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I think what the state of New Jersey is worried about is either that the authors are being dishonest about the informed nature of the consent, or are viewing th
by aeturnum 13y ago
I think what the state of New Jersey is worried about is either that the authors are being dishonest about the informed nature of the consent, or are viewing this as producing a tool that is too easy to exploit (whatever that means).
Personally, I think that's pretty absurd, but I can understand how a non-technical attorney reading about a MIT student developing something that lets websites mine bitcoins on consumer computers might get the wrong idea. As usual, the hard-headed nature of american prosecutors does us all a disservice.
Edit: rayiner points out that no one is being prosecuted, so I should probably rein in my rhetoric about prosecutors. Still seems like an extreme reaction.
- SeanDav 13y agoBeing worried or unsure does not give the Government a right to harass people. As we seem to both agree, the prosecutors have too much power and way too little common sense.
- jkelsey 13y agoWell, it's all motivated by money, I suspect. Governments throw a lot of money into these so-called 'cyber-enforcement' agencies anymore. And for prosecutors, administrators, etc..., anything to raise their state/agency/organization's precived status under the blanket of 'cyber' and battling malicious hackers is a gain. Common sense be damned; things like Bitcoins and distributed computing are still magic to most people, so it's really easy for them to take things out of context.
- drivingmenuts 13y agoLooks to me like New Jersey is fishing. Some of the things they are asking for seem to be beyond the capability of anyone to provide, other than a Supreme Deity.
- rayiner 13y agoNobody is being prosecuted. Its an agency issuing a subpoena to get information. That's how agencies get information.
- aeturnum 13y agoThat's true, but there are ways to obtain information that are less aggressive. Having someone call the author, for instance.
- SeanDav 13y agoYou cannot just reply to this "information request" unless you know what the consequences would be to any answer and if one could be potentially incriminating oneself inadvertently. The only sensible solution would be to consult a specialist lawyer and they don't come cheap. I would guess you are looking at thousands of dollars at a minimum and easily much more.
- celticninja 13y agoof course you can reply, only in the USA do you have such a proponderance to rely on the law to ask or respond to questions.
- tptacek 13y agoThat makes sense, since most of the world's countries have civil law systems, and the US has a common law system.
- lsaferite 13y agoI thinks it's a little more than that. They are requesting answers to questions framed using language from criminal law with the expectation that the response can be used against them.