U.S. Navy Hacking Used Consoles

[TheBelgianGuy]

So... How... But... What...

Basically, the US navy declared war on the rest of the world?
I mean, what does this mean? I live in Europe. Does that mean the USA can legally hack into my stuff, now?

First they can extradite UK citizens for crimes illegal in the USA but not in their own country where they performed this non-crime...
Now the USA can legally hack into other nation's citizens consoles?

 

[Hevva]

So... How... But... What...

Basically, the US navy declared war on the rest of the world?
I mean, what does this mean? I live in Europe. Does that mean the USA can legally hack into my stuff, now?

First they can extradite UK citizens for crimes illegal in the USA but not in their own country where they performed this non-crime...
Now the USA can legally hack into other nation's citizens consoles?

I think it stands as quasi-legal because Obscure Technologies/whomever will have bought the consoles prior to hacking them, making them the legal property of the US military. I think. Governments are up to this kind of business all the time anyhow - ever hear of the Echelon listening posts?

 

[Hevva]

It's strange to think that while a ten year-old is busy berating you online that somewhere else on the network criminals could be sending messages to each other about upcoming illegal acts (much like how the wannabe Islamic terrorists in British film Four Lions attempt to hide their bomb-planning from the authories by communicating via a penguin-based version of Habbo Hotel, a scene which is based on recent realities)

What the what?

Also, there is a typo in thee. 'Authories' should be 'authorities'

Thanks for the typo-notice. Also, as far as I remember, that particular scene in Four Lions was based on chatter in the British media a few years ago about how Islamic terrorists were using obscure messaging services to try and dodge MI5's attempts at listening to their terrorism-chat. It was around the same time as the debate over whether or not the police should have the power to hold people for thirty days or more without filing charges other than "might be a terrorist" was going on. I think the Sun even accused them of "training" and plotting at the same time onCall of Duty, but the reports were, well, Sun-grade, to put it diplomatically.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Precisely how is that legal?

Because the Navy bought the 360's, therefore all of the data on it is theirs. You know, like how people on this forum complain 'I bought it, so I should have access to EVERYTHING on it'. Well, this is one reason why that line of logic is flawed.

 

[minuialear]

Seriously, guys, how is this any different, ethics-wise, from most other forms of intelligence gathering that all developed countries use in order to protect their borders?

 

[Farther than stars]

See, this is what you get when you don't have the right to privacy properly documented in your constitution.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Right, because american citizens are totally the only people worth caring about..

What's even worse than that is that if it were anybody else doing this, not even for this purpose, you'd get sued for violating the EULA or some shit.

 

[FEichinger]

Precisely how is that legal?

Because the Navy bought the 360's, therefore all of the data on it is theirs. You know, like how people on this forum complain 'I bought it, so I should have access to EVERYTHING on it'. Well, this is one reason why that line of logic is flawed.

I'm more referring to the hacking itself than hacking-those-specific-consoles. Wouldn't ... or rather Shouldn't Microsoft complain about people openly hacking their intellectual property?

Now you're really weird, Captcha ... point-blank ... Seriously?

 

[Kopikatsu]

Precisely how is that legal?

Because the Navy bought the 360's, therefore all of the data on it is theirs. You know, like how people on this forum complain 'I bought it, so I should have access to EVERYTHING on it'. Well, this is one reason why that line of logic is flawed.

I'm more referring to the hacking itself than hacking-those-specific-consoles. Wouldn't ... or rather Shouldn't Microsoft complain about people openly hacking their intellectual property?

Now you're really weird, Captcha ... point-blank ... Seriously?

They aren't actually hacking as far as I can tell, they're data mining. Which is legal. Hacking is not.

 

[Weaver]

seriously guys, cold war is over. chill the fuck down. i doubt the next airplane hijackers do their business dealings in fucking xboxes.

This is what I don't get at all. What do they hope to find on these? The names of random people? The console itself doesn't store a backlog of messages, that's all on the microsoft or sony network. And even if they did, what terrorist group is coordinating over the cumbersome message system of PSN or Xbox Live?

They're going to scan the console get a name, address and probably credit card of some guy in some country. Then what?

And how much money is the USA spending on this operation, exactly? I can't help but feel it would have been better spent elsewhere.

 

[knight4light]

or.. maybe.. the navy is using that as cover for their data finding on what people like for their own game developement team! The army, marines, airforce. already have places in games. Navy gets no love and so they want to make a navy game to show just how awesome it is. and they wanna make it so everyone can play it! =D just a thought.

and the whole pokemon thing. if north korea or cuba had a mewtwo i'd freak out too. that or send in raquaza or lugia to capture him. That is how wars should be fought. pokemon style!

 

[ASnogarD]

Hmmm... interesting , so if I bought a lot of US consoles and hacked the credit details out the box it would be legal ?

I very much doubt the US security would be quiet if they heard / read that EU countries were hacking old US consoles for left over user details... in fact I wouldnt be suprised if there was extradition forms slapped around should any EU state try that shit.

If it isnt an issue, or the data mined isnt sensitive... why the stipulation about not using US citizens consoles, surely it would be easier to use local consoles from the 2nd hand market than import the machines.

... and then there the fact this news is all too close to the global day of trolls for me to believe anything I read / hear.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Love how the project says they can't do it to US citizens but the rest of us can go fuck ourselves. You're not doing much to make us like you Mr. American government.

And then they start pointing fingers when the 'Chinese' make their hacking presence felt. I don't think it's as bad as the sentence wording suggests, I think they're just keen to keep up with the opposition. I hope observing such tiny, insignificant, unimportant factors such as international law and the sovereignty of other nations would be a given in a project like this...I hope.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Health care system: shit.

Crime rate: too high.

Suicide rate: more than zero.

Economy: really shit.

Legal system: totally fucked.

Water and power: privatized.

"I have an idea, guys! We should spend a bunch of money that we don't have on digging through used Wii's."

...

...

"Brilliant! Let's do it!"

 

[FEichinger]

Precisely how is that legal?

Because the Navy bought the 360's, therefore all of the data on it is theirs. You know, like how people on this forum complain 'I bought it, so I should have access to EVERYTHING on it'. Well, this is one reason why that line of logic is flawed.

I'm more referring to the hacking itself than hacking-those-specific-consoles. Wouldn't ... or rather Shouldn't Microsoft complain about people openly hacking their intellectual property?

Now you're really weird, Captcha ... point-blank ... Seriously?

They aren't actually hacking as far as I can tell, they're data mining. Which is legal. Hacking is not.

Well, we're talking about a company allegedly reverse-engineering a X360, so ... Get my drift?

 

[Tiger Sora]

Project to build better hacking software programs. Or attempting to find people who kick ass at Cod for the US 3rd string. You decide.

 

[Denis Fogarty]

Why hire a computing firm to hack consoles when all they need to do is reach level 10?

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Love how the project says they can't do it to US citizens but the rest of us can go fuck ourselves. You're not doing much to make us like you Mr. American government.

If it makes you feel less alone, we don't particularly like our government either. Though, who does like their government?