
EU Police learning hacking tricks. They are about to “Remote search” your PCs. - justifyleo
http://www.hackedinfo.com/2009/01/04/eu-police-learning-hacking-tricks-they-are-about-to-%e2%80%9cremote-search%e2%80%9d-your-pcs/
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axod
Where are the actual facts here? It could be:

    
    
      a) hardcore hacking attempts trying to remotely gain access.
      b) Emailing a suspect an attachment containing a keylogger etc
      c) Port scanning, checking for public shared folders (p2p included), and scanning them.
    

Or any number of other things. So far the articles on this news story are just
spreading FUD about, but it seems pretty likely it's b) and c) - big deal.

It sounds likely that they'll just email you over some attachment/link to
website/exploit/etc and hope you bite which is hardly a threat to anyone who
has a clue.

Also calling that "remotely access and monitor any PC without warrant.", or
"hacking" is an extremely big stretch, but then it's all about what sells
newspapers...

~~~
jrockway
_Also calling that "remotely access and monitor any PC without warrant.", or
"hacking" is an extremely big stretch, but then it's all about what sells
newspapers..._

Well, this is definitely criminal behavior when spammers do it. I don't see
how it would be any less criminal when done by the police. If they can get a
warrant, it would be a lot easier to just break down your door and take your
machine. (Of course, your crypto keys won't be in memory then, which could be
a problem for them.)

Anyway, get some judicial oversight, and then I don't care. If you don't have
a warrant, though, this is extremely unethical. What is the point of having a
legal system if it stoops to the low level of the common scammer?

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jrockway
_They are about to “Remote search” your PCs._

Well, actually, they are about to "Remote search" someone else's PCs; not
mine.

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markup
Does anyone have any decent reference to this? All I can find is articles from
blogs which are not quoting any official source on this matter. There has to
be some official paper to read somewhere...

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markup
I’ll just reply myself, maybe I’m not the only one having missed the original
story (dates back to November 27 2008):
[http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/0...](http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1827&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en)

~~~
streety
Thanks for posting this. Unfortunately it doesn't really add much detail. Have
you had any luck in tracking down more details?

There are some gems though, "According to recent reports, images of sexually
abused children available on-line quadrupled in the last five years and half
of all internet crime involves the production, distribution and sale of child
pornography."

I can easily believe the first figure of a quadrupling over the past 5 years
but I find the second figure highly suspect.

~~~
markup
No, unfortunaly I haven’t been able to find anything else beside that article,
I gave up shortly after that. If someone is familiar with the UK law and
politic system they could look for further info on that side, as it seems it
is something brought up (and affecting?) only the UK (beside the fact it’s the
EU financing this project).

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humbaba
As usual with such articles, this one too is low on facts and references and
high on drama and exaggeration. They (the Council) don't just "decide" that
from now on this is going to be legal. For it to be legal it has to become a
law, and to become a law it has to pass through Parliament, a highly unlikely
scenario.

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nx
_Authorities could break into PCs_

Into the PCs they CAN break ;)

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gojomo
If you use Google Desktop, and enable the 'Search Across Computers' feature,
they don't even have to 'hack' your machine. They can just ask Google for a
full index of what's on your machine!

See: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Desktop#Privacy>

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kajecounterhack
Ideological concerns aside, I don't really see that much of a problem in law
enforcement hacking personal computers. For one thing, it just might stimulate
the crypto and computer security industries. For another, there shouldn't be
anything to hide, right? I mean, if they start cracking down on pirated
software and whatever, that might be a little bit of an issue...

...but not if you don't pirate. ;)

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jscn
_there shouldn't be anything to hide, right?_

As ususal with privacy concerns, that is decidedly not the point.

~~~
kajecounterhack
_ideological concerns aside_

So what is the point?

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jauco
that you can't just shove ideological concerns aside.

~~~
kajecounterhack
ideals are one thing, but practicality is another. ever heard of machiavelli?

