[Saddam Hussein]

But their photos were password protected, so the door was locked.

Well, not really. A bad password is more akin to a door handle. It provides fantastic security assuming the person trying to break in doesn't have hands (Actually, that's untrue. My cat knows how to open doors, being the sneaky hacker that she is).

Our society is just painfully computer-illiterate.

Oh no, not this shit again.  Knowing how to break past password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy, and it's certainly not comparable to not having hands.  This is just more arrogant - you know what, I've already said all this.  All I need to do is quote myself:

Hey, look, yet another thread in which people simply can't understand why their own area of interest/expertise isn't universally acknowledged as basic common knowledge and shared by the whole world.  I'd love to be present the next time one of you has car problems:

"What, you can't fix it?  You don't even know what the problem is?  You're actually calling a garage?  [Insert shitty "mfw Guest mehmay here]  But it's so easy!  It's objectively trivial to fix an engine and get a car running!  Any drooling retard could do it!  There are kids who can handle things like this easily, and you can't!  How do you even manage to feed yourself when you're this stupid?"

The car analogy wasn't a random example, by the way.  I've always been amused by how little overlap there is between computer and car enthusiasts, even though many of the arguments that computer nerds make about how their own interest is objectively better and more important than anyone else's could just as easily apply to cars as well as computers.  They're both incredibly important.  We use them both almost every day.  Modern society would most likely collapse without either of them.  And yet, precious few nerds would have the slightest idea of what they were looking at if they popped the hood of their car open, let alone know how to fix any problems with it.  But of course, that kind of ignorance is totally okay.  You're only an incompetent idiot if you aren't a computer expert.

[Particle Person]

Computers are far more ubiquitous than cars. In fact, there are multiple computers in every modern car.

[Tom Bishop]

But their photos were password protected, so the door was locked.

Well, not really. A bad password is more akin to a door handle. It provides fantastic security assuming the person trying to break in doesn't have hands (Actually, that's untrue. My cat knows how to open doors, being the sneaky hacker that she is).

Our society is just painfully computer-illiterate.

Oh no, not this shit again.  Knowing how to break past password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy, and it's not certainly not comparable to not having hands.  This is just more arrogant - you know what, I've already said all this.  All I need to do is quote myself:

Hey, look, yet another thread in which people simply can't understand why their own area of interest/expertise isn't universally acknowledged as basic common knowledge and shared by the whole world.  I'd love to be present the next time one of you has car problems:

"What, you can't fix it?  You don't even know what the problem is?  You're actually calling a garage?  [Insert shitty "mfw Guest mehmay here]  But it's so easy!  It's objectively trivial to fix an engine and get a car running!  Any drooling retard could do it!  There are kids who can handle things like this easily, and you can't!  How do you even manage to feed yourself when you're this stupid?"

The car analogy wasn't a random example, by the way.  I've always been amused by how little overlap there is between computer and car enthusiasts, even though many of the arguments that computer nerds make about how their own interest is objectively better and more important than anyone else's could just as easily apply to cars as well as computers.  They're both incredibly important.  We use them both almost every day.  Modern society would most likely collapse without either of them.  And yet, precious few nerds would have the slightest idea of what they're looking at if they popped the hood of their car open, or how to proceed with fixing any problems with their car.  But of course, that kind of ignorance is totally okay.  You're only an incompetent idiot if you aren't a computer expert.

It has nothing to do with technology. Even in the early/mid-1800's when photography was invented, a 24 year old girl would have the good enough sense to know that it wasn't a prime idea to kneel on her knees in the nude and have herself photographed with a man's semen on her tongue.

[Particle Person]

I love it when Tom talks dirty to us.

[rooster]

I never heard about the semen photos. Tom, did you pay for the special photos?

[Rama Set]

It has nothing to do with technology. Even in the early/mid-1800's when photography was invented, a 24 year old girl would have the good enough sense to know that it wasn't a prime idea to kneel on her knees in the nude and have herself photographed with a man's semen on her tongue.

I totally disagree.  I think human's have enjoyed doing illicit things like this since time out of mind. 

[Vindictus]

Welp, /r/thefappening was finally banned by the reddit admins. Now I get to watch thousands of people berate the admins because /r/picsofdeadkids can exist but /r/thefappening cannot. It's crazy how attached people on Reddit have gotten to those images.

It looks like the final straw in banning it was this:

Moderators of The Fappening started panicking once they realised that nudes of Olympic athlete McKayla Maroney were taken when she was underage, meaning that sharing the photos could result in charges of child pornography.

Yeah, looks like they just got sick of constantly moderating the subreddit through banning illegal links to images. The mods couldn't keep it under control so they just banned the whole subreddit. People are still mad now, lol.

[EnigmaZV]

When are the people of reddit ever not mad?

[Ghost of V]

When are the people of reddit ever not mad?

When they are getting karma for reposts.

[markjo]

I started the sentence with "If they chose".

When you choose to do something, with other better options available, the consequences of your bad choice is your fault.

Tom, if you chose to live in a bad neighborhood, it's usually because you don't have any better options available.

Bad people exist, and there is nothing you can do about it except take precautions.

They did take precautions.  They put their photos in their password protected, encrypted iCloud accounts. 

JL took embarrassing photos of herself, despite the many risks. The humiliation she receives is her fault. She can't remove the bad people from the world. She can't remove the risks. But she could have easily avoided the situation by not taking the photos.

Tom, you might just as well say that if you don't want your money stolen, then you shouldn't have any because bad people can steal it no matter where you put it (wallet, bank, mattress, sock drawer, etc.)

[Vindictus]

When are the people of reddit ever not mad?

When they get to repost celeb nudes in their own corner of the Internet apparently.

[DuckDodgers]

But their photos were password protected, so the door was locked.

Well, not really. A bad password is more akin to a door handle. It provides fantastic security assuming the person trying to break in doesn't have hands (Actually, that's untrue. My cat knows how to open doors, being the sneaky hacker that she is).

Our society is just painfully computer-illiterate.

Oh no, not this shit again.  Knowing how to break past password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy, and it's certainly not comparable to not having hands.  This is just more arrogant - you know what, I've already said all this.  All I need to do is quote myself:

Hey, look, yet another thread in which people simply can't understand why their own area of interest/expertise isn't universally acknowledged as basic common knowledge and shared by the whole world.  I'd love to be present the next time one of you has car problems:

"What, you can't fix it?  You don't even know what the problem is?  You're actually calling a garage?  [Insert shitty "mfw Guest mehmay here]  But it's so easy!  It's objectively trivial to fix an engine and get a car running!  Any drooling retard could do it!  There are kids who can handle things like this easily, and you can't!  How do you even manage to feed yourself when you're this stupid?"

The car analogy wasn't a random example, by the way.  I've always been amused by how little overlap there is between computer and car enthusiasts, even though many of the arguments that computer nerds make about how their own interest is objectively better and more important than anyone else's could just as easily apply to cars as well as computers.  They're both incredibly important.  We use them both almost every day.  Modern society would most likely collapse without either of them.  And yet, precious few nerds would have the slightest idea of what they were looking at if they popped the hood of their car open, let alone know how to fix any problems with it.  But of course, that kind of ignorance is totally okay.  You're only an incompetent idiot if you aren't a computer expert.

It's really a little more like the difference between having a handle lock which can be opened using a card or having deadbolts which need a skilled hand.  Someone can run scripts to force a password, especially since iCloud apparently didn't lock you out after x number of attempts. It's easier to force that password when it is a name or word, especially something that is readily known by the public.  This is why a combination of upper case, lower case, numbers and special characters is suggested and that they be in no particular order and something not easily guessed.  You don't have to know the process of hacking an account to know good ways to safeguard one.

[Rushy]

It's really a little more like the difference between having a handle lock which can be opened using a card or having deadbolts which need a skilled hand.  Someone can run scripts to force a password, especially since iCloud apparently didn't lock you out after x number of attempts. It's easier to force that password when it is a name or word, especially something that is readily known by the public.  This is why a combination of upper case, lower case, numbers and special characters is suggested and that they be in no particular order and something not easily guessed.  You don't have to know the process of hacking an account to know good ways to safeguard one.

Actually, a password comprised of a random phrase is much harder to guess (and easier to remember) than a password made of random characters. Computers aren't people, there is no difference between "clocktower" and "cl0Ckt0W3r" to a computer, even "1308DFAS:LN" is the same thing speaking from an information standpoint. The only time random characters come into play is during a dictionary attack, which would still take months to work if you used six random words out of the dictionary in no particular order (especially slang or personal made up words that are easily remembered). Even worse, if you use some latin or even a brand name, most dictionary attacks would take years or more at full throttle.

Besides, many services such as Apple's iCloud aren't attacked in that manner (it's akin to going to a bank and using a jackhammer to open the vault). Many services you use have vulnerabilities that make the strength of your password irrelevant.

[Pete Svarrior]

Oh no, not this shit again.  Knowing how to break past password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy, and it's certainly not comparable to not having hands.

I agree. Knowing how to break password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy. I never claimed it was.

See, it doesn't matter how many times you post your response if your response is retarded. Knowing how to pick locks is not a good measure of knowing how to safeguard your home. Knowing to actually lock the doors when you leave, on the other hand, is a measure of knowing elementary shit.

[markjo]

Locks keep honest people honest.  Determined criminals will always find away around or through any security system.  That doesn't mean that it's the victim's fault when locked up things get stolen.

[rooster]

Locks keep honest people honest.  Determined criminals will always find away around or through any security system.  That doesn't mean that it's the victim's fault when locked up things get stolen.

Exactly.

These pictures were password protected. Maybe it was a weak password but even if it had been better protected there would still be someone who could hack it.

[Saddam Hussein]

Oh no, not this shit again.  Knowing how to break past password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy, and it's certainly not comparable to not having hands.

I agree. Knowing how to break password protections is not a good measure of computer literacy. I never claimed it was.

See, it doesn't matter how many times you post your response if your response is retarded. Knowing how to pick locks is not a good measure of knowing how to safeguard your home. Knowing to actually lock the doors when you leave, on the other hand, is a measure of knowing elementary shit.

I accept your pedantic correction - knowing how to enact proper protection is not the same thing as getting past said protection.  However, a password protection is a lock.  It may be a lock that you think is trivial to get around, but it's not comparable to leaving your door unlocked or open.

[garygreen]

By Tom's logic, any victim of any crime is the cause of that crime by not stopping it.  There's always something one can do to better protect oneself from criminal activity.  "You could have prevented it by not doing x" is a stupid way to look at causality in this instance.  The cause of a crime is the person who commits the crime.

Leaving your phone on a crowded restaurant bar isn't anything at all like having private photos stolen from a computer.  Still, the person who leaves her phone on a table isn't the cause of the theft of her phone.  The cause of the theft of her phone is the person who took something that doesn't belong to her.  The fact that thieves invariably exist doesn't legitimate theft at all.

Frankly I think it's troubling that some believe that vulnerability actually legitimates immoral, unethical, or otherwise forceful behavior, rather than making it more despicable.

It's been said several times in this thread that y'all aren't saying that the thief did nothing wrong, just that the victim also bears responsibility for the theft by creating the stolen goods.  That's like blaming a painter for creating a work valuable enough to be stolen from her.  It makes no sense.  Obviously creating a valuable painting is not behavior that minimizes the risk of stolen paintings.  In the same way, creating a nude photo is not behavior that minimizes the risk of stolen nude photos.  That's just a truism.  And it doesn't have anything to do with fault or blame or causation.

[Pete Svarrior]

I accept your pedantic correction - knowing how to enact proper protection is not the same thing as getting past said protection.  However, a password protection is a lock.  It may be a lock that you think is trivial to get around, but it's not comparable to leaving your door unlocked or open.

Okay, so you think my analogy isn't that great. I disagree, but that's not important. Regardless of whether we compare it to a door handle or one of these padlocks



it's still something that wouldn't be seen as reasonable if it didn't have to do with computers. It's only okay because we're talking about computers, and those are scary and we should never learn anything about them. They should just work and big bad mean people should go away.

Until that attitude changes, we're going to see incidents like this happen all the time (some louder than others depending on who the victim is), and "technology analysts" on TV will drive the narrative with this sort of nonsense:

[Vindictus]