[Saddam Hussein]

Haha, a grown woman who's never heard of 4chan!  What a drooling retard, amirite?

[Particle Person]

Haha, a grown woman who's never heard of 4chan!  What a drooling retard, amirite?

Considering she's not just a grown woman but a professional news anchor reporting a story that involves 4chan, which is one of the most infamous websites on the internet, yes, she should be expected to at least know that it isn't a person.

[Ghost of V]

I hate that 4chan guy. He's such a dick.

[Vindictus]

She's a reporter, Saddam. It isn't hard to use the fucking iPad they give you to type in '4chen' and see what the hell she's talking about. Their tech analyst could have at least done that if he was that ignorant too. If they're that lazy with things that are easily Google-able, how lazy are they with reporting that actually matters and is somewhat complex?

But I'm happy they at least gave us that humorous .gif.

[markjo]

Haha, a grown woman who's never heard of 4chan!  What a drooling retard, amirite?

ITT: Saddam does not understand the concept of expository dialogue.

[rooster]

It's pretty easy to bump a deadbolt lock as well. But if people lock their doors then they should totally expect someone to break in. They are really just asking for it unless they research all about home security systems in their spare time.

Even with a home security system you can still bump a lock and steal what you want before cops get there. Serves them right for relying on the home security system to protect them.

[Pete Svarrior]

It's pretty easy to bump a deadbolt lock as well. But if people lock their doors then they should totally expect someone to break in. They are really just asking for it unless they research all about home security systems in their spare time.

Even with a home security system you can still bump a lock and steal what you want before cops get there. Serves them right for relying on the home security system to protect them.

No, look, this is really simple. If you're a retard about your security, you take partial blame. If you're reasonable but not an ultra expert, you're off the hook.

There's a reason I'm talking about door handles and plastic toy padlocks and not deadbolt locks. What they did was the former. What I'm asking for is the latter. I'm asking for basic computer literacy. If blowing my statement out of proportion to make a shitty strawman attack is the best you can do then I consider my point conceded.

This applies to quite a few things in life. If you eat a shitton of raw chicken that's been lying around outside the fridge for a couple of days, you're a retard and are partially responsible for your food poisoning. That doesn't mean you must be an absolute genius chef and know everything there is to know about the amazing world of spatulas. It just means you should know enough to be able to take basic care of yourself.

[Tau]

It's pretty easy to bump a deadbolt lock as well. But if people lock their doors then they should totally expect someone to break in. They are really just asking for it unless they research all about home security systems in their spare time.

Even with a home security system you can still bump a lock and steal what you want before cops get there. Serves them right for relying on the home security system to protect them.

No, look, this is really simple. If you're a retard about your security, you take partial blame. If you're reasonable but not an ultra expert, you're off the hook.

There's a reason I'm talking about door handles and plastic toy padlocks and not deadbolt locks. What they did was the former. What I'm asking for is the latter. I'm asking for basic computer literacy. If blowing my statement out of proportion to make a shitty strawman attack is the best you can do then I consider my point conceded.

This applies to quite a few things in life. If you eat a shitton of raw chicken that's been lying around outside the fridge for a couple of days, you're a retard and are partially responsible for your food poisoning. That doesn't mean you must be an absolute genius chef and know everything there is to know about the amazing world of spatulas. It just means you should know enough to be able to take basic care of yourself.

If the shitton of raw chicken that's been lying around the fridge was given to you in the form of a burrito by Taco Bell, do you still take responsibility? (This is a terrible analogy, which is the point)

I think the real point to be made here is that when things like this happen, the first question people ask is "what was she doing to deserve this" rather than "what asshole did that to her". That's pretty messed up, regardless of the details.

[Pete Svarrior]

If the shitton of raw chicken that's been lying around the fridge was given to you in the form of a burrito by Taco Bell, do you still take responsibility? (This is a terrible analogy, which is the point)

No, but that's not what happened here. They (hopefully) picked their own passwords and set up their own backups. If they paid someone computer-illiterate to do it for them, then that person shares the blame too.

I think the real point to be made here is that when things like this happen, the first question people ask is "what was she doing to deserve this" rather than "what asshole did that to her". That's pretty messed up, regardless of the details.

But that's not what I did at all. When I joined this thread, I essentially said: Yes, the thief is the one who's guilty here; but that's not something you or me can fix. We can't magically erase thieves from the world to protect ourselves or others. I then continued: It's naive to say you take absolutely no responsibility if you failed to protect yourself; because that is something you can affect, and in this particular case it's very easy.

I'm not saying they deserved it, I'm saying they take partial responsibility.

[rooster]

So having a password isn't enough in this situation?

I'm not sure what retarded computer illiterate thing you're referring to. You're berating their computer skills so much that they may as well have put these nudes on a private Facebook album only friends can see and got upset when someone who wasn't their friend found them.

REGARDLESS of this argument we still come back to the point that even if they were a bit safer someone still can hack it eventually because they're models and actresses. Not to imply that they're stupid but they probably don't spend time reading programming books.

[Rama Set]

If the shitton of raw chicken that's been lying around the fridge was given to you in the form of a burrito by Taco Bell, do you still take responsibility? (This is a terrible analogy, which is the point)

No, but that's not what happened here. They (hopefully) picked their own passwords and set up their own backups. If they paid someone computer-illiterate to do it for them, then that person shares the blame too.

I think the real point to be made here is that when things like this happen, the first question people ask is "what was she doing to deserve this" rather than "what asshole did that to her". That's pretty messed up, regardless of the details.

But that's not what I did at all. When I joined this thread, I essentially said: Yes, the thief is the one who's guilty here; but that's not something you or me can fix. We can't magically erase thieves from the world to protect ourselves or others. I then continued: It's naive to say you take absolutely no responsibility if you failed to protect yourself; because that is something you can affect, and in this particular case it's very easy.

I'm not saying they deserved it, I'm saying they take partial responsibility.

I have to say, I am a litter better than average on the computer literacy front and I have no idea what could be done to protect my smartphone better than a password.  You may judge me as retarded, but that is not the case.  It seems like you do not have a good perspective on what the average user of computer's and technology knows.

[Pete Svarrior]

So having a password isn't enough in this situation?

No, what the actual password is is quite important too.

I'm not sure what retarded computer illiterate thing you're referring to.

A number of things. Very poor passwords and putting these sort of files in distributed "cloud" storage with backups are things that apply to them as much as they would to anyone else. Additionally, I would argue that they should have realised that these sort of pictures may be desirable/sought after due to their celebrity status and encrypt the files.

You're berating their computer skills so much that they may as well have put these nudes on a private Facebook album only friends can see and got upset when someone who wasn't their friend found them.

Yes, that's exactly right. From the perspective of someone who has an understanding of how this shit works, the two actions are only slightly different. The fact that they seem very different is one of the reasons we need basic computer literacy education right here and right now.

REGARDLESS of this argument we still come back to the point that even if they were a bit safer someone still can hack it eventually because they're models and actresses. Not to imply that they're stupid but they probably don't spend time reading programming books.

Well, yes and no. Perfect security doesn't exist, the only computer that cannot be hacked is a computer that's been unplugged, and so on, and so fort... but:

Suppose they encrypted the files. This really isn't difficult, with the tools available it's just a tiny bit more involved than making a ZIP archive. Suppose they used a good encryption algorithm for the purpose and a sufficiently long key (most tools will do that for you - no knowledge required). Suppose they were very careful no to let the key to those files leak (this is the hardest part - it doesn't require that much computer knowledge, but it requires you to learn certain behaviours). In this hypothetical scenario, even if the files were stolen, they would be completely useless to the hackers. Their chances of decrypting them would be slim, too (it would literally take decades if not hundreds of years, depending on your budget).

Of course, that method is not perfect. It can be circumvented if someone simply gets their hands on your key. It would, however, make this sort of leak very, very, very unlikely.

I have to say, I am a litter better than average on the computer literacy front and I have no idea what could be done to protect my smartphone better than a password.  You may judge me as retarded, but that is not the case.  It seems like you do not have a good perspective on what the average user of computer's and technology knows.

No, no, that's precisely what I'm saying. The average user of computers doesn't know enough to support their elementary needs. We need to start educating people. We've allowed a level of ignorance that we wouldn't allow with anything else.

[Rama Set]

I have to say, I am a litter better than average on the computer literacy front and I have no idea what could be done to protect my smartphone better than a password.  You may judge me as retarded, but that is not the case.  It seems like you do not have a good perspective on what the average user of computer's and technology knows.

No, no, that's precisely what I'm saying. The average user of computers doesn't know enough to support their elementary needs. We need to start educating people. We've allowed a level of ignorance that we wouldn't allow with anything else.

I can get behind that.

[rooster]

We don't know what the passwords were so we can't judge their strength.

Again, it's easy to bitch about computer illiteracy when it's something you love. I think knowing history is extremely important when it comes to government but governments don't give a damn about historians.

[Particle Person]

We don't even know if password strength was a factor in this case. It's possible that the victims' credentials were intercepted when they used them while connected to a public network, in which case it wouldn't matter what the password actually was.

Nevermind, maybe. A few sources claim that the passwords were indeed brute forced. If that is the case, then we basically know with certainty that the victims had terrible passwords. By the way, did you guys know that SMF 2.0.7 automatically censors your own password? Try it! **********

[Shane]

Jlaw123

[Pete Svarrior]

Again, it's easy to bitch about computer illiteracy when it's something you love. I think knowing history is extremely important when it comes to government but governments don't give a damn about historians.

The difference here is that history didn't suddenly (over the last 50 years or so) become a major and inseparable factor in every aspect of society. Technology did. Not having a basic understanding of technology is crippling, history - not so much. Meanwhile, history is quite prominent in (European) school curricula, while technology is largely ignored (although this is now slowly changing, thank fuck).

We don't even know if password strength was a factor in this case. It's possible that the victims' credentials were intercepted when they used them while connected to a public network, in which case it wouldn't matter what the password actually was.

Nevermind, maybe. A few sources claim that the passwords were indeed brute forced.

Yeah, I admit, I'm working with the assumptions that these sources are correct. If they're not, a large chunk of my argument is moot; but not the bit about encryption. All my saucy nudes are encrypted, you see.

[rooster]

Mine aren't. Yaaaayayayaya someone's gonna hack me and it's all my fault!!!!!!

[Ghost of V]

********* WOW! It really works!

[Pete Svarrior]

Mine aren't. Yaaaayayayaya someone's gonna hack me and it's all my fault!!!!!!

I'm uploading them to imgur as we speak.