2 Hack or Not 2 Hack

[Ashcrow]

Call AOL and report a stollen account and that you want a trace put on the call if you don't know who it is.

[stryder144]

coltrane:

I think it is admirable that you want to use your computer skills to help a friend. Having said that, though, you could get into trouble with the police if they find out that you "hacked" into the computer. I seem to recall an article about someone loading tracking software on a computer and the person who was using the computer sued the man. He also got charged with illegal wiretapping or some related crime.

Tread lightly, you never know how paranoid the authorities might get.

[coltrane]

point taken

No, we dont know who stole it, but we know that they use the AOL account, since it shows up on my everybuddy friends list everyday. The main reason why I want to hack the laptop is so i can retrieve her files (homework/poetry) from the laptop :-/.....then i can destroy sys files ;D

if i have a login/passwd for the thing, is it rEAllY hacking?

[stryder144]

if i have a login/passwd for the thing, is it rEAllY hacking?

Good question. I would think that if you have the permission of the owner (can she verify her ownership rights?), then it wouldn't really be hacking. It would be doing "administrative" duties for the owner. Now, of course, I would still call the authorities and find out what the technical definition for illegal hacking (cracking) is, that way you are covered. Did she tell the cops that her property was stolen? This is a vital first step.

Just try to cover all your bases. It maybe helping her, but it could be the good samaritan act that lands you into trouble! Be very careful.

[kenshi]

Contact the police and do it fast. This person who stole it may wisen up and quit getting on that AOL account. After that, the computer is dead gone unless you have some special way to track it.

[Compunuts]

If they are using your friend's account and it shows up, you can contact your local police and open stolen goods case. Then if your friend can establish the owner ship and if you explain the cops well, they will get court letter which can be used to require AOL to put the trace on it and recover the laptop.

The person using it may not be the one who stole it since you can buy laptops on the Ebay or other means but it's always a good idea to recover the stolen goods.....

[Tyr_7BE]

Well, it IS your friend's laptop, and if they give you permission to log in to it, then I can't possibly see the problem. Had it been the rightful property of the thief, then there would be some issues, but your friend technically still owns the laptop, no matter who possesses it. What kind of a case would this be anyways?

"Ever since I stole this laptop, the person I stole it from keeps screwing it up!".

I have my doubts that argument would hold.

[Schotty]

If she has info as to the serial numbers and such for the pc, you should be able to recover. Then use the excuse -- remote administration. I know a guy who had his apartment broken into and his PC was stolen. Being a moron pc user, he had all of his ICQ passwords and stuff saved so he never had to type them in. To make a long story short, he called up the local isp who he was going through and basically setup a trap -- since he had no pc he shouldnt be logging in, or sending mail. When the ISP saw that wasnt the case they wrote a legal letter saying that there was activity and needed legal permission to do a usage report (a judge has to do that in Wisconsin). Then the police had the final proof. If he had the reciepts and serials off the boards and stuff (as well as windows code) the police could have skipped several steps.

Hope that helps ya man!

[gorn]

how do you dial up aol from linux? i don't think you can, so that means the user is using windows, and a telnet server for that?


just call the cops

[coltrane]

cops were called on this