So while individuals have been charged with numerous hacking charges and potentially decades in jail time for mundane things, such as obtaining plain text info and port scans.
Lenovo which actually facilitated breaking ssl security on all of their customer computers is going to get away scot-free?
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. We will show you how the defendant used the notorious hacker tool known as 'strings' to facilitate his vendetta against Lenovo."
This. I've recently begun anonymously reporting HIPAA violations in FLEX pager systems. Unfortunately the act of demodulating these unencrypted signals easily obtained with a $5 SDR potentially constitutes a felony. This absolutely terrifies me.
Yup. There's a very real aspect of neo-aristocracy happening right now in that the law is not applied equally to all entities. Just look at the HSBC money laundering case as the perfect example. If an individual is caught in a drug money laundering scheme they go to prison for a very long time. If a major multinational bank is caught laundering literally billions in drug trafficking revenues then they get slapped with a comparatively modest fine and everything is swept under the table. Same deal if Joe Schmo doesn't pay taxes versus some major politician.
>If a major multinational bank is caught laundering literally billions in drug trafficking revenues //
That of course should read "If the personnel at a major multinational bank ..." - it's those who created and authorised the scheme, real actual people, that are getting off. It's not a vacuous idea of a corporation, the corporation didn't commit the crimes, people did.
Other than that, yes, powerful millionaires don't get put in prison for scamming the demos. Prison is only for the proles it seems.
Yes, exactly, that was my meaning. People have some weird ideas about corporations these days, but there are people behind those actions. There were people, lots of them, who knowingly broke the law, laws that would get ordinary folks thrown in prison for a period of time that would have a high probability of lasting the rest of their lives. But because it was carried out through the auspices of a major multinational bank that was "too big to fail" those people eluded punishment.
Similarly, if you or I were to install a MITM proxy that intercepted ssl traffic on someone else's laptop we would see the full weight of the criminal justice system rain down on us. But when a big company does it systematically they will almost certainly escape virtually scott free.
Lenovo is a Chinese company. If you move to China and get backing from the Chinese government, then yes, you can hack into US computers and get away with it scot-free. (Alternatively, if you stay in the US and join the NSA, you can get away with hacking into Chinese computers scot-free.)
That's not how the law works for multinational corporations - they are accountable to the laws in the nation in which they conduct business (which isn't to say they will be persecuted).
"WASHINGTON-The Canadian government has delivered a scathing response to a $500 million lawsuit from the American pharmaceutical industry, dissecting the intellectual-property practices of the company that launched the case.
.. Eli Lilly had filed for 12 separate patents between 1992 and 2004 claiming it could treat psoriasis, stuttering, incontinence, hot flashes, anxiety, learning disabilities, tic disorders and, finally, ADHD.
.. “Canadian law does not grant patents for almost-inventions,” said the submission. “Even if the applicant’s speculation at the time of filing is later confirmed.”
.. The Canadian government shrugged off its appearance as the only G7 country on last year’s U.S. Trade Representative watchlist. It described the list as a bunch of allegations from U.S. companies, published by the U.S. government."
Lenovo which actually facilitated breaking ssl security on all of their customer computers is going to get away scot-free?