7 ms·

British police to routinely hack into PCs without a warrant.

25 points by raganwald 18y ago

fallentimes 18y ago
Man, what's going on with the UK? This is straight out of 1984. See also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=388300 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=388300 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=334321 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=334321
- m0nty 18y ago
  Unfortunately, people have forgotten what the thin end of a wedge looks like. Example: the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 provided that security personnel at the level of "Chief Inspector of Police" or above could provide authorisation to monitor communications for the prevention of "serious crime or terrorism." Actual legislation, as it now stands: officials in town halls up and down the country use the same powers with little oversight, to monitor people for offences as trivial as lying on their school application form, fly-tipping and (soon) minor traffic misdemeanours such as parking on a yellow line. Unfortunately, we're not alone: this is an EU measure, and other countries such as India, Australia and the US are, let's face it, just as culpable and opposed to genuine online freedom. BTW, I'd like to see them use these techniques (virus-laden emails, key-loggers, wireless hacking) to get into any sufficiently tech-savvy user's computer.
  - dfranke 18y ago
    Key loggers can be tough to beat. While getting a software key-logger past me would be laborious (set BIOS password-reset jumper on motherboard, enable CD boot in BIOS, boot from rescue CD, figure out my RAID settings so you can mount my root partition, install key-logger and kernel rootkit to hide the process, restore what my desktop looked like so that I don't notice), it's pretty likely that I wouldn't notice a physical one before it was too late.
    - m0nty 18y ago
      I use a laptop all the time, so I was wondering if they had any other ways to physically bug a keyboard?
      - dfranke 18y ago
        There are probably key-loggers designed to be placed inside laptops, but, not being a black-hat, I've never seen or looked for one. In any case, it'd be a lot more difficult. The cop would have to be trained in how to perform the installation in a reasonable period of time.
      - elai 18y ago
        There are lots of laptop keyboard loggers. The real convert ones embed them in the keyboard by putting it between some connector or another. Laptop and desktop. You just need 10 minutes if your good.
- axod 18y ago
  Once Labour get kicked out things will return to sanity. Do bear in mind how the media does like to massively overblow and exaggerate everything though.
  - abstractbill 18y ago
    Once Labour get kicked out things will return to sanity. Unfortunately I doubt it. That's exactly what we all said when we kicked the Tories out.
    - daniel-cussen 18y ago
      Kick the ruling party out every four years and things may get better.
      - buro9 18y ago
        Unfortunately I doubt it, the government is always in power.
      - jamii 18y ago
        We've only got two of them...
    - axod 18y ago
      I disagree on that. I would have much preferred the Tories to stay in, but with a strong leader. John Major wasn't that person. He was a lame ineffective duck, just as Brown is now. At least taxes are very likely to come down under Tories, less smaller government, less needless waste etc. Maybe they'll get rid of some of the things Labour have put in place like the regional assemblies, minimum wage, endless tax credits etc
dazzawazza 18y ago
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever."
russell 18y ago
I often read Charles Stross's blog (good SF writer, http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/index.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/index.html) and he comments about the big brother tactics of the British police. In addition the British don't have the same guarantees of privacy and freedom of speech that we do in the US. You can be successfully sued for libel even if what you say is true. A British citizen can be sued for a posting even if the server is in another country. Scary.
- graemep 18y ago
  Anyone can be sued for libel in Britain for any content that is read by even one person in Britain. Rachel Ehrenfeld was successfully sued in Britain by Khalid bin Mahfouz for writing Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It, a book that was never published in Britain. 23 copies had been shipped to Britain by online booksellers, which was enough for Britain to claim jurisdiction. British libel law also makes web hosts, printers, bookshops etc. liable, so it is very easy to get anything out of circulation by going after the weak link in the chain: that is how Alisher Usmanov go Craig Murray's blog taken down withot actually Murray himself.
zandorg 18y ago
This is a good time for me to point out the RIP Human Intelligence Sources Code of Practi(c/s)e. This is a PDF which details the secret police who have the power to do a lot of stuff. You can find it on Google. It's atrocious, and nobody knows about it, it's hidden away in a PDF.
seano 18y ago
Why the hysteria? This is a useful tool in detecting and preventing serious crimes in the modern world. I think it's a good thing.
- lliiffee 18y ago
  without a warrant. Certainly I want to police to be able to search people's homes if they are likely to commit serious crimes. However, I don't want the police to be able to search my home with out some sort of evidence that I have done something improper. Similarly, I consider the data on my computer private. I think that history suggests that the government cannot be trusted to use authority responsibly unless there is some sort of system in place to guarantee that it uses its authority responsibly. That system is called warrants.

25 points by raganwald 18y ago

Man, what's going on with the UK? This is straight out of 1984. See also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=388300 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=388300 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=334321 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=334321

m0nty 18y ago
Unfortunately, people have forgotten what the thin end of a wedge looks like. Example: the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 provided that security personnel at the level of "Chief Inspector of Police" or above could provide authorisation to monitor communications for the prevention of "serious crime or terrorism." Actual legislation, as it now stands: officials in town halls up and down the country use the same powers with little oversight, to monitor people for offences as trivial as lying on their school application form, fly-tipping and (soon) minor traffic misdemeanours such as parking on a yellow line. Unfortunately, we're not alone: this is an EU measure, and other countries such as India, Australia and the US are, let's face it, just as culpable and opposed to genuine online freedom. BTW, I'd like to see them use these techniques (virus-laden emails, key-loggers, wireless hacking) to get into any sufficiently tech-savvy user's computer.
- dfranke 18y ago
  Key loggers can be tough to beat. While getting a software key-logger past me would be laborious (set BIOS password-reset jumper on motherboard, enable CD boot in BIOS, boot from rescue CD, figure out my RAID settings so you can mount my root partition, install key-logger and kernel rootkit to hide the process, restore what my desktop looked like so that I don't notice), it's pretty likely that I wouldn't notice a physical one before it was too late.
  - m0nty 18y ago
    I use a laptop all the time, so I was wondering if they had any other ways to physically bug a keyboard?
    - dfranke 18y ago
      There are probably key-loggers designed to be placed inside laptops, but, not being a black-hat, I've never seen or looked for one. In any case, it'd be a lot more difficult. The cop would have to be trained in how to perform the installation in a reasonable period of time.
    - elai 18y ago
      There are lots of laptop keyboard loggers. The real convert ones embed them in the keyboard by putting it between some connector or another. Laptop and desktop. You just need 10 minutes if your good.
axod 18y ago
Once Labour get kicked out things will return to sanity. Do bear in mind how the media does like to massively overblow and exaggerate everything though.
- abstractbill 18y ago
  Once Labour get kicked out things will return to sanity. Unfortunately I doubt it. That's exactly what we all said when we kicked the Tories out.
  - daniel-cussen 18y ago
    Kick the ruling party out every four years and things may get better.
    - buro9 18y ago
      Unfortunately I doubt it, the government is always in power.
    - jamii 18y ago
      We've only got two of them...
  - axod 18y ago
    I disagree on that. I would have much preferred the Tories to stay in, but with a strong leader. John Major wasn't that person. He was a lame ineffective duck, just as Brown is now. At least taxes are very likely to come down under Tories, less smaller government, less needless waste etc. Maybe they'll get rid of some of the things Labour have put in place like the regional assemblies, minimum wage, endless tax credits etc

dazzawazza 18y ago

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever."

russell 18y ago

I often read Charles Stross's blog (good SF writer, http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/index.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/index.html) and he comments about the big brother tactics of the British police. In addition the British don't have the same guarantees of privacy and freedom of speech that we do in the US. You can be successfully sued for libel even if what you say is true. A British citizen can be sued for a posting even if the server is in another country. Scary.

graemep 18y ago
Anyone can be sued for libel in Britain for any content that is read by even one person in Britain. Rachel Ehrenfeld was successfully sued in Britain by Khalid bin Mahfouz for writing Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It, a book that was never published in Britain. 23 copies had been shipped to Britain by online booksellers, which was enough for Britain to claim jurisdiction. British libel law also makes web hosts, printers, bookshops etc. liable, so it is very easy to get anything out of circulation by going after the weak link in the chain: that is how Alisher Usmanov go Craig Murray's blog taken down withot actually Murray himself.

zandorg 18y ago

This is a good time for me to point out the RIP Human Intelligence Sources Code of Practi(c/s)e. This is a PDF which details the secret police who have the power to do a lot of stuff. You can find it on Google. It's atrocious, and nobody knows about it, it's hidden away in a PDF.

seano 18y ago

Why the hysteria? This is a useful tool in detecting and preventing serious crimes in the modern world. I think it's a good thing.

lliiffee 18y ago
without a warrant. Certainly I want to police to be able to search people's homes if they are likely to commit serious crimes. However, I don't want the police to be able to search my home with out some sort of evidence that I have done something improper. Similarly, I consider the data on my computer private. I think that history suggests that the government cannot be trusted to use authority responsibly unless there is some sort of system in place to guarantee that it uses its authority responsibly. That system is called warrants.