stumbled upon a bad bad persons wireless network. what to do?

Status
Not open for further replies.
poseyjmac

poseyjmac

Newbie
Joined
Sep 13, 2003
Messages
4,766
Reaction score
0
ok

had my laptop outside my condo, and noticed there was another wireless router in the area, so i went into one and connected just for fun. ended up being a computer there that had its C root shared(what a dummy).

so i browsed some of his files, hear me out though. hes a family man, has pictures of his family and kids(not sure if they are his kids or not), he also has pictures of himself naked(these were named in a scheme that you wouldn't suspect that it was a pic of a naked person so i clicked curiously, wish i didnt though). so i thought ok whatever. but then i found filenames of kiddie porn. now i didnt look at the pictures, but the FILENAMES were a giveaway and were in a separate folder other than the 'family pics' folder, but how should i go about this:

am i technically breaking the law by browsing his files?

i want this guy to be put away if hes really into this or if he is abusing his family or kids in any way, but do i have to verify they are illegal pictures before calling the cops? or is suspicion of filenames enough?(i really dont want to have to look at any of those files)

also id prefer that there was no situation where i call the cops, they bust the guy or not bust the guy, and then they put me away for some kind of hacking related offense since giving them the info proves that i did intrude upon his system. i dont know shit about law, but i wouldn't put that past the judicial system. this is why im asking in a forum first. one thing to note is that i did specifically pick his wireless router to connect to, knowing full well, that it wasn't mine, i then received an IP address + internet access, and access to his LAN. what to do?
 
hey, look, if his wifi network isn't encrypted, and he shared his root C on the network, then it's perfectly legal to do whatever you want : it's his fault he shared root C anyways...

In my opinion, the viewers are as evil as the people that produce that shit.
Think about it, he has kids himself... what if he was abusing them?

Bust that ****er

there's no way the cops would burn you for doing something like that... It's not "hacking" at all

also, there's a bunch of anonymous tip lines, like crimestoppers. Use that if you want to be sure you don't get into shit.
 
yes, you're breaking the law - but since it's a crook I don't know what you should do... You could claim your laptop was set up to automatically connect, and it did so without your knowledge...

Just report the guy, if he's a pedo he belongs on the pedo register and probably locked up.
 
Synthos - you're wrong... even if there is no encryption and the network has been left open it is a criminal offence to remotely access files on a persons or companys network without direct authorisation from the owners... that's why i'm saying you could claim that your laptop is configured to automatically connect to any open networks (it's a fair claim, they won't question it)
 
there is NO way ill lie to the police. who knows if they have computer experts that know that on my laptop it wasn't possible to automatically connect to their network. the fact is we had to manually do it.
 
If it's a laptop with XP, it's a simple tickbox that enables it to automatically connect to available networks, besides... they wouldn't care, you could even say you thought it was a free wireless hotspot. Seriously, they don't care. The problem here is the pedo that could be abusing his kids and is probably getting away with it.

Something needs to be done, and you can be sure you aren't the one in the wrong.
 
oh no doubt something needs to be done. and somethign will be done tonight, im just trying to save my ass at the same time if possible from any legal trouble
 
there's a 99% chance they won't even ask. in the unlikely event that they do, you have 3 options:

1) say your laptop automatically connects
2) say you thought it was a wireless hotspot, but when you connected you had access to some files instead... and alerted the police immediately.
3) tell the truth.

Whatever happens, you won't get touched for any of this stuff. Trust me.
 
WHo cares if they ask. Tell the truth. I was on probation for 6 months for lieing to police before. No good.

This ****er deserves to be in prison, turn him in. If they ask, tell the truth, I'm sure they either won't care of you could just say "hey, why dont you stop the real crime like KIDDIE PORN you ass"
 
Like ben said... Just call from a payphone. Tell them to take a laptop with wireless access to whatever street this guy lives on, give them the IP address, tell them where on his computer the files are, and then hang up. If they don't show up in a day or so, then try something else I guess
 
I'm sort of with Whitey. Although I do see why you'd be somewhat reluctant. You could always make an anonymous phonecall, but they might not be as quick to respond.
At the end of the day, who's the bigger criminal? Your felony was certainly cheeky but could be the means to a very deserved end.
I'd like to point out that, whilst criminal convictions could look negative on a CV:
"It says here you were charged with a minor hacking offense - care to explain?"
"Yes, it caught a paedophile."
"Oh right. Welcome on board."
 
Oh boy...this is a can of worms.

The police will probably need a warrant in order to access the guys computer - they won't get that from the judge without some form of reasonable suspicion and that I'm sorry to say - might involve you having to to go the station to make a statement of some sort.

If he is arrested and charged, you will more than likely have to testify at trial and reveal how you discovered the evidence in the first place.

Furthermore, the defense attorney will do his damndest to have the evidence ruled as inadmissable as the method by it was first discovered (by you, not the cops with the warrant) amounted to an illegal search.

I admire your courage in wanting to do the right thing - I just want you to be prepared for the potential consequences. If you really want to put this guy away, you can't just make a phone call and leave it at that - you will more than likely have to get your hands dirty.
 
SFLUFAN said:
Oh boy...this is a can of worms.

The police will probably need a warrant in order to access the guys computer - they won't get that from the judge without some form of reasonable suspicion and that I'm sorry to say - might involve you having to to go the station to make a statement of some sort.

If he is arrested and charged, you will more than likely have to testify at trial and reveal how you discovered the evidence in the first place.

Furthermore, the defense attorney will do his damndest to have the evidence ruled as inadmissable as the method by it was first discovered (by you, not the cops with the warrant) amounted to an illegal search.

I admire your courage in wanting to do the right thing - I just want you to be prepared for the potential consequences. If you really want to put this guy away, you can't just make a phone call and leave it at that - you will more than likely have to get your hands dirty.
Click to expand...
Actually, the chance that it would go to trial is rather slim. He'd probably just plead guilty, or accept some sort of plea bargain.
 
I agree with your assessment of the chances of it going to trial.

It's more likely that the case would be tossed before even reaching trial - I'm just worried that our HL2.net friend might face a civil suit.
 
you gotta be 100 % sure he's looking at kiddie porn, then turn him in ...payphone is good enough
 
el Chi said:
I'm sort of with Whitey. Although I do see why you'd be somewhat reluctant. You could always make an anonymous phonecall, but they might not be as quick to respond.
At the end of the day, who's the bigger criminal? Your felony was certainly cheeky but could be the means to a very deserved end.
I'd like to point out that, whilst criminal convictions could look negative on a CV:
"It says here you were charged with a minor hacking offense - care to explain?"
"Yes, it caught a paedophile."
"Oh right. Welcome on board."
Click to expand...

Yeah, it really wouldnt be a big deal even IF they cared.

Besides that, anonymous call is probably the way to go.

On second thought, you could lose your job for hacking,so anonymous call IS the way to go.
 
The stupid thing is that is it's just like performing a crime for everyone to see right in front of a window, only if you see this, you're a HACKER! Not having an encrypted wireless network is one thing, but sharing your whole ****ing C drive? Idiocy.
 
Jeez, this is one helluva' thread. I think you should stay anonymous on this one. Wouldn't want to get banned from the interweb.

P.S. :Wrighting on an iPAQ is hard stuff.
 
Id hate to say it...but you do need to look at at least one of those pictures to make sure its kiddie pron...if its not and they bust the guy for something he didnt do...you would probably pay the consequences for supplying false information. Also, i believe there are anomalous ways of getting in touch with the police...call lines and such. Even if they do know you sort of hacked into his comp, they would probably just let you off with a warning at the most, since you did find a kiddie pron viewer...and thats a hell of a lot worse than stumbling into someones comp in my opinion.
 
maybe he's just some psycho freak who likes downloading and watching kiddy porn and its not even his kids?!
 
You can't be charged for hacking offences for walking outside some house with a wireless laptop turned on, the fact it's set up to automatically connect to open networks or not is beside the point.
 
Just tell the police the truth and everything that happened.
As long as you don't have any kind of hacking utility on your pc, you'll be fine
 
actually.... if you can give me the IP, I might be able to talk to someone in AFOSI (air force office of special investigations)... they deal with kiddie porn all the time. not sure if they'd actually be able to go after the guy, but a tip is a tip. PM me if you'd rather not post it.
 
If anything you'll probably get a slap on the wrist for browsing the guys files, but if they actually are kiddy porn then they won't give a **** about what you did because you turned this pedophile in.
 
Are you 100% sure he has it because it'd be pretty bad if he didn't. You mention you saw files but are you sure you know whats actually in them.
 
Not to be perverted at all but what Lethal said is right, first check to make sure so you don't get caught with false information.

I'd just tell the cops the truth. Do you think they would honestly care that someone was snoopin around on a network but in return catch a pedofile? Even if they did ask you what you were doing on the network just tell em you stumbled onto it because it auto-detects and sets it up automatically.

One thing I don't understand is why he had his network unprotected and entire drive accessable w/ kiddie porn...
 
no pressure not 100%. tonight me and a friend are going to find out 100%. im just waiting for my friend to get off work.
 
If I were you, I would swallow my own fear and turn this pedofile f*ck in. You are in a moral dillema and I am sorry for your perdicimant, but whatever might be going on HAS to be stopped.

If anyone here is into OI! music I quote the Combat 84 song "RAPIST"

He's a dirty and evil man
And no one wants to know
He could be living in your town
The sign of the Rapist doesn't show
Young girls come to me
Stalking victims in the street
When it happens no-one sees
You're just dragged down off your feet

[Chorus]
Capital Punishment
A stronger Government

Plastic mask and hairy wig
You're too scared to show your face
You're acting like a dirty pig
You're a cancer of the human race
Filth of society should all die
We need a stronger government
All you gotta do is hang 'em high
We want capital punishment

[Chorus]

We need a stronger government
Bring back capital punishment
[x4]

[Chorus]

Hang 'em, hang 'em, hang 'em high
You watch those ****ing bastards die
[x4]

[Chorus]
 
This is some pretty serious stuff. You could try to do something about it, although, depending on the case, no action may actually be taken. My uncle in California just told me about a similar sort of scenario involving a few people who had accidentally stumbled upon kiddie porn on others computers. They tend to go after people who are either distributing large amounts of it via a file sharing program or some other means, and those who create it. If you can confirm this guy has tons of it, and he's helping to spread it, call him in or not, it's your choice. If you can confirm he's abusing his children, then you MUST call him in. You can do it in an anonymous way if you wish, but you might be of more help if you worked with the police. If it's just a few files, and they do not show him as an abuser, they aren't going to do anything about it. If you can, and you're willing ,dig up some dirt on the guy. Gather some evidence, and then approach the police. You aren't going to be arrested or anything like that for helping to nab a man like this.
 
wow, this is certainly an interesting case. first, the guy's an idiot. second, you better make sure he's abusing his own kids / is actually guilty, because he just may be a sicko who gets off on kiddie pr0n, and doesn't do anything to his own kids. it could potentially ruin his life even if he's innocent of some major crime. be careful. if he IS abusing (i doubt he's a major distributor of kiddie pr0n) his kids, then you HAVE to turn him in. the po-po will understand.
 
Law Student Chiming in....you are walking on really thin ice...and almost everyone on in this post doesn't know what they are talking about.

It still is a private network...it's like a house...even if it's unlocked you can still get in trouble for it

The evidence would be thrown out in a case, since it was obtained illegaly. And anyway, the cops would need to get a warrent...and they need evidence to get one...evidence you can't give them legally...
 
HOLD ON!!!! Ok just wanted your attention. Where I live the law enforcement has a deal where you call the number 528-CASH and you can report various crimes. They don't use a caller ID and don't try to track you down. It's completely anonymous. If they make an arrest, you get $$$. You should see if your city has implimented a system like this.
 
Yes, but the dilemma here is that to obtain evidence, a warrant is needed, but evidence is needed for the warrant.
 
Frosty207 said:
Yes, but the dilemma here is that to obtain evidence, a warrant is needed, but evidence is needed for the warrant.
Click to expand...

It's the police department's job to get a warrant, and they'll find a way. If he calls up and says,"Hey i think this guy is doing something illegal," then it's out of his hands and he's done all he can do.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Tollbooth Willie
HL2.NET HORROR SLAP
Replies
7
Views
2K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
MFL
Fascinating look at the ongoing psychological evolution of flat hieirarchies.
Replies
2
Views
2K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
B
From Warren Spector to Arkane Studios: Half-Life 2's cancelled Ravenholm episode
Replies
2
Views
10K
Clan Wolf 2
Clan Wolf 2
B
Marc Laidlaw releases Half-Life 2: Episode Three's plot
Replies
32
Views
39K
BabyHeadCrab
BabyHeadCrab
B
Half-Life 2: Episode Two - Cyril, Fred, and friends
Replies
0
Views
5K
Barnz
B
Back
Top