3 ms·

In some cases just fixing things may look like rule-breaking. Imagine, you need to download a file from a server, but your wireless connection keeps dropping.

In some cases just fixing things may look like rule-breaking. Imagine, you need to download a file from a server, but your wireless connection keeps dropping. You don't really know why. Maybe some problem on the network, or improperly configured web server. You don't know. What would you do? Would you go, and start soliciting network administrators, or contact web server administrators? Probably no, right? You'll just try to fix things. Solve the problem, so it would work. You will try downloading from another network or another IP address. Tweak your download settings, and so on. I think that's what Swartz was doing. Not breaking in, but just trying to make download script work. He didn't know that network administrators were trying to stop him. And he though that network problems that he was facing were just that - random network problems. Unreliable wireless with some bugs in the traffic management system.

btilly 14y ago
Sorry, there is no reasonable interpretation of the facts of this case under which Swartz did not understand that there were people attempting to block his access to the MIT network and JSTOR.
- dchichkov 14y ago
  ... really? Has he been communicating with these people? Or was he just observing connections being dropped, which could be automated response?
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    When a computer says "No," a hacker figures out a way to make the computer say "Yes," perhaps unaware that the computer said "No" because a person told it to.
    - dchichkov 14y ago
      When a computer doesn't work, an engineer finds a way to fix it, perhaps unaware of who exactly, when and why broke it down.
jacquesm 14y ago
Anybody that does any kind of high volume crawling knows about rate limiting and knows that evading those rate limiting blocks is circumvention. Having a door slammed in your face then going around to find another door indicates that you know that door was closed because of you.
- dchichkov 14y ago
  Or maybe because of some bug somewhere on the way? Like congested campus wireless breaking down? Unless you've received a notification from administrator, there is no way of telling for sure, really. Just guesswork. And there are no physical doors on the network. So they can not be slammed in your face. All that you can observe is dropping connections, negative acknowledgements, server messages, etc.
  - jacquesm 14y ago
    I understand you're going for the 'plausible deniability' angle, if that is not correct then please say so. The point is that we're all intelligent enough to see the difference between that and what actually happened and that you may want to use such a thing in a defense even if you know better. I certainly do know better.
    - dchichkov 14y ago
      Not exactly. I just really like to see that story described from a perspective of an engineer or researcher, with technical description of what exactly was done and best guess, why some particular method was used.

btilly 14y ago

Sorry, there is no reasonable interpretation of the facts of this case under which Swartz did not understand that there were people attempting to block his access to the MIT network and JSTOR.

dchichkov 14y ago
... really? Has he been communicating with these people? Or was he just observing connections being dropped, which could be automated response?
- nitrogen 14y ago
  When a computer says "No," a hacker figures out a way to make the computer say "Yes," perhaps unaware that the computer said "No" because a person told it to.
  - dchichkov 14y ago
    When a computer doesn't work, an engineer finds a way to fix it, perhaps unaware of who exactly, when and why broke it down.

jacquesm 14y ago

Anybody that does any kind of high volume crawling knows about rate limiting and knows that evading those rate limiting blocks is circumvention. Having a door slammed in your face then going around to find another door indicates that you know that door was closed because of you.

dchichkov 14y ago
Or maybe because of some bug somewhere on the way? Like congested campus wireless breaking down? Unless you've received a notification from administrator, there is no way of telling for sure, really. Just guesswork. And there are no physical doors on the network. So they can not be slammed in your face. All that you can observe is dropping connections, negative acknowledgements, server messages, etc.
- jacquesm 14y ago
  I understand you're going for the 'plausible deniability' angle, if that is not correct then please say so. The point is that we're all intelligent enough to see the difference between that and what actually happened and that you may want to use such a thing in a defense even if you know better. I certainly do know better.
  - dchichkov 14y ago
    Not exactly. I just really like to see that story described from a perspective of an engineer or researcher, with technical description of what exactly was done and best guess, why some particular method was used.