George said:
No ethics? That's a bit strong. What is it you're upset about: the
potential of theft or the method for cracking an IBM Tninkpad password?
I'm more pissed because IBM has been hiding this relatively simple password
reset and according to their docs does not use it themsleves, preferring to
put a perfectly good system board in the garbage.
As for *my* ethics they're a bloody sight higher than the guys who make up
the rules.
Can you say with absolute certainty that you have no such thing among your
possessions? Stuff re-enters the retail chain all the time - the police
are utterly useless here. Even when they know who stole your things, they
won't lift a hand.
Absolute certainty? Clearly not. This (hypothetical) case (the guy was
a troll making up stories) was far from buying something that
conceivably was stolen. He bought something on the street that he had
good reason to believe was stolen. And someone, knowing that,
obligingly trotted out a solution to make it usable. I realize that
security through obscurity is not the best method, but that is no excuse
to point out the vulnerabilty.
But you can do what you want. Publish the neighbors credit card and ssn
info if you happen to find it out. Suit yourself.
