Posted on 10/30/2006 12:53:26 PM PST by bad company
Federal law enforcement shuttered on Friday the Northwest Airlines Boarding Pass Generator and raided the home of Christopher Soghoian, the Indiana University graduate student who created the site to underscore the security problems with such passes, Soghoian stated on his Web site.
The FBI first visited Soghoian's home on Friday and asked him to remove the site, but when he got online, he found the generator has already been taken down, the student said on his blog. The FBI returned early Saturday morning and raided Soghoian's home, taking computers and other equipment and leaving behind a search warrant. Soghoian had decided not to sleep at home that night.
"I came back today, to find the glass on the front door smashed," he said on his blog. "Inside, is a rather ransacked home, a search warrant taped to my kitchen table, a total absence of computers and various other important things."
Soghoian posted the boarding pass generator, which creates valid-looking boarding passes for Northwest Airlines, last Wednesday, garnering coverage by Wired News, Boing-Boing and ABC News, among others. U.S. Representative Edward Markey, D-Mass., called for Soghoian's arrest, but then backed off in a statement published on Monday.
Providing tools to generate fake boarding passes does appear to violate the law (see this Boing-Boing post).
Christopher Soghoian's stated intent with the "Boarding Pass Generator" website was to illustrate a well-documented airline security weakness that airlines and government failed to address -- not to commit fraud or help terrorists. IANAL, but people who are lawyers are no doubt examining the laws that may apply to his case, now that he has been visited by FBI agents bearing a search warrant, his computer and other belongings seized.
A number of legal areas may be at issue. Here's one. If I'm reading the current Homeland Security Code of Federal Regulations accurately, it would appear that even scrawling the words "boarding pass" on a cocktail napkin in lipstick and calling it a boarding pass could be cause for an unsolicited late-night visit, though intent is key. This section of federal law addresses the forging of airline tickets or boarding documents -- DHS Code Title 49, Volume 8; October 1, 2004 rev. [Page 302]:
TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER XII--TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
PART 1540_CIVIL AVIATION SECURITY: GENERAL RULES--Table of Contents
Subpart B_Responsibilities of Passengers and Other Individuals and Persons
Sec. 1540.103 Fraud and intentional falsification of records.
No person may make, or cause to be made, any of the following: (a) Any fraudulent or intentionally false statement in any application for any security program, access medium, or identification medium, or any amendment thereto, under this subchapter. (b) Any fraudulent or intentionally false entry in any record or report that is kept, made, or used to show compliance with this subchapter, or exercise any privileges under this subchapter. (c) Any reproduction or alteration, for fraudulent purpose, of any report, record, security program, access medium, or identification medium issued under this subchapter.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/28/fake_boarding_pass_g.html
Hmmmm...the penalties for embarrassing government officials remain, as always, higher than the penalties for committing actual crimes. ;)
An accurate and very astute observation.
Yes, why get an ordinary citizen involved in trying to improve security. Afterall, what would any ordinary person in this country know? For example, just look at the havoc that ensued when some lamo ordinary citizen pointed out that Dan Rather just happened to be using fake documents. But, afterall, if you're just an ordinary citizen, what could you possibly contribute.
BTW, months ago I tried to call, email, locate a Homeland Security office or official to report a suspicious person to and got NO WHERE. Look at the Homeland Security Website - there is NO WAY to even contact them!
Remember the Golden Rule? Treat others as you would want them to treat you.
Why is it necessary for police to ransack every place they search?
I do not think it is necessary and it shows a total lack of respect for the owners of the property they are searching.
Why are they showing a lack of respect for the property of others?
I believe it is because they are following the Golden Rule to a tee.
They do not want any one to show respect to them or the property they own.
Why else would they have no respect for the property of others?
Putting a major resource, online, for illegally boarding a commercial aircraft is one hell of a crime.
What was the man thinking. Is he just wanting to help terrorists?
Anything a grad student can do out of his house, al-Q can already do. He was demonstrating how trivial it is to create a fake boarding pass.
As Mr Jeeves observes in post #2, his real crime was embarrassing government officials
On the TV show, Dallas SWAT, they destroy as much of the house as possible. Then revel in their destruction.
Because the serfs are guilty unless they get off on a technicality (never actually innocent), and the guilty deserve to have their homes destroyed. And the thugs never get the wrong address, since the guilty is simply at fault living in the wrong home.
Get with the times. It's already illegal just to build a small bomb for your personal enjoyment (me likey big boom), and just creating potentially troublesome software can also be illegal.
The DMCA already made the simple production of DeCSS (allows you to back up your DVDs) against the law because it "is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work." Distribute such a tool for a profit and that's a federal criminal offense that could land you years in jail and a hefty fine.
And all you were doing was backing up your DVDs! Now imagine how pissed off the government is when you show how their billion dollar security system is easily bypassed using your software.
"Why is it necessary for police to ransack every place they search?"
one of the main reasons i gave up watching "Dallas SWAT". . . I got disgusted with the glee they exhibited when demolishing houses.
From what I read, he claimed that his fake boarding pass would NOT get you on a plane, but would get you inside the secure zone.
The airlines all have boarding pass readers that verify your pass, and these won't get by those. However, the people working the secure zone entry areas just glance at your pass and draw a squiggle on it with a marker and then let you through. These wiil get you past those people.
-PJ
Can't you use the same argument for almost any action that a person can do with a software program?
It is, not what might be done but what was done, somewhat like giving away a list of credit card numbers. The person doing so may not benefit from the action but he centainly set the resulting outcome in motion.
If nothing else he facilitated theft from an airline.
Then you better get with a lot of vulnerability rememdiation vendors because they have tools that can OWN a box in seconds available.
"...small minded people...." Can you define that phrase? It seems so near to the liberals, narrow minded, mantra.
"...small minded people...." Can you define that phrase?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.