The students were stealing bandwidth from open MediaWiki sites
The fact that some "admin" abandoned a site, with open privileges to post on it, does not constitute theft. I manage servers and write code for a living, and while I'd put a stop to such practices on any site I managed, the use of the term "theft" is laughable.
This is very much reminiscent of Microsoft crying to the media that all their security problems were due to evil hackers, and not their abject failure to follow long-accepted industry practices for code reviews and architecture. My response: cry me
I deal with this stuff all day long, predominantly from IP connections far outside U.S. jurisdiction. These students were, in my rather experienced and measured opinion, doing the community a favor by pointing out exactly how easy this sort of feat is to pull off.
Their note about using reCAPTCHA is sound advice. Admins who depend on TOS policies and their nation's legal framework to defend against networked threats are negligent in their duties. I don't waste my time worrying about chasing people around
I don't waste my time worrying about chasing people around for violations of my sites' terms of service. Instead, I focus my efforts on deploying technical solutions that fix the issue.
Shouldn't that be how we solve all social issues instead of just writing more laws?
Yes, it should absolutely be how we solve social issues. Technical fixes apply to more than just networks and computing platforms; they're equally applicable to most social problems if people are willing to approach the issues from a rational perspective.
After Goliath's defeat, giants ceased to command respect.
- Freeman Dyson
Theft? (Score:5, Interesting)
The students were stealing bandwidth from open MediaWiki sites
The fact that some "admin" abandoned a site, with open privileges to post on it, does not constitute theft. I manage servers and write code for a living, and while I'd put a stop to such practices on any site I managed, the use of the term "theft" is laughable.
This is very much reminiscent of Microsoft crying to the media that all their security problems were due to evil hackers, and not their abject failure to follow long-accepted industry practices for code reviews and architecture. My response: cry me
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact that some "admin" abandoned a site, with open privileges to post on it, does not constitute theft.
It's clearly abuse though, and if the site has any terms of use, this one's in there.
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
Their note about using reCAPTCHA is sound advice. Admins who depend on TOS policies and their nation's legal framework to defend against networked threats are negligent in their duties. I don't waste my time worrying about chasing people around
Re:Theft? (Score:2)
I don't waste my time worrying about chasing people around for violations of my sites' terms of service. Instead, I focus my efforts on deploying technical solutions that fix the issue.
Shouldn't that be how we solve all social issues instead of just writing more laws?
Re: (Score:2)