Japanese police target users of Tor anonymous network

[alp227]

Source: BBC

Japanese people who "abuse" the Tor anonymous browsing network could be blocked from using it.

The recommendation was made in a report drawn up for the National Police Agency (NPA) in Japan by a panel of technology experts.

The panel was formed to help decide how to tackle crimes committed with the aid of the Tor network.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22248692

[Poll_Blind]

1. Holy crap, check out this bit (from that article):

Japanese police began investigating the hacker after he started threatening to bomb schools and nurseries via messages posted to chat forums and discussion boards. A reward of 3m yen (£20,000) was offered for information leading to the hacker's identification.

Police arrested four people for posting the threats but realised the hacker had compromised the computers of these innocent victims and was abusing their machines remotely via Tor.

Malicious program

The hacker continued to taunt police in emails that sent investigators all over the country looking for him. In a bizarre twist the hacker directed investigators to Enoshima, an island off Tokyo, and gave them information that led them to a cat wearing a collar on which was a memory card.

The card held details of the code and malicious program he used to gain remote control of victim's computers. Inadvertently, directing police to the cat helped them catch the suspected hacker, Yusuke Katayama, 30, who was seen on CCTV footage with the cat.

What. The. Fuuuuuck?

PB

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Just for clarification

Enoshima is an island, but it isn't "off Tokyo"-- it's kind of like a Japanese Mont St. Michael that's in Sagami Bay, not Tokyo Bay, on the other side of Yokohama.

[greiner3]

2. Soooo;

Someone who abuses guns in this country will be blocked from using them?


Yeah right!

[denbot]

3. So.. Ah...Umm..

Huh?

[Socal31]

4. That was his stretch before his exercise.

[Phillip McCleod]

5. i have used tor but not everyone uses it for benign purposes..

looks like the security vs. liberty debate finally found the darknet. every once in a while you hear tv shows mention the 'onion network' or something like it, but mostly people aren't aware of the alternatives to the internet that exist.. and that are in the works.

policing these userspaces has been somewhat voluntary so far. anonymous busted a child porn ring using the darknet awhile back, but the potential for abuse is obviously rampant.

what *is* a *reasonable* expectation of privacy?

(btw the only time i use tor is to get around the nytimes paywall. sorry, but it's true.)