CmdrTaco's Journal: You can't make this stuff up...

Slashdot has been around for over 5 and a half years. Yes, this scares me as much as it does you. In that time, I have posted thousands of stories on a diverse range of subjects. But few stories have caused me as much laughter as a story about 4 years back about Hotmail Getting Hacked. The story was pretty simple- a URL was circulating that you could use to read any user's email on Hotmail. I tested it with a friend's account to confirm that it worked, and then posted a short story about it. Since I'm not an ass, I didn't actually provide the URL.

Thus a legend was born.

Over the years, this story has been indexed by search engines throughout the web... so users searching for hacking hotmail and cracking hotmail find their way back to Slashdot, that story, and ultimately me.

And then they send The Email. They ask me for the URL. They don't realize that this story is 4 years old. And they don't realize that in that 4 years, Hotmail has fixed this hole. New holes have been found. And those have been fixed too. But that doesn't matter.

This happens every 2-3 weeks. I get the sad email begging me for the URL. The reason is almost always the same: This person suspects that their significant other is cheating on them, and they believe that if I could only provide them with the URL allowing them to read their boyfreidn/girlfriend/wife/husbands email, then they could either (A) Put their minds at ease or (B) Have the proof they need for a confrontation.

Here is the latest example:

From: NAME DELETED
Subj:
rob,
i read that you know the web site address to view peoples mail in hotmail. i really think my
boyfriend is cheating on me, he is extremely secretive, especially about his e-mail. please please
can you give me the address to put my mind at ease.

thanks
NAME REMOVED

I get these every few weeks. And it never fails to amuse me. These people think that I will help them break into a web site. To steal email from a person that they pretend to trust or to love. Essentially to help them destroy their relationship.

Usually I screw with them. I ask them if they would like some Crack Cocaine or some firearms with the serial numbers filed off. Usually this does not deter them. One guy continued to ask for the URL even after I offered to connect him with a reliable Hitman service to eliminate anyone. He just kept right on begging for this magical URL, believing that a total stranger would help him violate the privacy of a person he purported to care for. To help him break the law. And to general just be a rotten human being. I'm no saint, but com'on!

Anyway, you can't make this stuff up.