Blinking Cursors Don't Break Laws, Inputting Text Breaks Laws

by Kristin Shoemaker - Apr. 16, 2009Comments (2)

Truth be told, I was a little hesitant to write about the Boston College Computer Science major who had his computer -- and any other devices in his possession capable of data storage -- confiscated during the course of a fraud investigation.

A Boston College senior was accused last month of hacking into BC's system and changing grades, downloading movies and music illegally, and making false allegations online about one of his dorm mates (reports suggest the dorm mate in question brought these activities to the attention of campus police). Of course, while spreading misinformation online isn't necessarily unlawful (or unusual), the other allegations certainly warrant investigation. Whether police or the IT department at BC have evidence supporting the hacking allegations beyond the accusations of the dorm mate is unclear.

A few points are clearly outlined by the affidavit and search warrant application. One, the student in question isn't unfamiliar to campus police. He was a suspect in an earlier laptop theft investigation (but it appears he was not charged or implicated further in the incident). The other? Using alternative operating systems doesn't conceal alleged criminal activity, it draws attention to it.

It's unclear if a crime was committed, but there are some lessons we all can take away from the story.

ZDNet's Chris Dawson highlights one of the major points -- the campus police who applied for the warrant aren't techies, and the fact that the accused used Linux (in what sounds like a very typical manner) was emphasized so heavily the alleged crimes became secondary. Is the operating system in use on the machine in question important to the investigation? Yes, it is. It was worth mentioning in the warrant application if only to support why police might need to get a good look at the devices in question -- it's all unfamiliar. It was, unfortunately, worded as though using an alternative operating system in and of itself was evidence of shifty behavior. It's disheartening to witness that as a Linux user, but it's even more troubling when one considers that this incident isn't in a trial stage -- there aren't even formal charges.

Truth be told, that's the sad part of all of this. These are cases where everyone involved tends to lose perspective. The officer requesting the warrant obviously isn't overly technologically inclined -- and that's fine. He was required to present evidence as to why they needed a closer look at the machines, but it did certainly feel like it centered far too heavily on "It's Linux," not "It's Linux and we need to look at things in ways we're not accustomed to," or (ideally), "It's Linux, we're not overly familiar with that, and we have evidence on these dates at these times these system files on the college servers and the data within was changed." The only information presented in the last manner related to the one charge that isn't truly criminal -- starting a nasty rumor.

Linux isn't relevant to much of anything in this case -- it's an incidental. If it is earmarking this student for closer scrutiny than the real evidence requires, that's unfortunate and needs to be addressed. That's true no matter what the circumstance.