View Full Version : BBC hacks into 22,000 Personal Computers
http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/bbc-hacks-into-thousands-of-pcs-581906
Unbelievable.
If it was me, I'd be jailed. Or extradited to the US.
I hope that what they have done is in fact illegal, despite what they claim, and that they are done for it. Probably have every angle covered though.
dooby
12-03-2009, 07:55 PM
It's unclear whether the "victims" were willing.
"Click managed to acquire its own low-value botnet - the name given to a network of hijacked computers - after visiting chatrooms on the internet," said the BBC
As the word "hijacked" is used, it suggests they weren't willing subjects! If I were to access a computer without permission and install code, would I get off with it?
zero1
12-03-2009, 07:55 PM
Crazy. But the inverse is that if they can connect remote to YOUR computer, you can to theirs too...;)
Ian2day
12-03-2009, 08:29 PM
I'm one of the victims of this. Its one way that my IP was nicked. Now will they give back what was stolen from me. How many other people have had film, book, lyrics and business ideas etc nicked by them.
comma berenices
12-03-2009, 08:29 PM
This is illegal,surely it's hacking.
Something strange is happening with the BBC,i signed up for the have your say a few weeks ago because their was a story i wanted to comment on,
i never did receive the varification e-mail,i signed up again using the same details,still nothing:confused:
jamston
12-03-2009, 09:49 PM
Ive studied the Computer Misuse Act as part of a degree course i was studying. There is little doubt the BBC have broken the law. It really is that simple. They accessed computers that did not belong to them and altered things. Cut and dry. Look at Gary McKinnon's case. He claims to have not known whether he deleted or altered anything. I believe the Pentagon could not produce sufficient evidence to the CPS to try him under the CMA so he is being extradicted, I'm not going into Gary's case here, but what it may show is that small time tampering doesn't seem to bother the CPS a great deal, perhaps thats why nothing will be done about the BBC's law breaking here. Perhaps the CPS 'let Gary off' because they knew the US were going to rip him to shreds in some deep south court. I may being saying here that small time tampering doesnt bother the law or the CPS, but it should. A law is a law, they cant have it both ways. Either all laws are as valid as the next or the whole 'system' falls down. I've had this internal argument in my head many times when i see a UK cop show and see them wasting thousands and thousands of pounds on helicopters to chase kids on mopeds (which if you watch those programs thats all they seem to use the bloody helicopters for! Maybe thats the point, they get 'normal' folk thinking, why are they wasting all this time on kids on scooters when theres robbers and murders etc etc, thus bringing in more draconian laws etc). The point being as soon as you start to say one crime is worth bothering more about then the system is broke. I'm playing devils advocate here by the way, i know the system is broken, flawed and corrupt beyond all hope. I'm just rambling and letting things pour out of my head here, but tech and ethics stories interest me and get me thinking ....
jamston
13-03-2009, 05:18 AM
ps probably important you read this and the comments
http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/03/12/bbc-break-law-botnet-send-spam/
cleopatraxxx
13-03-2009, 11:13 PM
This is illegal,surely it's hacking.
Something strange is happening with the BBC,i signed up for the have your say a few weeks ago because their was a story i wanted to comment on,
i never did receive the varification e-mail,i signed up again using the same details,still nothing:confused:
same happened to me two years ago
sannox
13-03-2009, 11:50 PM
i saw this story online and thought they did what !
its done to show how spammers /hackers work but offers little or no advice other than look at this imho .
the nine
14-03-2009, 12:21 AM
I'm one of the victims of this. Its one way that my IP was nicked. Now will they give back what was stolen from me. How many other people have had film, book, lyrics and business ideas etc nicked by them.
lol
come to think of it, I was thinking of a new script for dr who...:D
nice 1
free thinker
14-03-2009, 08:58 PM
Security researchers at Sophos have charged BBC over violation of laws after the Corporation has admitted to hacking as many as 22000 PCs without the users’ consent, and the hacked computers were subsequently converted into botnets.:eek:
belial
14-03-2009, 11:15 PM
If the 25+ million idiots in the UK stopped subscribing to this totally out of control Quango called: The BBC... then we probably wouldn't have had this problem in the first place.
The BBC is a parasite. It feeds off it's forced funding called "The TV Licence".
Stop paying "The TV Licence" and the parasite dies.
Simple.
Now who wants advice on how to stop feeding this parasite called the BBC?
Use Linux Unix Mac anything other than Windows. It was interesting that just 60 bots were able to take down a website. A distributed denial-of-service on corporate and Govt websites sounds like good fun and would only take small number of people to take them down and totally legal. I think.
deany
15-03-2009, 09:33 AM
I'm one of the victims of this. Its one way that my IP was nicked. Now will they give back what was stolen from me. How many other people have had film, book, lyrics and business ideas etc nicked by them.
I think my PC may have been hit by this too.
I remember one day recently I could not access the BBC site and everytime I tried I just got as pgae coming up showing MY IP deatils, connection details, password etc........ after about an hour this message went away and the BBC site started to load up again!