4 ms·

In the US, this will get you arrested, you will have a huge fine and probation, and prison time is not off the table. I'll refer you to the CAN-SPAM Act of 200

• joering2 14y ago
  Lets not overreact here. The printers are on public wire. You had not done any crime by using Google to find them. You obtained access to their open HP admin panel via public link with no password or credentials you had to pass. You haven't stole any information and, furthermore, there is NO confidential information even to be stolen to start with. On the top of that, you cannot even determine who they are (name, company, address, email, nothing?). They are totally undefinable sitting by a raw IP address. Sure you know someone is using HP printer. Can you get legally punished for that? I don't think that taking advantage of a publicly accessible information is punishable by jail, especially since noone got hurt and no information were stolen, whether it is information someone made their living off of (Aaron case), or just totally worthless information as of what brand computer of printer is being used. It would be hard for a company to sue you -- (lack of merit)? If Google got away with snooping private data from open Wifs (and I am sure they made some sort of use from all that gathered data, even if only internally), then I am pretty sure you wont get any heat for such a petite stretch of snooping people's printers. another though: you may say that someone can sue you for printing a page using their material and toner, but thats too little of damage to even start with. However, arguendo, if you would get slammed with class action lawsuit, you are most likely a millionaire from your idea anyways :)
  • evan_ 14y ago
    > The printers are on public wire. > You had not done any crime by using Google to find them. > You obtained access to their open HP admin panel via public link with no password or credentials you had to pass. There's even less barrier to sending a junk fax, and that can get you fined and potentially jailed.
    • joering2 14y ago
      I will argue. Junk fax is a message send to a number for no reason. In my example I would only send messages (print) on the printers that would be low with toner. I would NOT print on every single printer just because I can. Huge difference.
  • sjg007 14y ago
    I think it would fall under unauthorized access.
  • X-Istence 14y ago
    But you are not AUTHORISED to access said resources, so you would be in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
    • jQueryIsAwesome 14y ago
      Who says I am not authorised? I can claim that public access is an implicit authorization, like any website! And there is no warning or message in the public control panels.
      • bmm6o 14y ago
        Can you really argue in good faith that you are legally authorized to print something on their printer?
        • joering2 14y ago
          good faith doesnt matter. it (at least should) matter what the law says.
        • pbhjpbhj 14y ago
          Yes, I think you can. There have been case(s) I think (in USA) concerning websites where it was argued successfully that placing an non-password protected page available on the public internet was implied consent to access/use that service. That seems the right way to do it. You can't then, for example, put up a website which enables printing and then claim that people who use it are financially liable for using that service. That would be like putting a bench on a busy street and then popping up and charging people if they happened to sit on it - if they sit down, you can tell them they're not authorised to sit without payment, or you can advertise lack of authorisation (eg with a price list) but otherwise you're implying consent.
          • 0x0 14y ago
            Do you really believe that? That the owners of the printers on this public wire would appreciate, in fact deliberately encourage, anonymous users accessing them like that?
  • nathan_long 14y ago
    Your statement is totally sane. But the legal system isn't. Typing a public URL passes for "hacking" in our crazy courts.
  • anonymouz 14y ago
    You miss the point. Even if it is not illegal for you to connect to the printer, it is illegal to spam.