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Re:Ask HN: Found a major vuln in competitor's software. What... by HarryHirsch on Sunday May 26, 2013 @04:34PM (#5772333)
Here are the options: a) keep silent, b) exploit it, c) tell them,

c) is the worst option; there are enough examples of people getting busted for "hacking", double so for hacking a competitor. b) is better. If done with caution you will not get busted, and you will get richer. a) is an acceptable altenative. You will not make money, but you won't get busted either.

It's sad, but we live in a time where honor and fair dealing is not recognized, and we must live with it.

Re:Ask HN: Found a major vuln in competitor's software. What... by tptacek on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @08:11AM (#5779443)
This is where we're at with HN now? Comments cheerleading people into committing felonies?
Re:Ask HN: Found a major vuln in competitor's software. What... by HarryHirsch on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @02:10PM (#5781594)
Your sarcastometer needs to be returned to the manufacturer for major overhaul. It has lost calibration. (Actually the last line in my comment should have given it away, it recalls a comment on Seneca the Younger by a French philosopher, can't remember the name. He called him "a man of honour in a time when such did not exist".)

The comment was supposed to make two point: first there is this prevalent opinion here that market forces will invariably guarantee an outcome that is beneficial to society. This would suggest option b) or c) for the OP, dependent on his skills and connections. I dislike both, and so do you.

Also, both of us know that people have gotten into trouble for disclosing vulnerabilities, even when they were disclosed only to the owner/manufacturer. This isn't acceptable, neither to the person who pointed this out, nor to society in general, because it leads to vulnerabilities left unfixed, and unfixed vulnerabilities have a knock-on effect on the wider world.

Re:Ask HN: Found a major vuln in competitor's software. What... by tptacek on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @05:33PM (#5782970)
After reading this comment and re-reading your first comment, I've come to the conclusion that we work from different definitions of the word "sarcastic".