helping a crackers victim, ethicly right or wrong?

[Botkiller]

@siviak : By morals I mean the choice between good or bad.

@AlxRogan : My friend knows it is happening but don't know how to act. He first had government support because he didn't had a job. But because he forgot to enter one simple question in that enormous list of questions his support is disabled.

Now he has no job and no support, except from that guy using his computer.

[TheCotMan]

Now is my question : Is it morally/ethicly right or wrong to use person A's programs against him and to stop him forever?

I'll avoid the use of moral and ethical for this part.
Is there justice in stopping the offender for ever?
Well, the only way I know to prevent a person from committing a crime/action for ever, is to kill that person.
Literally, a death penalty for this is overkill. (heh heh "overkill" ;-)

Back to topic, I do not think a decision to take action is yours to make. I think it would be wise to consider different solutions and the consequences for each solution as well as consequences for inaction and then present them to your friend. Your friend is the one that will more likely feel consequences from post-resolution fallout, and your friend should make this decision.

[enigma]

I am still confounded by the fact that your friend is stuck in this situation simply because the cracker is buying him food....he owns a computer, did he not have food before the cracker came?

[Floydr47]

I am still confounded by the fact that your friend is stuck in this situation simply because the cracker is buying him food....he owns a computer, did he not have food before the cracker came?

...also, if your friend is unable to work and has no means of support, there are many charitable organizations and government assistance programs that would help him until he could get back on his feet. He isn't necessarily at the mercy of this person who is using his computer, he could quite simply apply for assistance and give this other person the boot, unless there is more to the story than what has so far been told....

[Chris]

sniff sniff...

hmmm...something doesn't smell right here.

[converge]

sorry ... mexican food.

So let me see if I get this straight, the following parts are being played out in your little livejournalesque drama:

Person A: Dispshit
Person B: Sap
Person C (assuming you are not the dipshit or the sap): Tard
Brian Dennehy: Cameraman #2


So here is how the plot develops.. Person B goes home crying to his mother because he cannot support himself.. life is crushing him and he needs a breast to comfort his ailing exisitence, which mom and dad allow him to move back in and use their computer, solving his insecurity issues because AOL now offers a vast array of protection mechanisms. Person A makes off with the computer and eventually works their way into a gutter for being a disphit .. or.. at least I like to think that happens to people like that eventually. You on the other hand wait to post something that we should give a squat about.

Good story. I especially like the part of the plot where you (person C) stop posting.

[Red Squirrel]

Hack into his PC (I'm guessing it's full of trojans now) and clean it from there, basically delete all trojans/hacking backdoors but the one you are using to get through, then set up a startup script to delete the one you are using then reboot the PC remotely if the trojan has that feature. Or if you have physial access then do it that way.

[Botkiller]

I had my friend over last night and told him to kick that "dipshit", as you call him, out of the door and tell the landlord that there is someone that is abusing him. Also I told him to format his PC just to be on the save side (he'd done so 2 days ago but the dipshit person came by again).

He agreed to that and now I hope everything will turn out for the best.

Anyway thanks for your help and support on this matter, and sorry if I offended anyone here or annoyed anyone here with this thread.

[enigma]

I had my friend over last night and told him to kick that "dipshit", as you call him, out of the door and tell the landlord that there is someone that is abusing him. Also I told him to format his PC just to be on the save side (he'd done so 2 days ago but the dipshit person came by again).

He agreed to that and now I hope everything will turn out for the best.

Anyway thanks for your help and support on this matter, and sorry if I offended anyone here or annoyed anyone here with this thread.

formatting is a little overrated when it comes to government intervention ;)....just write zeros to the whole damn thing

[Floydr47]

Formatting and using a disk cleaner program are excellent ideas. However, that still leaves one small problem...you said that you felt a moral/ethical obligation to report the crimes committed by Person B to the proper authorities. Is covering up evidence of a crime either morally or ethically the responsible thing to do? Perhaps the "dipshit" had been using the computer to suck peoples credit cards dry, to wipe out bank accounts, for purposes of identity theft, or some other crime against others, (you did mention that he kept a record of keylogging activities), by simply wiping the HD and running a cleaner the damage to others has not been repaired, nor has the perpetrator of the crimes been dealt justice. The only thing that has been done is to destroy evidence of the crimes committed. I am told that is also against the law and is known as "tampering with evidence". Which is neither moral or ethical. It would seem to me that this is the real problem that you face.

[Deviant Ollam]

formatting is a little overrated when it comes to government intervention ;)....just write zeros to the whole damn thing

zeroing out a drive isn't nearly enough to prevent many 3rd parties from seeing what was on there before. read this thread for information regarding how to properly render the data on a drive non-recoverable. methods that physically damage the drive are mentioned, but other ones that leave the mechanics of the unit fully operable are also covered starting around the second page of that thread. (post in the mid-thirties are where the talk of data wiping with software starts to get discussed.)

[Siviak]

@siviak : By morals I mean the choice between good or bad.

hrm... intresting.... and where would one buy such a thing? I ask for umm... a friend... because he doesn't have any... oh wait.. maybe I am thinking of scruples, in which case can I pick up a combo pack?

[Floydr47]

hrm... intresting.... and where would one buy such a thing? I ask for umm... a friend... because he doesn't have any... oh wait.. maybe I am thinking of scruples, in which case can I pick up a combo pack?

I had scruples once...thank heavens I got to the doctor in time....

[NeoSNightmarE]

Wow. Interesting to see how everything went down seeing as I came into this late. I would have to say that the move that you made to erase everything was a tad hasty. But theres nothing that can really be done now. I think also that doing what is morally obligated is usually overrated when it comes to cyber affairs. It is also because of people like the cracker who keylogs everyone's computer that goes into the shop that I usually do my own work. Not the first time I've heard that.