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Name one example, please. Said example must include: * open source implementation released to the public * author did not directly do anything obviously ille

Name one example, please. Said example must include: * open source implementation released to the public * author did not directly do anything obviously illegal, or profit by anyone else doing it * overwhelming force under colour of law

ephemeralgomi 13y ago
You weren't around for DeCSS, I guess?
ChrisClark 13y ago
There was this guy: http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/programmer-sentenced-to-death-in-iran-for-upload-software-55430 http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/programmer-sentenced-to... * He built some software to upload images to a web site. * A porn site then used it without his knowledge. * He was sentenced to death.
- JulianMorrison 13y ago
  * in Iran. Miss a detail, change the story.
  - toomuchtodo 13y ago
    Protip: Don't live in Iran. /s
  - pavel_lishin 13y ago
    Is your point that all of us live in the United States?
    - 67726e 13y ago
      I think his point is that most of us do not live in a religious autocracy.
      - Natsu 13y ago
        You shouldn't put it that way or you're going to make people restate the original question...
  - xnxn 13y ago
    More like change the goalposts. The example meets your criteria.
    - andrewflnr 13y ago
      GP is trying to make decisions, or help others make them. Granted, they should have specified the US or something, but don't act like an incident in Iran should be relevant to their own risk assessment, or to anyone else not living in Iran.
forgingahead 13y ago
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. And in these cases, when risk is unbounded, it is better to be cautious. Simple antifragility heuristic. [1] [1] http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Gain-Disorder/dp/1400067820/ http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Gain-Disorder/...
- JulianMorrison 13y ago
  Near-complete absence is strong Bayesian evidence against an assertion whose grammar implies universality: «This is exactly what "they" do». You would expect it to be common if the assertion were true.
- VMG 13y ago
  Please don't drag Taleb into this. His philosophy clearly does not encourage paranoia like this. Otherwise all crypto projects are off limits, including Tor and Bitcoin
- kybernetikos 13y ago
  I've heard that there are magic pan-dimensional pixies that will destroy the universe and potentially other universes if you post another link to a book on amazon today. It might not be true, but remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and this is a case where risk really is unbounded, so you better be cautious.
  - smoyer 13y ago
    He didn't even include an affiliate link ... what is this world coming to?
- mistercow 13y ago
  >Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Man, I really wish people would stop saying this. It's just completely false. It's a basic result of probability theory that if A is evidence of B, ¬A is evidence of ¬B.
  - 13y ago
alexkus 13y ago
Cryptocat?
donpark 13y ago
Isamu Kaneko who wrote Winny [1], a popular Japanese P2P program, while working as a research assistant at University of Tokyo was persecuted and harassed until he died of heart attack this year. He did not profit at all from Winny. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winny http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winny
stef25 13y ago
The rules that tomorrow's government abides by will surely be much worse (for "us") than those of today. Imagine the future being much, much shittier than it is today.
ballard 13y ago
I think you're on the right track: there's a large gap between releasing a tool and running a service. The difference between offering BackTrack isos for download and running live, free Backtrack VMs. A traditional, non-distributed service is often backed by centralized entity (corporation, nonprofit or private person), so many of the consequences are directed at them. Whereas with a diffused individuals running their own, it would be harder to as easily control.
dublinben 13y ago
Putting your ridiculous stipulations aside, writing legal software can get you in trouble. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-gambling-software/all/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-g...
ehsanu1 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum
trevelyan 13y ago
Jacob Appelbaum works on TOR and is routinely harrassed.
dobbsbob 13y ago
Satoshi - creator of bitcoin Purposely remained anonymous because he knew they would target him. Bitcoin foundation claims that as creator of Bitcoin, he is liable for every transaction under new FinCen laws being considered. https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=163 https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=163 It would help if the author of this software doesn't call it 'Silk Rd 2.0' or reference online narcotics trade in any way. It should be called 'P2P open marketplace' which makes a huge difference during your trial when they claim you purposely set it up to violate US law instead of being able to argue you are an innocent software developer. Just look at weev's trial how they manipulated everything he said on IRC to make him look as criminal as possible. Stephen Watt (the_uT) also merely wrote a piece of software he didn't use himself, nor did he profit from and he went to prison after Albert Gonzales used it to steal a ton of money with. It was sort of released to the public, dumped in an IRC room

ephemeralgomi 13y ago

You weren't around for DeCSS, I guess?

ChrisClark 13y ago

There was this guy: http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/programmer-sentenced-to-death-in-iran-for-upload-software-55430 http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/programmer-sentenced-to... * He built some software to upload images to a web site. * A porn site then used it without his knowledge. * He was sentenced to death.

JulianMorrison 13y ago
* in Iran. Miss a detail, change the story.
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  Protip: Don't live in Iran. /s
- pavel_lishin 13y ago
  Is your point that all of us live in the United States?
  - 67726e 13y ago
    I think his point is that most of us do not live in a religious autocracy.
    - Natsu 13y ago
      You shouldn't put it that way or you're going to make people restate the original question...
- xnxn 13y ago
  More like change the goalposts. The example meets your criteria.
  - andrewflnr 13y ago
    GP is trying to make decisions, or help others make them. Granted, they should have specified the US or something, but don't act like an incident in Iran should be relevant to their own risk assessment, or to anyone else not living in Iran.

forgingahead 13y ago

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. And in these cases, when risk is unbounded, it is better to be cautious. Simple antifragility heuristic. [1] [1] http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Gain-Disorder/dp/1400067820/ http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Gain-Disorder/...

JulianMorrison 13y ago
Near-complete absence is strong Bayesian evidence against an assertion whose grammar implies universality: «This is exactly what "they" do». You would expect it to be common if the assertion were true.
VMG 13y ago
Please don't drag Taleb into this. His philosophy clearly does not encourage paranoia like this. Otherwise all crypto projects are off limits, including Tor and Bitcoin
kybernetikos 13y ago
I've heard that there are magic pan-dimensional pixies that will destroy the universe and potentially other universes if you post another link to a book on amazon today. It might not be true, but remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and this is a case where risk really is unbounded, so you better be cautious.
- smoyer 13y ago
  He didn't even include an affiliate link ... what is this world coming to?
mistercow 13y ago
>Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Man, I really wish people would stop saying this. It's just completely false. It's a basic result of probability theory that if A is evidence of B, ¬A is evidence of ¬B.
- 13y ago

alexkus 13y ago

Cryptocat?

donpark 13y ago

Isamu Kaneko who wrote Winny [1], a popular Japanese P2P program, while working as a research assistant at University of Tokyo was persecuted and harassed until he died of heart attack this year. He did not profit at all from Winny. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winny http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winny

stef25 13y ago

The rules that tomorrow's government abides by will surely be much worse (for "us") than those of today. Imagine the future being much, much shittier than it is today.

ballard 13y ago

I think you're on the right track: there's a large gap between releasing a tool and running a service. The difference between offering BackTrack isos for download and running live, free Backtrack VMs. A traditional, non-distributed service is often backed by centralized entity (corporation, nonprofit or private person), so many of the consequences are directed at them. Whereas with a diffused individuals running their own, it would be harder to as easily control.

dublinben 13y ago

Putting your ridiculous stipulations aside, writing legal software can get you in trouble. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-gambling-software/all/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-g...

ehsanu1 13y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum

trevelyan 13y ago

Jacob Appelbaum works on TOR and is routinely harrassed.

dobbsbob 13y ago

Satoshi - creator of bitcoin Purposely remained anonymous because he knew they would target him. Bitcoin foundation claims that as creator of Bitcoin, he is liable for every transaction under new FinCen laws being considered. https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=163 https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=163 It would help if the author of this software doesn't call it 'Silk Rd 2.0' or reference online narcotics trade in any way. It should be called 'P2P open marketplace' which makes a huge difference during your trial when they claim you purposely set it up to violate US law instead of being able to argue you are an innocent software developer. Just look at weev's trial how they manipulated everything he said on IRC to make him look as criminal as possible. Stephen Watt (the_uT) also merely wrote a piece of software he didn't use himself, nor did he profit from and he went to prison after Albert Gonzales used it to steal a ton of money with. It was sort of released to the public, dumped in an IRC room