14 ms·

I hate to spoil the fun, but she may well just be someone the thief sold the laptop to. Unless there's some unmentioned reason to believe she's not innocent it

by nohat 14y ago

I hate to spoil the fun, but she may well just be someone the thief sold the laptop to. Unless there's some unmentioned reason to believe she's not innocent it shouldn't be acceptable to spy on her and post her activities online.

iwwr 14y ago
Either way, it's stolen goods that need to be returned to the owner. You don't tell the owner of a car "too bad, your stolen car was bought in good faith by a third party".
- kyboren 14y ago
  Look at the pictures. Who do you think needs the laptop more? I think it's better (and probably all we can do) to inform the Iranian police and plead with them them to just find and ask these people who sold them the laptop. Whoever's ultimately responsible for the theft is in the US--finding the seller on the Iranian side will help you track down the person who ultimately stole it.
  - redblacktree 14y ago
    The US wasn't involved in this story. I assume you mean the UK.
  - criley 14y ago
    >Look at the pictures. Who do you think needs the laptop more? This isn't socialism. The laptop is the property of someone and isn't assigned out based on need. Also, possession of stolen goods is not an excuse. Ignorance is not an excuse.
  - wubbfindel 14y ago
    Not US, UK. "My name is Dom. This is where my flat is, in London, UK."
- kelnage 14y ago
  But that still doesn't justify invading their privacy in this way. Yes, the laptop should be returned - no, you don't have free reign to do what you like with their usage of it.
  - theorique 14y ago
    What are the rules about publishing photos taken automatically by the stolen property of one person from the UK when that property is in Iran (or any other country)? Are there rules? Clearly, a legal opinion on this will be complex, to say the least.
    - moogleii 14y ago
      Legally? Who knows. Not being a dbag in life? Probably leans towards not posting.
      - theorique 14y ago
        Meh, everyone puts their whole life online nowadays (the kids call it lifecasting). What else are you going to do if your laptop gets stolen anyway?
    - joonix 14y ago
      The location of the laptop has nothing to do with it. It is the behavior of the publisher that is unethical and/or illegal. If the Iranians have a cause of action against the publisher in the UK based on privacy laws, they would have standing to bring a suit in court in the UK. They don't have to be citizens to do that.
    - gcb0 14y ago
      in this case, - she's not a minor (as far as we can tell) so having/publishing her pictures are not illegal in the UK. - She's not a UK resident or have established a valid UK contract, or contact UK authorities about international law concerning rights to the use of ther image So, i'd say it's pretty legal. Douchbaggery, but legal. If i were on his place, i'd get enough personal information to 'convince' (wink wink) her that it was her best interest to return my property and report the seller (if that was the case) the local authorities. Also, since he never mention that he tried to contact her, it makes him 10x more idiot.
- EthanHeilman 14y ago
  It's a ethical question more than a legal question. Perhaps they did not buy the laptop, maybe someone else in their family did and they are merely a bystander. * Do they have an expectation of privacy? * Does this violate this expectation? * As a deterrent for buying stolen property does this possible violation outweigh the benefit? Consider a school which loans out laptops to its students but then uses the laptops to spy on the students. Or a company that backdoors its product so that when it is pirated they can spy on the users that pirated the software, perhaps uploading all their email to tumblr. * Would such an action ever to ok? * Where do you draw the line? * What if you inform people that you are going to do this? How loud of a notification do you need to be justified (tiny sticker on the back of the laptop)?
  - DanBC 14y ago
    > Consider a school which loans out laptops to its students but then uses the laptops to spy on the students No school would be that stupid. Oh, wait. (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/webcam-spy-settlement/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/webcam-spy-settleme...) > A suburban Philadelphia school district is agreeing to pay $610,000 to settle two lawsuits brought by students who were victims of a webcam spying scandal in which high school-issued laptops secretly snapped thousands of pictures of pupils.
gee_totes 14y ago
That makes sense. The US embargoes Iran, and I don't think it's legal to sell Apple products to Iran (since Apple is based in the US), so they go on the black market. I'm not sure though, since it's impossible for me to picture any Persian shabab without his iPhone :)
ChrisBland 14y ago
Would you be Ok with tracking their usage, finding their contact info and letting them know you know they have your stolen laptop and ask them to return it. If they don't comply with returning it, then does spying become acceptable?
kabdib 14y ago
I have absolutely no problem doing whatever I like to hardware that is stolen from me. However, mere spying doesn't get the message across. I'd prefer to brick the unit. A nice fast erasure of the firmware would be good, though reflashing the unit to display an "I'm stolen" message would be better. You could even request payment for an unlock ("This is stolen, but you can buy it from me.")

by nohat 14y ago

iwwr 14y ago

Either way, it's stolen goods that need to be returned to the owner. You don't tell the owner of a car "too bad, your stolen car was bought in good faith by a third party".

kyboren 14y ago
Look at the pictures. Who do you think needs the laptop more? I think it's better (and probably all we can do) to inform the Iranian police and plead with them them to just find and ask these people who sold them the laptop. Whoever's ultimately responsible for the theft is in the US--finding the seller on the Iranian side will help you track down the person who ultimately stole it.
- redblacktree 14y ago
  The US wasn't involved in this story. I assume you mean the UK.
- criley 14y ago
  >Look at the pictures. Who do you think needs the laptop more? This isn't socialism. The laptop is the property of someone and isn't assigned out based on need. Also, possession of stolen goods is not an excuse. Ignorance is not an excuse.
- wubbfindel 14y ago
  Not US, UK. "My name is Dom. This is where my flat is, in London, UK."
kelnage 14y ago
But that still doesn't justify invading their privacy in this way. Yes, the laptop should be returned - no, you don't have free reign to do what you like with their usage of it.
- theorique 14y ago
  What are the rules about publishing photos taken automatically by the stolen property of one person from the UK when that property is in Iran (or any other country)? Are there rules? Clearly, a legal opinion on this will be complex, to say the least.
  - moogleii 14y ago
    Legally? Who knows. Not being a dbag in life? Probably leans towards not posting.
    - theorique 14y ago
      Meh, everyone puts their whole life online nowadays (the kids call it lifecasting). What else are you going to do if your laptop gets stolen anyway?
  - joonix 14y ago
    The location of the laptop has nothing to do with it. It is the behavior of the publisher that is unethical and/or illegal. If the Iranians have a cause of action against the publisher in the UK based on privacy laws, they would have standing to bring a suit in court in the UK. They don't have to be citizens to do that.
  - gcb0 14y ago
    in this case, - she's not a minor (as far as we can tell) so having/publishing her pictures are not illegal in the UK. - She's not a UK resident or have established a valid UK contract, or contact UK authorities about international law concerning rights to the use of ther image So, i'd say it's pretty legal. Douchbaggery, but legal. If i were on his place, i'd get enough personal information to 'convince' (wink wink) her that it was her best interest to return my property and report the seller (if that was the case) the local authorities. Also, since he never mention that he tried to contact her, it makes him 10x more idiot.
EthanHeilman 14y ago
It's a ethical question more than a legal question. Perhaps they did not buy the laptop, maybe someone else in their family did and they are merely a bystander. * Do they have an expectation of privacy? * Does this violate this expectation? * As a deterrent for buying stolen property does this possible violation outweigh the benefit? Consider a school which loans out laptops to its students but then uses the laptops to spy on the students. Or a company that backdoors its product so that when it is pirated they can spy on the users that pirated the software, perhaps uploading all their email to tumblr. * Would such an action ever to ok? * Where do you draw the line? * What if you inform people that you are going to do this? How loud of a notification do you need to be justified (tiny sticker on the back of the laptop)?
- DanBC 14y ago
  > Consider a school which loans out laptops to its students but then uses the laptops to spy on the students No school would be that stupid. Oh, wait. (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/webcam-spy-settlement/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/webcam-spy-settleme...) > A suburban Philadelphia school district is agreeing to pay $610,000 to settle two lawsuits brought by students who were victims of a webcam spying scandal in which high school-issued laptops secretly snapped thousands of pictures of pupils.

gee_totes 14y ago

That makes sense. The US embargoes Iran, and I don't think it's legal to sell Apple products to Iran (since Apple is based in the US), so they go on the black market. I'm not sure though, since it's impossible for me to picture any Persian shabab without his iPhone :)

ChrisBland 14y ago

Would you be Ok with tracking their usage, finding their contact info and letting them know you know they have your stolen laptop and ask them to return it. If they don't comply with returning it, then does spying become acceptable?

kabdib 14y ago

I have absolutely no problem doing whatever I like to hardware that is stolen from me. However, mere spying doesn't get the message across. I'd prefer to brick the unit. A nice fast erasure of the firmware would be good, though reflashing the unit to display an "I'm stolen" message would be better. You could even request payment for an unlock ("This is stolen, but you can buy it from me.")