this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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[–] cbarrick@lemmy.world 47 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Back in undergrad, before Facebook went HTTPS only, I would setup "free wifi" and steal people's cookies for shits and giggles. Use the cookies to authenticate with FB and send random messages to people.

Looking back, I probably shouldn't have been doing that. Definitely illegal.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They were just barely starting to get serious about legislating cyber security, so you were only maybe breaking some laws. I remember in the 90's it was a lawless land. There were no laws against hacking, or at least none that anyone understood, and most sites had terrible security. I gained access to someone's Hotmail once just by trying "anon/anon" as a user/pass combo. I also used to gain access to e-commerce customer databases just by googling certain SQL strings. I'd poke around and then send the webmaster an email letting them know their site was vulnerable.

[–] Sprokes@jlai.lu 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There isn't a law against hacking but I am sure there are other applicable laws when you do harm while hacking.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There is, it's called CFAA and is absurdly broad. Pretty much any time you

knowingly accessed a computer without authorization

it's technically illegal.

[–] Kase@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

So you're telling me every time I stole my sister's phone and took goofy selfies with it?? Straight to jail???

[–] SolarMech@slrpnk.net 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, you horrible criminal monster.

[–] Kase@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

(⁠ ⁠⚈̥̥̥̥̥́⁠⌢⁠⚈̥̥̥̥̥̀⁠)

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Seems that way yeah. Naturally this sort of law is selectively enforced to nab whoever they have a problem with though so probably your sister doesn't have the clout to bring you to justice.

[–] Kase@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

That's a really good point

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Firefox had a plug in for it!!

[–] Hasherm0n@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Firesheep!

That plugin and others that came after, was one of the things that finally got websites to start using https on everything, not just the log in page.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 8 months ago

It did! Even worked on WEP encrypted wifi!

[–] NewAgeOldPerson@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago

I wonder what happened to him in March 1997

[–] SolarMech@slrpnk.net 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have been doing that. Definitely illegal.

You know that stuff you post on lemmy is probably on databases everywhere for like, forever, right?

[–] gaael@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Who's gonna press charges for the "hey mom, today I ate my poo" message they sent 10 years ago ?

[–] cbarrick@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

No one is going to press charges about me fucking around with their FB accounts 10 years ago.