Man sues Microsoft, claims IE failed to hide browsing habits from FBI

Iria · Mar 4, 2007, 10:50 PM

Source: Ars Technica
__________
What do you do when the FBI raids your home and finds porn all over your PC? One man, who had his home computer seized by the bureau, has decided that his best course of action is to sue the companies that failed to keep that data private for him.

This week, Michael Alan Crooker filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts Supreme Court alleging that Microsoft falsely claimed that its products would keep his information secure. In 2004, Crooker had his home raided by agents based on reports that he owned bomb-making materials. Agents eventually discovered "laboratory devices, apparent IEDs, fermenting castor beans, chemicals and chemical equipment appropriate for the processing of castor beans into ricin, and what appeared to be ricin and ricin precursors in various stages of development, indicating that Crooker was successfully manufacturing ricin." Unsurprisingly, the FBI confiscated his home PC as part of the process.

Thanks to Calidan for the head's up.

SFOSOK · Mar 5, 2007, 03:54 AM

Use Opera if ur gunna do something illegal.

+ IE is not a cure for being a dumbass

EcPercy · Mar 5, 2007, 06:36 AM

I do remember a program called evidence eliminator that pretty much claims that nothing ever gets deleted from a windows system. Their claims were that pretty much everything got stored in secret files made to help people gather evidence against you in cases just like this.

~~DudeBoyz~~ · Mar 5, 2007, 07:03 AM

Oh man. Why am I wasting my time living a scrupulous life?

I should be like this guy - be a dumbarse and then sue someone else for damages because I am indeed a total dumbarse and it can't possibly be my fault!

I need to go spill some McDonalds coffee on my lap so I can make a few hundred grand via a nuisance lawsuit...

Good guys finish poor.

GutterPunk · Mar 5, 2007, 07:32 AM

Why not use an anonymouse proxy. By now I would think that their secrets aren't too safe. This all going back to the mp3 downloading people getting busted. Idiocy... just idiocy he has no one to blame except himself. If he didn't want to get caught... he shouldn't have been doing something illegal. Hang him for being a bag of douche.

Mar 4, 2007, 10:50 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 74	Man sues Microsoft, claims IE failed to hide browsing habits from FBI Source: Ars Technica __________ What do you do when the FBI raids your home and finds porn all over your PC? One man, who had his home computer seized by the bureau, has decided that his best course of action is to sue the companies that failed to keep that data private for him. This week, Michael Alan Crooker filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts Supreme Court alleging that Microsoft falsely claimed that its products would keep his information secure. In 2004, Crooker had his home raided by agents based on reports that he owned bomb-making materials. Agents eventually discovered "laboratory devices, apparent IEDs, fermenting castor beans, chemicals and chemical equipment appropriate for the processing of castor beans into ricin, and what appeared to be ricin and ricin precursors in various stages of development, indicating that Crooker was successfully manufacturing ricin." Unsurprisingly, the FBI confiscated his home PC as part of the process. Thanks to Calidan for the head's up.

Mar 5, 2007, 03:54 AM	#2
SFOSOK -Thread Ender- Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Riverside, CA (right next to the f*ckin train) Posts: 6,873 Rep Power: 48 System Specs	Use Opera if ur gunna do something illegal. + IE is not a cure for being a dumbass __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Mar 5, 2007, 07:32 AM	#5
GutterPunk I = Greatest Dood Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nebraska Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 54	Why not use an anonymouse proxy. By now I would think that their secrets aren't too safe. This all going back to the mp3 downloading people getting busted. Idiocy... just idiocy he has no one to blame except himself. If he didn't want to get caught... he shouldn't have been doing something illegal. Hang him for being a bag of douche. __________________ Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig! --------------- Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~ Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

Mar 5, 2007, 06:36 AM	#3
EcPercy DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Iraq Posts: 1,529 Rep Power: 49	I do remember a program called evidence eliminator that pretty much claims that nothing ever gets deleted from a windows system. Their claims were that pretty much everything got stored in secret files made to help people gather evidence against you in cases just like this.

Mar 5, 2007, 07:03 AM	#4
~~DudeBoyz~~ banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,678 Rep Power: 0	Oh man. Why am I wasting my time living a scrupulous life? I should be like this guy - be a dumbarse and then sue someone else for damages because I am indeed a total dumbarse and it can't possibly be my fault! I need to go spill some McDonalds coffee on my lap so I can make a few hundred grand via a nuisance lawsuit... Good guys finish poor.