Mr. McOwen is being sued for running RC5 by St. of Georgia for $415,000. Heres how you can help.

[wfbberzerker]

just wondering, what the heck is rc5?

 

[pyr]

rc5 is what distributed.net works to crack (well one type at least). RC5 is a way of encrypting information. the reason they are working on cracking it is to show that it needs to be stronger. the stronger encryption is the better for all of us.

 

[Lord Gwynz]

Serves him right for not running something more worthwhile like folding@home or even seti. Hang him high I say!

 

[networkman]

LuNoTiCK wrote:

But $415,000 is a little excessive. Actually it's rediculously excessive. Besides how long do the schools plan to keep everything, the schools cant keep em for 15 years, they have to keep everything up to specs as much as possible.

Not necessarily. I've worked for a public library system for nearly the past 6 years, and part of my job consists of keeping Pentium-100 computers that were purchased 5 years ago running and serving the public even now.

And to make it even more interesting, our mgmt chose to invest in Citrix servers so that we can continue to make use of those same P-100 machines for a few more years! :| Yuck. :disgust:

 

[virtuamike]

No! Not Citrix!!!!! *me runs away in sheer terror

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

on the heat issue, anyone have any data on the power consumption of a cpu at 100% load and at idle, just so we can quantify this?

Personally $400K+ fine seems very excessive just to be running rc5, but prehaps there is more to this..

 

[DesignDawg]

<< Seems like a bunch of hick rednecks trying to make names for themselves in the mobile home parks. >>

What a fscking asshole that makes you seem. Just because these people are in Georgia, that makes them rednecks in trailer parks trying to make a name for themselves? I guess that applies to ANYONE living in the South who brings a case against someone where technology is involved?

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[MrBond]

<< rc5 is what distributed.net works to crack (well one type at least). RC5 is a way of encrypting information. the reason they are working on cracking it is to show that it needs to be stronger. the stronger encryption is the better for all of us. >>


The fact that its taken this long for this many people to attempt crack it makes me feel comfortable in its security.

I don't trust dnet anyway. Call me paranoid (I am) but I woudldn't be surprised if there were alterior motives at work here. Now if you excuse me, I need to adjust my aluminum foil hat and hide from the black helicopter with my wind up radio so I can listen to Art Bell

 

[Cenalian]

DesignDawg, first off, he never said anything specifically about the south and rednecks. Hell, he could have said the same if it happened in Michigan.

I also think that while what he did was very wrong, it wasn't $415,000 wrong. The major question I have is that did no one know about this during those 2 years it was running???

 

[NesuD]

Bite me Ricky that is a reference to the morons whoe are bringing the action who apparently haven't a clue as to what the actual severity of the offense is or more likely know very well how inflated their claims are but are pretty sure that the less techically fluent won't comprehend it at all therefore accepting what they are told like a bunch of little sheep. Hell the Liberal establishment has been doing this for years in the inner cities what makes you think that the redneck trailer park crowd is any less susceptible.

 

[bernse]

They'll probably never get the full amount they are suing for. They are just looking to make a statement with the precident. They probably did not even come up with that figure.

 

[Maverick]

<<
$.59 /second
x 60 seconds /min
x 60 minutes /hour
x 24 hours /day
x 30 days /month
= $1,529,280/month

1.52 million dollars? Pffft. >>



thats just per month...this guy was doing it for 2 years! If they penalize him the maximum amount this is what it will look like...

1,529,280/month
x 12 months/year
x 2 years/penality

= 36,702,720

Thats 36.7 million total damages. Its ludicrous to think that one guy using a school's set of servers can pay that. He's gonna file for bankruptcy and they won't see a dime. They're obviously trying to make an example of him which is wrong in my opinion. Sure what he did is wrong, but in the end it will cost the government more in legal fees than they will get even if they win. And thats taxpayer money they're spending. This goes beyond what the guy did, its basically a complete waste of public funds.

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Do you honestly think he has that much money?

 

[jamesbond007]

Eh, the school probably just wants new servers/network equipment and this is an easy way for them to get money to pay for it.

It is wrong what he did, but I too agree that the penalty fine is FAR too excessive. I mean, did the school suffer any severe bandwidth surges or was anyone physically or mentally hurt? Maybe the ugly cow in the corner, but that's as far as that goes.

 

[pyr]

<< DesignDawg, first off, he never said anything specifically about the south and rednecks. Hell, he could have said the same if it happened in Michigan.

I also think that while what he did was very wrong, it wasn't $415,000 wrong. The major question I have is that did no one know about this during those 2 years it was running??? >>



You would be AMAZED by how slowly the wheels of government can turn... I did some messing around on the network at my highschool a while back, and it took them almost 6 months to finally do something about it. I was sitting in class when I got a summons and they were asking questions about what I had done to cause a problem that was pretty much a showstopper for every 9th login (oops). I could easily have had to foot the bill which was a lot of money since they brought in outside consultants and all that ish.