Judge Says Boston Student's Laptop Was Seized Illegally 190
You may remember a case we discussed this April in which a Boston College student's computers and other electronics were seized after he allegedly sent an email outing another student as gay. The search warrant made sure to note the student's ever-so-suspicious use of "two different operating systems," one of which was "a black screen with a white font which he uses prompt commands on." Now, the EFF reports that a Massachusetts judge has thrown out the search warrant and declared the search and seizure illegal. Quoting: "In her order Thursday, Justice Margot Botsford rejected the Commonwealth's theory that sending a hoax email might be unlawful under a Massachusetts computer crime statute barring the 'unauthorized access' to a computer, concluding that there could be no violation of what was only a 'hypothetical internet use policy.' Thursday's decision now stands as the highest state court opinion to reject the dangerous theory that terms of service violations constitute computer 'hacking' crimes. Justice Botsford further found that details offered by police as corroboration of other alleged offenses were insufficient and did not establish probable cause for the search." The court order (PDF) is available for viewing, and the EFF has broken down the significant arguments against the Commonwealth's claims.
So Linux isn't suspicious (Score:5, Funny)
Now that I have the courts behind me (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdot is gay.
Re:So Linux isn't suspicious (Score:5, Funny)
I can just imagine the investigation:
"your honour, we had to shoot him! He was using the Command Prompt! He could have... given commands! Only a hacker would know how to do such mysteries!"
Re:Retaliation (Score:5, Funny)
12) Circumvention of a copy-protection mechanism (my user and root passwords).
Report those police officers to the RIAA. Hilarity ensues.
Re:So Linux isn't suspicious (Score:5, Funny)
Just wait until they see my cp
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Re:FInally someone has a clue (Score:5, Funny)
Finally, we can safely return to our nightly rituals of eating Cheetos, drinking Jolt and sending out emails from Xmail accusing people of being gay.
Need Massachusetts tags (Score:5, Funny)
There is so much stupidity going on in our state, including spending and tax increases in the midst of the worst recession since the great depression, knee-jerk reactions to viral advertising campaigns using lite-brites (which did NOT cause an overreaction in much larger, more vulnerable cities), and so forth. Therefore, I propose the following tags for stories involving stupidity here in Massachusetts (even in the event where a sudden outbreak of common sense occurs, because it was masshattery which got us there in the first place):
taxachusetts
massholes
masshattery
I hope you welcome and endorse this proposal. I, for one, am ashamed of what is going on here in my state and even as a business owner I am hoping that the sales tax and income tax and fuel tax increases in the midst of this recession break this state financially just to prove to the lawmakers that one cannot tax one's way back to prosperity.
What we need right now is deep spending and tax cuts, and that INCLUDES firing the moron police officers who resulted in this moronic case.
"prompt commands" (Score:4, Funny)
Command: "give my laptop back, you fascist fucks."
Prompt Command: "give my laptop back RIGHT FUCKING NOW you fascist fucks!"
Re:if this is what happens when you use 2 OS's (Score:3, Funny)
Both. Inside each other. on the moon. Nuked from earth. And then shot into the sun.
Re:"prompt commands" (Score:2, Funny)
sudo give me my laptop back ; get fucked
Re:Now that I have the courts behind me (Score:1, Funny)
Slashdot is gay.
No, Anonymous Coward is gay
Re:FInally someone has a clue (Score:3, Funny)
There are five lights.
Re:FInally someone has a clue (Score:4, Funny)
It's like George Carlin once said, rights aren't rights if they can be taken away from you at any time they wish.
No, rights are something you fight for. It's a line in the sand. You let people know that if they try to take away your rights you'll fight for them.
Take away my rights and I'll fuck you, motherfucker.
And I'll bring my boys to fuck you. Tough dudes from Slashdot.
Re:FInally someone has a clue (Score:5, Funny)
So he used computer technology to announce that someone was gay... and he got into legal trouble. Well, the courts are going to be swamped if the police ever find out about Halo 3.
Re:So Linux isn't suspicious (Score:3, Funny)
...and by the way you are now on the Federal no-fly list.
Re:So Linux isn't suspicious (Score:2, Funny)