to be liable to Telstra for whatever she can get them to reduce the bill to.
    - hugh3 15y ago
      She is a clueless, poor person. There's no indication that she's clueless or poor. A clueless person probably wouldn't have any use for the insane amount of data she downloaded. And a court probably wouldn't impose a $183,000 fine on a person who was both poor and disabled. She's on a disability pension, but disability pensions aren't means-tested.
      - Jun8 15y ago
sidwyn 15y ago
How much data is that?
- dpritchett 15y ago
  The consumer PAYG rate is $2/MB so about a gigabyte a day for three months. The business rates don't seem to be published. http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/browsing_packs.html#packs http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/browsing_packs.html#packs
  - Maxious 15y ago
    Telstra Wireless Telemetry Service standard rate card: http://www.mobilitypartner.telstra.com/web/mpp/plans http://www.mobilitypartner.telstra.com/web/mpp/plans $1/MB is the highest rate. Interestingly the some of the sales material states "If a system is using more data than anticipated, Telstra Wireless M2M [Machine2Machine] Control Centre can alert you or automatically message directly to a device installed in the vehicle. Automated alerts and business rules monitor the health of the devices and instantly modify services based on exception activity." Guess Aurora weren't taking advantage of that.
  - Natsu 15y ago
    ~90GB of data costs $193,000!? And they call this lady a thief....
gtank 15y ago
> using a stolen SIM card to download almost $200,000 worth of data from the internet. What does '$200k worth' of Telstra data look like anyway? If you're prepaying at the highest levels[1], it's $1.50/GB up to 10GB. If it was this, she must have downloaded a little over 130TB of data or been subject to one hell of an overage charge. Seems unlikely. If you're using their 'extreme usage' standard plan[2], it's $5/GB up to 120GB, which may well be enough for dozens of movies. That plan is $600/mo or $15k over 2 years. Which means she's being accused of stealing over two decades' worth of their highest consumer data tier. Either something's up with Telstra's corporate data rates or there are some incredibly customer-hostile penalties attached to these things. [1] http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/prepaid/rates/index.htm http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/... [2] http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/productsservices/standardplans.44017 http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/p...
- eropple 15y ago
  Telstra almost certainly has a special deal with the power company--extremely low per-device rates for consistent very low bandwidth usage. They have a ton of these power meters out there and they don't exactly need a multi-gigabyte network plan. Those overages are as high as they are because they're a deterrent from the power company from fielding broken hardware that uses more bandwidth than it should.
  - gtank 15y ago
    I assumed there must be some kind of special deal going on but the shape of it eluded me. This sounds reasonable. It also suggests the idea of bug/theft insurance for corporate hardware use - pay a little extra and maybe we'll alert you when your power meters develop a hunger for torrents. Come to think of it, shouldn't Aurora have noticed a meter dropping off the grid and taken action to shut down that data account?
    - eropple 15y ago
      Probably. I'd guess it's just something that didn't come up in the past.
imgabe 15y ago
"dozens of movies" for 193k? If she downloaded 199 movies (assuming they'd say "hundreds" if it were 200 or more) at 4GB each that's 796 GB or $242.46/GB. Sounds more like the power company was getting ripped off by their data provider.
- mambodog 15y ago
  If they had chosen a plan with very little included data allowance it may have had high excess usage costs. Looking at the Telstra Business website[1], their $19/month 1GB plan has an excess usage rate of $0.25 per MB. Yes, megabyte. For your guess of 796GB that would work out to over $200,000. [1] http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/productsservices/memberplans.44018 http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/p...
  - imgabe 15y ago
    Just because it's an excess usage charge, doesn't mean that it's reasonable.
pilif 15y ago
Our product supports GPRS based barcode scanners which send data to our application. To prevent precisely this thing from happening, we advise our customers to make a special deal with the mobile carrier to ensure that the SIM card can't be used in any other device than the barcode scanner. Considering that there is such a simple technical solution (IMEI lock) to this problem and considering the amount the Telco charged for the data in this case, I really think that the punishment here was too harsh. The power company should at least pay for some of the charges due to not using a simple technical precaution (which, according to the article, they implemented for later customers) and the carrier, well... where I live extortion is a crime in itself and charging 193K for data traffic is just crazy.
- Maxious 15y ago
  Power companies were some of the first customers on Telstra's new M2M platform so it seems it wasn't standard operating procedure to lock the cards/accounts down at first. "An Aurora spokesman said once the company became aware of the problem [of unlocked SIM cards] with a small number of the company's meters it had taken steps with Telstra to prevent it recurring."
- killerdark 15y ago
  >The power company should at least pay for some of the charges Sure. And all that could have happened, however FTA: "Kylie Maree Monks, 33, pleaded guilty". If you plead guilty, it's over. This is a clear case of a uninformed and/or unintelligent defendant and a judge with a severe case of hemorrhoids.
justincormack 15y ago
Theft of SIM cards from devices is going to get increasingly common, there was this case from traffic lights in South Africa a while back http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12135841 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12135841 I imagine a lot of them are used by criminals who want to make anonymous calls, they probably get cut off more slowly than stolen handsets.
G2789 15y ago
Can anyone explain why 3G data is this expensive? I'm not currently able to connect the dots here.
- mambodog 15y ago
  There would be a certain amount of included data allowance per month for a set fee, and data use over that amount would be charged at a very high rate per MB.
- laut 15y ago
  Government monopoly. It's in Australia which has a telco monopoly. Internet is very expensive there. I was there as a tourist and left earlier than planned because it was so hard/expensive to get internet access. In third world countries on the same trip it was easier/cheaper to get internet access than in Australia. Wrote about it here: http://creativedeletion.com/2008/11/05/wifi-in-sydney-available-but-sparse-expensive-restricted/ http://creativedeletion.com/2008/11/05/wifi-in-sydney-availa...
- acqq 15y ago
  3G bandwidth is a limited resource. There should be a way for clients to pay less if they know that they use little. However 3G providers misuse the deals with limits by charging insane amounts per megabyte made over the limit. Of course, they can lower the transfer rate instead, effectively helping the client not overcharging due to an error (because it's always an error). They don't do it because their nasty business model in such case is based on the clients who unknowingly make the error and pay dearly. Crooks.
  - r00fus 15y ago
    In any sense, this phrase "...3G providers misuse the deals with limits by charging insane amounts per megabyte made over the limit." would be a textbook definition of usury.
zcid 15y ago
This was a huge failure for the phone and energy company. There is no reason that kind of use should be allowed in the first place. Here in the US, a lot of GSM based alarm systems have SIM cards in them, but they are access controlled to prevent such theft and abuse. I'm not trying to excuse the woman's behavior, but Telstra needs to get their act together to prevent similar crimes in the future.
Jun8 15y ago
News items like this make me sad. Reading the callous comments here (from people far more privileged than the convict) is even sadder. This and the misguided porn raid that was covered 2 days ago... and these are the ones that appear in HN. How many such injustices happen every day? I think law schools should have mandatory "Internet Technology & Law" classes. I used to think that the judges in cases like music piracy were just dishonest and in bed with RIAA. Now, I understand the situation is even worse: they are totally clueless about basic technology. And, obviously, they are not intelligent enough to have a health curiosity and learn about these matters (the US Supreme Court judges, for example, have demonstrated that they do this).
- eropple 15y ago
  Yes, clearly judges are "not intelligent enough". Arrogant much?
  - Jun8 15y ago
    Intelligence is hard to define but I think the biggest component is a healthy curiosity for everything. If topic is related to your job this counts as double. Seeing judges not having a grasp of basic knowledge related to the Internet, when there are so many resources they can get information is inexcusable.
    - marshray 15y ago
      Judges basically rely on the trial lawyers to do all the research and package up all the information needed. Being able to detect BS in a description of the inner working of the internet or an ISP probably requires more background reading than that. But at least some of the blame probably goes to the lawyers involved.
      - nitrogen 15y ago
        This sounds like the basis of a good argument for switching to an inquisitorial legal system (instead of an adversarial one). I find it unfortunate that a defendant has to be aware of and actively pursue every option for defense, and that "fact" within a courtroom differs from "fact" outside the courtroom. This is especially troubling because of the highly asymmetrical nature of the legal encounters the average person may have in his or her lifetime (e.g. corporation vs. person, government vs. person).
cubicle67 15y ago
Telstra are the major Australian telco, and for a number of years (and still in a number of areas) pretty much a monopoly. They're infamous for their price gouging. So, how could someone ring up $200k data bill? Here's Telstra's current mobile phone plans http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/plans/phone_plan.html http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/plans/phone_plan.html Note, this includes a whopping $5 data/month at the bargain rate of $2/Mb It wasn't that long ago they were selling 3 year, $29/month adsl plans that included 200Mb (yes, Meg) of data, and then charged $15/Mb for any used over that
- raquo 15y ago
  Don't want to be devil's advocate here, but it clearly states on that page: "$2 per MB. You can add an extra 1GB Browsing Pack for an extra $10 a month." Not even in gray tiny text, and that doesn't sound overly expensive. // Okay I'll go wash my soul now.
farout 15y ago
People wonder why "women" find certain fields distasteful. came to HN: Number one topic for comments - about a "Woman". Why say she is a woman? Depressing. Is it required? No it is just to stress the fact that women are stupid and perhaps deceitful than men. Yet my empirical suggests otherwise. So sad HN. Edit: Downvote all you want.
- mambodog 15y ago
  I'll be honest, my title was adapted from the one I saw on reddit, as the original article title was not sufficiently informative. This interpretation never occurred to me. Little did I realise that I was subconsciously trying to imply that women are stupid and deceitful! How would you have phrased it?
  - farout 15y ago
    It does not matter that the person who did this was a woman. Use of stolen SIM lands person in jail.
    - joelhooks 15y ago
      Doesn't really matter that it was a person either. "Use of stolen 3g card lands organism in jail" /scrubbed
      - m_myers 15y ago
        It's probably important that this was a conscious organism. Although the shock factor would be higher if a tree had been jailed. And "stolen" is much too strong a word. Let's say "illicitly obtained". And it wasn't the "use", it was the excessive use. And there was a fine also, so you can't just leave it at "jail". That sounds judgmental, anyway. Call it "corrective action". OK, now what have we got? "Excessive use of illicitly obtained 3G card by conscious organism garners heavy corrective actions" Ahh, much better. No one can possibly be offended by that. Right?
    - glhaynes 15y ago
Dove 15y ago
I'm confused. It sounds like she was given the sim card and didn't know it was stolen. Does Australia not do mens rea? Or does it not apply here for some reason? I mean, common sense says she didn't think she was doing anything wrong.
- sorbus 15y ago
  Common sense would say that she was lying about being given the card, especially as she wasn't able to find the person who supposedly gave it to her.
- hugh3 15y ago
  It sounds like she was given the sim card and didn't know it was stolen. That was her second story. Her first story was that she didn't know anything about it. Her second story was that some man she met on the internet (whom she could not identify any further except to give a name, despite the fact she had presumably exchanged physical goods with him) decided to ask her (a random stranger) to download a bunch of data for him because his modem was broken (despite the fact that they had no trouble talking on the internet). It sounds to me like a completely bullshit story. I assume the judge saw it the same way. In fact, I'm guessing there was some other evidence which didn't get included in this story -- surely the electric company knows exactly whose meter the SIM card comes from?
blhack 15y ago
What if she just repays the $193k? I have a feeling that quite a few nerds would be pissed off enough about this to donate a cup-of-coffee to a "keep this poor woman out of jail" fund. That, and hopefully something like that would bring publicity to the absurdity of this. Granted, yes, what this woman did was completely wrong, and she should be punished for it. That punishment should be about on par with people who use cracked smart cards in their satellite receivers.
- kenj0418 15y ago
  This nerd will be drinking my cup-of-coffee, not donating to keep a crook out of jail. The only similarity between this and satellite crackers is that they both involve smart cards. (And the satellite people can pay for their own crimes/torts as well - keep MY coffee out of it).
tokenadult 15y ago
When I read stories like this (which I took care to do before commenting here), I wonder what hackers who are attempting to build software-as-a-service web-based start-ups think about this? Is it just plain immoral for a builder of a service to make a living from the service? Are creators of intellectual property not entitled to any protection of their property? Do you really want to live in a world in which any potential customer can steal your service rather than pay for it?
- noonespecial 15y ago
  I don't want to live in a world where relatively harmless people receive draconian punishments for minor offenses but bankers steal billions without a sour glance. But if I must choose, I'd choose the former over the latter even though it makes it more difficult for me to make a living.
jcromartie 15y ago
Nowhere in this entire story is the premise that the bandwidth was actually worth that much money even questioned. What is wrong with people?
jmjerlecki 15y ago
The cost of using Facebook. Priceless.
raquo 15y ago
What I hate most in such cases is that the telco will just sit silent until it presents you an insane bill at the end of the month. How hard is it to implement a system that would compare each customer's last day's spending with their own 75-percentile daily spending over last 30 days and alert them of extraordinary activity? That would prevent 70% of such problems. 99% if something similar was implemented for roaming charges.
- dorianj 15y ago
  My university does this, and sends me an email the second my bandwidth usage is showing 'unusual activity', usually triggered by skype (since it uploads a lot). So, not too hard.
  - m_myers 15y ago
    But your university gives you a flat fee for bandwidth, does it not? If so, then their incentive is to help you use less. A telco which offers per-GB rates would rather you use more.
- jbooth 15y ago
  Well, what's their incentive to set something like that up? It would hurt their bottom line to be that good of a citizen.
  - afterburner 15y ago
    Exactly, so in this case the consequences to the convicted woman was a double whammy: the huge bill exaggerated the scale of her crime, which meant the uncompassionate legal system punished her with a jail term to match the "damages". The legal system failed both in its discretionary punishment and in regulating the telco enough to avoid this situation and protect consumers.
- mcn 15y ago
  Agreed. It appears that she was averaging a $4k+/day bill -- it shouldn't take 4 months to notice that something is wrong with that.
kschua 15y ago
What amazes me is why didn't the power company used a Prepaid SIM card instead. A $150 recharge on Telstra for their prepaid mobile broadband gives 10 GB of data allowance and has an expiry of 365 days. Seriously, how much data can the smart reader be sending back?
Havoc 15y ago
Same thing happened here (South Africa) only on a much bigger scale. Hundreds of them were stolen. Can't remember what they were used for though (Wasn't smart meters). I feel the supplier should carry part of the costs. Unlimited SIMs easily accessible with zero safeguards should attract a stupidity tax.
Havoc 15y ago
Same thing happened here (South Africa) only on a much bigger scale. Hundreds of them were stolen. Can't remember what they were used for though (Wasn't smart meters). I feel the supplier should carry part of the costs. Unlimited SIMs easily accessible with zero safeguards should attract a stupidity tax.
tzs 15y ago
I see many people comparing to consumer data plans, or even linking to Telstra's plans. That's pointless. The power company is not using one of the standard Telstra plans. Think about it--the cheapest plan linked to is a minimum of $30/month. Does anyone really think the power company is going to be spending $30/month/meter to collect meter readings? Of course not. They will have some kind of special rate structure where they pay a small or no monthly fee, and either have a small data quota, or perhaps have no quote but pay a fairly high rate per byte starting at the first byte.

166 points by mambodog 15y ago

Does seem like excessive punishment to me, especially for someone who is in such hardship. Did Telstra really lose $193K on this incident? The cost to the state to imprison such barely harmful acts is definitely not worth it. All she deserves is a slap on the wrist, a small fine and some probation time.

HelloBeautiful 15y ago
No, she got the proper punishment for stealing from the corporate masters of US. She'll be trapped by the prison industry for the rest of her life. EDIT: OK, my bad. But Australia is run by the same ppl in the same way. NWO and the world government are around the corner anyway :D
- monochromatic 15y ago
  You mean of Australia. Kind of loses its punch, doesn't it?
- w1ntermute 15y ago
  > No, she got the proper punishment for stealing from the corporate masters of US. If you'd bothered to actually read the article, you'd know that this happened in Australia, not the US.
- demallien 15y ago
  Sigh. Except of course Tasmania isn't part of the US but one of the 6 states making up the Commonwealth of Australia. Otherwise it was a great theory...

lawnchair_larry 15y ago

The real crime here is what the wireless provider is charging the power company (and by extension, the consumer) for that data. Wow.

nbpoole 15y ago
The smart meter probably doesn't transfer that much data under normal circumstances. I'd assume most of the expenses were due to exceeding the "data plan" for the card.
- SwaroopH 15y ago
  true but as OP said, such overage charge is plain robbery.
  - eropple 15y ago
    That's silly. These SIM cards are used for very low monthly transfer. The companies agree to them _because_ the devices won't use much bandwidth. Properly configured devices (i.e., when SIM cards aren't being stolen and used in laptops) will not ever encounter these overages. There's no "robbery" involved.
    - marshray 15y ago
      Sure seems like someone should have looked at their data bill more often than every four months. So did they shut off the SIM once they knew it was stolen and being used, or did they allow her to rack up those ridiculous charges on purpose?
    - nagrom 15y ago
      So, why don't they internally cap the data available to a card of that type? This is a technical solution that would take what, 10 minutes? 20 minutes? Rather than allowing someone to run up $193k of overage charges (all the while cackling manically and rubbing their hands), why not behave in a reasonable fashion? In effect, this charge is a life sentence to a person. You don't expect the lady to pay this back anytime in the next 30 years, do you? Bear in mind that she needs to fulfill her regular needs with a criminal record hanging over her head. And since the fine is administered by a court, I don't imagine that it will be defaultable. If an individual did this to someone, there's no doubt that it would be looked-upon differently. It's done by a corporation with no physical body and people defend it. The goal of a society should, in general, be to construct a reasonable, fair place for people to live. This woman did not get treated fairly.

yuvadam 15y ago

This is yet another case that shows that 3G data is absurdly priced way above any reasonable equilibrium.

josephb 15y ago
It shows that Aurora are being bent over a barrel by their suppliers data rates. Negligent for not securing their meters and SIM cards better in the first place. Do we really believe they didn't negotiate the bill down with their supplier when they found out about it. Even Telstra is usually willing to help out a little.
- 9ec4c12949a4f3 15y ago
  Interesting idea there. Lets just hack the gas meters to report false data.
- owenmarshall 15y ago
  >It shows that Aurora are being bent over a barrel by their suppliers data rates. Doubtful. Aurora likely negotiated an extremely low monthly rate, knowing that these devices would use very little data in very predictable ways. Aurora should've locked the SIM to a specific device. That's definitely on them.

thailandstartup 15y ago

>Justice Tennent jailed Monks for 18 months, with the last 12 months of the sentence suspended on condition she be of good behaviour for three years. >She was ordered to repay Aurora $193,187.43. This is a horrendous miscarriage of justice. 4 months internet access = approx $80.

monochromatic 15y ago
Well then she should have used a reasonable rate plan and only spent $80, instead of using someone else's plan and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars of their money.
- Jun8 15y ago
  She is a clueless, poor person. I agree she should be punished somehow, but this is a life devastating sentence, especially the $193K. How can you be so draconian? If we want to follow the law to the letter we don't need judges, something like Watson would be more than adequate (and cheaper).
  - monochromatic 15y ago
    If Aurora actually paid that 193k, then she should repay them for it. But it's not clear to me from the article that they did, and I can't really imagine that they did. If Aurora never paid that bill, she ought to be liable to Telstra for whatever she can get them to reduce the bill to.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    She is a clueless, poor person. There's no indication that she's clueless or poor. A clueless person probably wouldn't have any use for the insane amount of data she downloaded. And a court probably wouldn't impose a $183,000 fine on a person who was both poor and disabled. She's on a disability pension, but disability pensions aren't means-tested.
    - Jun8 15y ago

sidwyn 15y ago

How much data is that?

dpritchett 15y ago
The consumer PAYG rate is $2/MB so about a gigabyte a day for three months. The business rates don't seem to be published. http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/browsing_packs.html#packs http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/browsing_packs.html#packs
- Maxious 15y ago
  Telstra Wireless Telemetry Service standard rate card: http://www.mobilitypartner.telstra.com/web/mpp/plans http://www.mobilitypartner.telstra.com/web/mpp/plans $1/MB is the highest rate. Interestingly the some of the sales material states "If a system is using more data than anticipated, Telstra Wireless M2M [Machine2Machine] Control Centre can alert you or automatically message directly to a device installed in the vehicle. Automated alerts and business rules monitor the health of the devices and instantly modify services based on exception activity." Guess Aurora weren't taking advantage of that.
- Natsu 15y ago
  ~90GB of data costs $193,000!? And they call this lady a thief....

gtank 15y ago

> using a stolen SIM card to download almost $200,000 worth of data from the internet. What does '$200k worth' of Telstra data look like anyway? If you're prepaying at the highest levels[1], it's $1.50/GB up to 10GB. If it was this, she must have downloaded a little over 130TB of data or been subject to one hell of an overage charge. Seems unlikely. If you're using their 'extreme usage' standard plan[2], it's $5/GB up to 120GB, which may well be enough for dozens of movies. That plan is $600/mo or $15k over 2 years. Which means she's being accused of stealing over two decades' worth of their highest consumer data tier. Either something's up with Telstra's corporate data rates or there are some incredibly customer-hostile penalties attached to these things. [1] http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/prepaid/rates/index.htm http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/... [2] http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/productsservices/standardplans.44017 http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/p...

eropple 15y ago
Telstra almost certainly has a special deal with the power company--extremely low per-device rates for consistent very low bandwidth usage. They have a ton of these power meters out there and they don't exactly need a multi-gigabyte network plan. Those overages are as high as they are because they're a deterrent from the power company from fielding broken hardware that uses more bandwidth than it should.
- gtank 15y ago
  I assumed there must be some kind of special deal going on but the shape of it eluded me. This sounds reasonable. It also suggests the idea of bug/theft insurance for corporate hardware use - pay a little extra and maybe we'll alert you when your power meters develop a hunger for torrents. Come to think of it, shouldn't Aurora have noticed a meter dropping off the grid and taken action to shut down that data account?
  - eropple 15y ago
    Probably. I'd guess it's just something that didn't come up in the past.

imgabe 15y ago

"dozens of movies" for 193k? If she downloaded 199 movies (assuming they'd say "hundreds" if it were 200 or more) at 4GB each that's 796 GB or $242.46/GB. Sounds more like the power company was getting ripped off by their data provider.

mambodog 15y ago
If they had chosen a plan with very little included data allowance it may have had high excess usage costs. Looking at the Telstra Business website[1], their $19/month 1GB plan has an excess usage rate of $0.25 per MB. Yes, megabyte. For your guess of 796GB that would work out to over $200,000. [1] http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/productsservices/memberplans.44018 http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/portal/online/site/p...
- imgabe 15y ago
  Just because it's an excess usage charge, doesn't mean that it's reasonable.

pilif 15y ago

Our product supports GPRS based barcode scanners which send data to our application. To prevent precisely this thing from happening, we advise our customers to make a special deal with the mobile carrier to ensure that the SIM card can't be used in any other device than the barcode scanner. Considering that there is such a simple technical solution (IMEI lock) to this problem and considering the amount the Telco charged for the data in this case, I really think that the punishment here was too harsh. The power company should at least pay for some of the charges due to not using a simple technical precaution (which, according to the article, they implemented for later customers) and the carrier, well... where I live extortion is a crime in itself and charging 193K for data traffic is just crazy.

Maxious 15y ago
Power companies were some of the first customers on Telstra's new M2M platform so it seems it wasn't standard operating procedure to lock the cards/accounts down at first. "An Aurora spokesman said once the company became aware of the problem [of unlocked SIM cards] with a small number of the company's meters it had taken steps with Telstra to prevent it recurring."
killerdark 15y ago
>The power company should at least pay for some of the charges Sure. And all that could have happened, however FTA: "Kylie Maree Monks, 33, pleaded guilty". If you plead guilty, it's over. This is a clear case of a uninformed and/or unintelligent defendant and a judge with a severe case of hemorrhoids.

justincormack 15y ago

Theft of SIM cards from devices is going to get increasingly common, there was this case from traffic lights in South Africa a while back http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12135841 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12135841 I imagine a lot of them are used by criminals who want to make anonymous calls, they probably get cut off more slowly than stolen handsets.

G2789 15y ago

Can anyone explain why 3G data is this expensive? I'm not currently able to connect the dots here.

mambodog 15y ago
There would be a certain amount of included data allowance per month for a set fee, and data use over that amount would be charged at a very high rate per MB.
laut 15y ago
Government monopoly. It's in Australia which has a telco monopoly. Internet is very expensive there. I was there as a tourist and left earlier than planned because it was so hard/expensive to get internet access. In third world countries on the same trip it was easier/cheaper to get internet access than in Australia. Wrote about it here: http://creativedeletion.com/2008/11/05/wifi-in-sydney-available-but-sparse-expensive-restricted/ http://creativedeletion.com/2008/11/05/wifi-in-sydney-availa...
acqq 15y ago
3G bandwidth is a limited resource. There should be a way for clients to pay less if they know that they use little. However 3G providers misuse the deals with limits by charging insane amounts per megabyte made over the limit. Of course, they can lower the transfer rate instead, effectively helping the client not overcharging due to an error (because it's always an error). They don't do it because their nasty business model in such case is based on the clients who unknowingly make the error and pay dearly. Crooks.
- r00fus 15y ago
  In any sense, this phrase "...3G providers misuse the deals with limits by charging insane amounts per megabyte made over the limit." would be a textbook definition of usury.

zcid 15y ago

This was a huge failure for the phone and energy company. There is no reason that kind of use should be allowed in the first place. Here in the US, a lot of GSM based alarm systems have SIM cards in them, but they are access controlled to prevent such theft and abuse. I'm not trying to excuse the woman's behavior, but Telstra needs to get their act together to prevent similar crimes in the future.

Jun8 15y ago

News items like this make me sad. Reading the callous comments here (from people far more privileged than the convict) is even sadder. This and the misguided porn raid that was covered 2 days ago... and these are the ones that appear in HN. How many such injustices happen every day? I think law schools should have mandatory "Internet Technology & Law" classes. I used to think that the judges in cases like music piracy were just dishonest and in bed with RIAA. Now, I understand the situation is even worse: they are totally clueless about basic technology. And, obviously, they are not intelligent enough to have a health curiosity and learn about these matters (the US Supreme Court judges, for example, have demonstrated that they do this).

eropple 15y ago
Yes, clearly judges are "not intelligent enough". Arrogant much?
- Jun8 15y ago
  Intelligence is hard to define but I think the biggest component is a healthy curiosity for everything. If topic is related to your job this counts as double. Seeing judges not having a grasp of basic knowledge related to the Internet, when there are so many resources they can get information is inexcusable.
  - marshray 15y ago
    Judges basically rely on the trial lawyers to do all the research and package up all the information needed. Being able to detect BS in a description of the inner working of the internet or an ISP probably requires more background reading than that. But at least some of the blame probably goes to the lawyers involved.
    - nitrogen 15y ago
      This sounds like the basis of a good argument for switching to an inquisitorial legal system (instead of an adversarial one). I find it unfortunate that a defendant has to be aware of and actively pursue every option for defense, and that "fact" within a courtroom differs from "fact" outside the courtroom. This is especially troubling because of the highly asymmetrical nature of the legal encounters the average person may have in his or her lifetime (e.g. corporation vs. person, government vs. person).

cubicle67 15y ago

Telstra are the major Australian telco, and for a number of years (and still in a number of areas) pretty much a monopoly. They're infamous for their price gouging. So, how could someone ring up $200k data bill? Here's Telstra's current mobile phone plans http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/plans/phone_plan.html http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/plans/phone_plan.html Note, this includes a whopping $5 data/month at the bargain rate of $2/Mb It wasn't that long ago they were selling 3 year, $29/month adsl plans that included 200Mb (yes, Meg) of data, and then charged $15/Mb for any used over that

raquo 15y ago
Don't want to be devil's advocate here, but it clearly states on that page: "$2 per MB. You can add an extra 1GB Browsing Pack for an extra $10 a month." Not even in gray tiny text, and that doesn't sound overly expensive. // Okay I'll go wash my soul now.

farout 15y ago

People wonder why "women" find certain fields distasteful. came to HN: Number one topic for comments - about a "Woman". Why say she is a woman? Depressing. Is it required? No it is just to stress the fact that women are stupid and perhaps deceitful than men. Yet my empirical suggests otherwise. So sad HN. Edit: Downvote all you want.

mambodog 15y ago
I'll be honest, my title was adapted from the one I saw on reddit, as the original article title was not sufficiently informative. This interpretation never occurred to me. Little did I realise that I was subconsciously trying to imply that women are stupid and deceitful! How would you have phrased it?
- farout 15y ago
  It does not matter that the person who did this was a woman. Use of stolen SIM lands person in jail.
  - joelhooks 15y ago
    Doesn't really matter that it was a person either. "Use of stolen 3g card lands organism in jail" /scrubbed
    - m_myers 15y ago
      It's probably important that this was a conscious organism. Although the shock factor would be higher if a tree had been jailed. And "stolen" is much too strong a word. Let's say "illicitly obtained". And it wasn't the "use", it was the excessive use. And there was a fine also, so you can't just leave it at "jail". That sounds judgmental, anyway. Call it "corrective action". OK, now what have we got? "Excessive use of illicitly obtained 3G card by conscious organism garners heavy corrective actions" Ahh, much better. No one can possibly be offended by that. Right?
  - glhaynes 15y ago

Dove 15y ago

I'm confused. It sounds like she was given the sim card and didn't know it was stolen. Does Australia not do mens rea? Or does it not apply here for some reason? I mean, common sense says she didn't think she was doing anything wrong.

sorbus 15y ago
Common sense would say that she was lying about being given the card, especially as she wasn't able to find the person who supposedly gave it to her.
hugh3 15y ago
It sounds like she was given the sim card and didn't know it was stolen. That was her second story. Her first story was that she didn't know anything about it. Her second story was that some man she met on the internet (whom she could not identify any further except to give a name, despite the fact she had presumably exchanged physical goods with him) decided to ask her (a random stranger) to download a bunch of data for him because his modem was broken (despite the fact that they had no trouble talking on the internet). It sounds to me like a completely bullshit story. I assume the judge saw it the same way. In fact, I'm guessing there was some other evidence which didn't get included in this story -- surely the electric company knows exactly whose meter the SIM card comes from?

blhack 15y ago

What if she just repays the $193k? I have a feeling that quite a few nerds would be pissed off enough about this to donate a cup-of-coffee to a "keep this poor woman out of jail" fund. That, and hopefully something like that would bring publicity to the absurdity of this. Granted, yes, what this woman did was completely wrong, and she should be punished for it. That punishment should be about on par with people who use cracked smart cards in their satellite receivers.

kenj0418 15y ago
This nerd will be drinking my cup-of-coffee, not donating to keep a crook out of jail. The only similarity between this and satellite crackers is that they both involve smart cards. (And the satellite people can pay for their own crimes/torts as well - keep MY coffee out of it).

tokenadult 15y ago

When I read stories like this (which I took care to do before commenting here), I wonder what hackers who are attempting to build software-as-a-service web-based start-ups think about this? Is it just plain immoral for a builder of a service to make a living from the service? Are creators of intellectual property not entitled to any protection of their property? Do you really want to live in a world in which any potential customer can steal your service rather than pay for it?

noonespecial 15y ago
I don't want to live in a world where relatively harmless people receive draconian punishments for minor offenses but bankers steal billions without a sour glance. But if I must choose, I'd choose the former over the latter even though it makes it more difficult for me to make a living.

jcromartie 15y ago

Nowhere in this entire story is the premise that the bandwidth was actually worth that much money even questioned. What is wrong with people?

jmjerlecki 15y ago

The cost of using Facebook. Priceless.

raquo 15y ago

What I hate most in such cases is that the telco will just sit silent until it presents you an insane bill at the end of the month. How hard is it to implement a system that would compare each customer's last day's spending with their own 75-percentile daily spending over last 30 days and alert them of extraordinary activity? That would prevent 70% of such problems. 99% if something similar was implemented for roaming charges.

dorianj 15y ago
My university does this, and sends me an email the second my bandwidth usage is showing 'unusual activity', usually triggered by skype (since it uploads a lot). So, not too hard.
- m_myers 15y ago
  But your university gives you a flat fee for bandwidth, does it not? If so, then their incentive is to help you use less. A telco which offers per-GB rates would rather you use more.
jbooth 15y ago
Well, what's their incentive to set something like that up? It would hurt their bottom line to be that good of a citizen.
- afterburner 15y ago
  Exactly, so in this case the consequences to the convicted woman was a double whammy: the huge bill exaggerated the scale of her crime, which meant the uncompassionate legal system punished her with a jail term to match the "damages". The legal system failed both in its discretionary punishment and in regulating the telco enough to avoid this situation and protect consumers.
mcn 15y ago
Agreed. It appears that she was averaging a $4k+/day bill -- it shouldn't take 4 months to notice that something is wrong with that.

kschua 15y ago

What amazes me is why didn't the power company used a Prepaid SIM card instead. A $150 recharge on Telstra for their prepaid mobile broadband gives 10 GB of data allowance and has an expiry of 365 days. Seriously, how much data can the smart reader be sending back?

Havoc 15y ago

Same thing happened here (South Africa) only on a much bigger scale. Hundreds of them were stolen. Can't remember what they were used for though (Wasn't smart meters). I feel the supplier should carry part of the costs. Unlimited SIMs easily accessible with zero safeguards should attract a stupidity tax.

Havoc 15y ago

tzs 15y ago

I see many people comparing to consumer data plans, or even linking to Telstra's plans. That's pointless. The power company is not using one of the standard Telstra plans. Think about it--the cheapest plan linked to is a minimum of $30/month. Does anyone really think the power company is going to be spending $30/month/meter to collect meter readings? Of course not. They will have some kind of special rate structure where they pay a small or no monthly fee, and either have a small data quota, or perhaps have no quote but pay a fairly high rate per byte starting at the first byte.