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This shouldn't have required OpSec at all because any smart person would not have kept books online, and maybe not even on a computer at all. It's always boggle

This shouldn't have required OpSec at all because any smart person would not have kept books online, and maybe not even on a computer at all. It's always boggled my mind that such intricate inditement records are kept, it's not going to end well. Tangent: if I were to open my house free for all to come and go as they please, but a bunch of criminals kept coming over and sitting at the kitchen table keeping their illegal record of their crimes, and I let them use my mailbox to contact their people to coordinate the executions of fruad and likely some murders sprinkled in there, and they would sometimes bring over suitecases filled with illegal materials or even filing cabinets, and store them in the living room for a bit and then some other criminal would come and take them out.... at what point would I as the homeowner become an accomplice to all the crimes being ran out of my house? I'm going to say at some point in time I would no longer be a oblivious homeowner and I would start to be viewed as a criminal and I'd be getting charges of crimes hurled my way. Now tell yourself the same story but instead of a house it's the Google product suite, sheets for the books, gmail for the comms, drive for the distribution of criminal data, etc. Sure Google is just the oblivious homeowner for awhile, but if I could be charged with being an accomplice to crimes, or aiding and abetting, surely something should be pointed at Google, or any other company, who is providing services to probably a massive amount of people using those services to realize crimes, all around the world, day in and day out. You can't have shit like that happening in your house and not know that it's happening, and these products are free so they can mine the data from us using them, which makes the "I didn't know some mobsters were keeping book at my kitchen table" defense hard to say and expect people to believe you. Not saying anything should happen, or that anything doesn't happen, I'm just pointing out that we don't really think about how often tech is used to commit crimes and I've never personally seen any news about the Feds going after Google for facilitating the back office of the criminal enterprise (maybe those Gov contracts Google does causes any LE to look the other way idk)

jfim 3y ago
> This shouldn't have required OpSec at all because any smart person would not have kept books online, and maybe not even on a computer at all. It's always boggled my mind that such intricate inditement records are kept, it's not going to end well. They're running a business, albeit an illicit one, and it's hard to run a business without spreadsheets. How else would they keep track of everything efficiently?
- wutwutwat 3y ago
  Ask the loan shark from the chop shop down on the corner when he's breaking your legs with a bat how he kept such accurate books with only a cashier's ledger notebook and no cloud based spreadsheet formulas. How they would run their business without spreadsheets is the same way that every business ran before spreadsheets existed. Or maybe if they didn't try to emulate legal businesses, who keep books for tax audit reasons, they wouldn't get caught. They are keeping audit records but the last thing they want is anyone to see those records. You don't need them the way legal businesses need them, the less paper trail the better.
- WJW 3y ago
  The more illicit it is, the more you should consider keeping books on paper the old fashioned way.
xwolfi 3y ago
Google isnt reading our emails but offers backdoor to authorities. They re the opposite of your oblivious turned malicious homeowner.
0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
Electronic spreadsheets were one of the greatest business cases for computers. Accounting is so much simpler if you do it electronically. Sure, you can get by without a computer, but you are already committing crimes, hoping to not get caught. Why make the paperwork even more onerous? If the Feds make you, your goose is probably already cooked.

jfim 3y ago

> This shouldn't have required OpSec at all because any smart person would not have kept books online, and maybe not even on a computer at all. It's always boggled my mind that such intricate inditement records are kept, it's not going to end well. They're running a business, albeit an illicit one, and it's hard to run a business without spreadsheets. How else would they keep track of everything efficiently?

wutwutwat 3y ago
Ask the loan shark from the chop shop down on the corner when he's breaking your legs with a bat how he kept such accurate books with only a cashier's ledger notebook and no cloud based spreadsheet formulas. How they would run their business without spreadsheets is the same way that every business ran before spreadsheets existed. Or maybe if they didn't try to emulate legal businesses, who keep books for tax audit reasons, they wouldn't get caught. They are keeping audit records but the last thing they want is anyone to see those records. You don't need them the way legal businesses need them, the less paper trail the better.
WJW 3y ago
The more illicit it is, the more you should consider keeping books on paper the old fashioned way.

xwolfi 3y ago

Google isnt reading our emails but offers backdoor to authorities. They re the opposite of your oblivious turned malicious homeowner.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago

Electronic spreadsheets were one of the greatest business cases for computers. Accounting is so much simpler if you do it electronically. Sure, you can get by without a computer, but you are already committing crimes, hoping to not get caught. Why make the paperwork even more onerous? If the Feds make you, your goose is probably already cooked.