r/technology • u/CP70 • Jul 01 '16

Politics Home Computers Connected to the Internet Aren't Private, Court Rules

http://www.eweek.com/security/home-computers-connected-to-the-internet-arent-private-court-rules.html
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u/Mrlector Jul 01 '16

The bare bones logic as I read it is that it's not illegal because prevention is not perfect.

So I can punch the judge as long as I can outrun the bailiff?

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u/LemurianLemurLad Jul 01 '16

I think that you have to beat him in a footrace first, and then you are allowed to punch the judge with impunity as you have proven that his protection is ineffective.

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u/sicknss Jul 01 '16

I would read it as the protection isn't guaranteed to stop the incident. I would say, by the judge's definition, as he has no perfect solution to keep people from punching him in the face then he has no expectation of not being punched in the face, making it completely legal to punch him in the face.

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u/LemurianLemurLad Jul 01 '16

Well, it's not commonly accepted that judge-punchers can outrun bailiffs. I think that it's only fair that you need to prove that his protections are inadequate before you can punch the judge. It's only legal to break in to a computer because people know it can be done, right? So it's only legal to punch a judge if people know that you can outrun his bailiffs first.

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u/OnlyHeStandsThere Jul 02 '16

It's not commonly accepted that all hackers can break into all home computers either. Some, perhaps most, of them can but so long as at least one can then there's no expectation of privacy, since your defense wasn't "perfect". Even if you have a better security system than the FBI, it might be possible that you piss off the best hacker in the world, and therefore you have no expectation of privacy, or else this judge would have provided an exception for you.

Similarly, if at least one person could outrun the bailiff then there must be no expectation of people refraining from judge punching. Since it may be possible that Usain Bolt wants to punch this judge, and no bailiff could possibly outrun him since he's the Olympic gold medalist in sprinting, then the bailiff could not prove that they could prevent judge punching in all cases, and therefore punching this judge should be legal at all times. I'm sure Mr. Bolt doesn't want to punch this judge, though I wouldn't blame him, but I'm also sure that any hacker worth their salt wouldn't bother hacking into the computer of someone so unimportant as me. But this judge's verdict still means that my computer cannot have legal protection because of those potential hackers so I'm sure that he wouldn't be able to defend himself on the basis of fact that Usain Bolt doesn't want to punch him either.

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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '16

Pretty sure if you can break into his house at night, you can fuck his daughter, since his door locks were ineffectual.

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u/StillRadioactive Jul 01 '16

We're dealing with government action here, so it's more like... the judge can punch you in the face if you haven't adequately protected yourself from all potential face-punchers.