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A comment on Teenager facing prison for downloading unsecured files from government website. Parent comment

Re:Teenager facing prison for downloading unsecured files fr... by rootlocus on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @08:12AM (#16857560)
> You can describe what a webserver does in anthropomorphic terms if you like, but it's not the webserver's "intentions" that are relevant. It's the intentions of the people who control the website and the intentions of the person who accesses it.

And how do you prove intent? This is a technical problem with technical protocols involved. Intent should be provided via the protocol. If the protocol says resources are public, unless otherwise stated, you can't rely on a human to answer, post factum, what resource is private.

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Re:Teenager facing prison for downloading unsecured files fr... by foldr on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @08:20AM (#16857604)
>And how do you prove intent?

I believe that’s something they teach you in law school. Lawyers have been working on that problem for a while! IANAL, but I don't think you are going to be able to find a concise answer to that question that goes beyond the immediately obvious.

>Intent should be provided via the protocol.

Sure, if you say so. That’s not how the law works, though.

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