[Novalug] Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands" May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity

[Sean McGowan]

I'm not sure what the law is to warrant a warrant, I will have to ask my
fiancée (who is a lawyer); however, has anyone actually read the
warrant, or are we just reacting to what has been posted here?  I
reviewed the warrant, and it does seem that through witnesses the
officer may have a reasonable suspicion that this student may be up to
no good.  I am a huge proponent of personal freedoms and, without making
this a political thread, believe that we are watching many of them
disappear.  That being said, those of us that make a living in this
industry should know that the knowledge we can make work to our
advantage also comes with great responsibility.  Just because some of
the excerpts in the warrant, such as having a dual-boot or
'jail-breaking' Iphones, show that the detective may not have a complete
understanding of computers, it should not invalidate the other evidence
listed in the warrant.  Posting another student on a website, posing him
has gay, is fraudulent, as well as is changing grades in the BC system.
If the allegations are true, then this student should be reprimanded.

On Wed, 2009-04-15 at 08:58 -0400, Keith Casey wrote:
> >From the EFF "Boston College Campus Police: "Using Prompt Commands"
> May Be a Sign of Criminal Activity":
> 
> "On Friday, EFF and the law firm of Fish and Richardson filed an
> emergency motion to quash [pdf] and for the return of seized property
> on behalf of a Boston College computer science student whose
> computers, cell phone, and other property were seized as part of an
> investigation into who sent an e-mail to a school mailing list
> identifying another student as gay. The problem? Not only is there no
> indication that any crime was committed, the investigating officer
> argued that the computer expertise of the student itself supported a
> finding of probable cause to seize the student's property."
> 
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/boston-college-prompt-commands-are-suspicious
> 
> I suspect that I wasn't the only one here that kept money in my pocket
> throughout college by fixing computers... I didn't start doing
> software until the end.
> 
> kc
>