• AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    They were just barely starting to get serious about legislating cyber security, so you were only maybe breaking some laws. I remember in the 90’s it was a lawless land. There were no laws against hacking, or at least none that anyone understood, and most sites had terrible security. I gained access to someone’s Hotmail once just by trying “anon/anon” as a user/pass combo. I also used to gain access to e-commerce customer databases just by googling certain SQL strings. I’d poke around and then send the webmaster an email letting them know their site was vulnerable.

    • Sprokes@jlai.lu
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      10 months ago

      There isn’t a law against hacking but I am sure there are other applicable laws when you do harm while hacking.

      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        10 months ago

        There is, it’s called CFAA and is absurdly broad. Pretty much any time you

        knowingly accessed a computer without authorization

        it’s technically illegal.

        • kase@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          So you’re telling me every time I stole my sister’s phone and took goofy selfies with it?? Straight to jail???

          • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 months ago

            Seems that way yeah. Naturally this sort of law is selectively enforced to nab whoever they have a problem with though so probably your sister doesn’t have the clout to bring you to justice.