Brilliant.

lots of valuable warnings here... good stuff.

I find this whole hacker thing RACIST!

*quality. Upon learning computer security more and more, the average person really is helpless. Hacking is one of the supreme examples that shows how powerful knowledge really can be. The most interesting point I see in this is while Zoz (yes I thought I recognized him from prototype this and why they canceled the show really baffles me) is dealing with an idiot, he still had the obstacles of bypassing his own security measures. True he knows his own system, but there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome along the way.

It just goes to show how much power is in the realm of computers.

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by kasinator.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Defcon 18, computer, thief, hacker' to 'Defcon 18, computer, thief, hacker, mel guzman, melvin guzman' - edited by blankfist

I would DOWNVOTE this if I could. This 'Mel' was probably not the thief (first booted up 2 years later, in Las Vegas?). He probably just bought it off Craigslist and could not know for sure it was stolen.

So what does Zoz do? Instead of just contacting the police to retrieve his property, he publicly humiliates this guy AND the women he is in contact with. Women who are completely innocent of anything related to this theft.

Posting nude photos of these people and publishing their personal information is immature and petulant. Sorry, but this guy is a douchebag.

You forgot an apostrophe in the title.

So what happened to the thief? Was he arrested?

I think that it's not a "hacker thing" it's an Aussie thing. My experience is that, in general, they are just less sensitive to the whole idea of racism. It not that they are racist, they just culturally don't pay much attention to it while talking. Obviously... I'm generalizing so don't get pissed at me Aussie-sifters.

>> ^Yogi:

I find this whole hacker thing RACIST!

>> ^ant:

You forgot an apostrophe in the title.
So what happened to the thief? Was he arrested?


Fixed.

>> ^geo321:

Fixed.
<div><div style="margin: 10px; overflow: auto; width: 80%; float: left; position: relative;" class="convoPiece"> ant said:<img style="margin: 4px 10px 10px; float: left; width: 40px;" src="http://static1.videosift.com/avatars/a/ant-s.jpg" onerror="ph(this)"><div style="position: absolute; margin-left: 52px; padding-top: 1px; font-size: 10px;" class="commentarrow">◄</div><div style="padding: 8px; margin-left: 60px; margin-top: 2px; min-height: 30px;" class="nestedComment box">You forgot an apostrophe in the title.
So what happened to the thief? Was he arrested?
</div></div></div>

Thank you.

>> ^vaporlock:

I think that it's not a "hacker thing" it's an Aussie thing. My experience is that, in general, they are just less sensitive to the whole idea of racism. It not that they are racist, they just culturally don't pay much attention to it while talking. Obviously... I'm generalizing so don't get pissed at me Aussie-sifters.
>> ^Yogi:
I find this whole hacker thing RACIST!



I am an Aussie and I agree with you. We have some rampant racism against our indigenous population but in general we don't care that much about political correctness. Having watched this I didn't see anything that would be offensive in an Australian context, racially speaking.

Also, I doubt that Mel was the original thief as stated above.

What makes you think if he bought it, he didn't know it was not stolen? The computer was not in the seller's name, the passwords are all unknown to him, data is still all there. What seller would leave all their data on their drives? He obviously was the thief or knew it was stolen. So either way, hes guilty of something.


>> ^TreacleMine:

I would DOWNVOTE this if I could. This 'Mel' was probably not the thief (first booted up 2 years later, in Las Vegas?). He probably just bought it off Craigslist and could not know for sure it was stolen.
So what does Zoz do? Instead of just contacting the police to retrieve his property, he publicly humiliates this guy AND the women he is in contact with. Women who are completely innocent of anything related to this theft.
Posting nude photos of these people and publishing their personal information is immature and petulant. Sorry, but this guy is a douchebag.

It's called "Presumption of innocence".

He probably got it from someone who stole it and sold it to him. But until that is proven, it's not right to do this.

If the police had charged this man and he was proven guilty, then I wouldn't have problem but the speaker never made that clear, so I think it's bit petty on the his part.

>> ^rellik:

What makes you think if he bought it, he didn't know it was not stolen? The computer was not in the seller's name, the passwords are all unknown to him, data is still all there. What seller would leave all their data on their drives? He obviously was the thief or knew it was stolen. So either way, hes guilty of something.

This guy's accent confuses me. Sometimes he sounds like he's from the Northeast and sometimes he sounds Australian.

EDIT: Nevermind. Got to the part where he said something about his parents from Australia.

Legally, we have to initially assume Mel didn't know he was in possession of stolen goods. But Defcon 18 isn't a court of law, and there's no reasonable way Mel could have been unaware it was hot, so in my book, that's fair game.

As for the women in the photos, on the other hand, there's no reason to humiliate them by not obscuring their faces.>> ^ipfreely:

It's called "Presumption of innocence".
He probably got it from someone who stole it and sold it to him. But until that is proven, it's not right to do this.
If the police had charged this man and he was proven guilty, then I wouldn't have problem but the speaker never made that clear, so I think it's bit petty on the his part.
>> ^rellik:
What makes you think if he bought it, he didn't know it was not stolen? The computer was not in the seller's name, the passwords are all unknown to him, data is still all there. What seller would leave all their data on their drives? He obviously was the thief or knew it was stolen. So either way, hes guilty of something.

Yeah, as much as I love that the guy was able to recover his computer. Having him humiliate him and the women left a sour taste in my mouth. It just smacked way too much of "ha ha, let's make fun of stupid people!" which was unnecessary

"smart people" are supposed to be better than that.

^Smart people got beat-up by stupid people in school so now its revenge time.

I find it highly unlikely the Mel guy was the original thief. He should have suspected the computer was stolen that doesn't necessarily mean he did. If he bought ti from the thief, or some shady computer reseller it was pawned off on, he may have been given some story about it being some cousin's computer or friend's or whatever the person couldn't get ahold of to get the passwords. That's normally the story I've heard when someone is trying to pass of obvious stolen goods. So pretty much questionable morality humiliating the guy and the women, but then it IS a hacker's convention and there's a lot of questionable morality going around.

If someone stole the computer it would have been to sell on. That's why they steal. A thief that holds onto the property they stole probably wouldn't last two years on the streets without being picked up by the cops. Maybe he did spend the two years behind bars for other offences, but had the computer stashed safely, but that's less likely.

The guy that bought it may well have realised this PC has someone else's data on it, but sadly that happens all too often when legitimate PC's are sold second hand...

I wonder if I should set up a guest account on my PC with no password that is set to phone home, just in case...

Mel Guzman could have purchased it from a pawn shop, flea market or by any other legitimate means, for all we know. Yet some of you here and on youtube are passing judgement on this person. And I "love" how the speaker makes a snarky remark about having an unemployment form.

How many of you have not had to fill out an unemployment form?

Maybe this person couldn't afford the latest machine because he's, I don't know... unemployed? Maybe he didn't know how to reformat the drives on this machine? Since all the anecdotal information tells us is that Mel got the computer recently and just turned it on.

And before you people jump on my ass... lets read upon the law of Possession of Stolen Goods.

If the individual didn't know the goods were stolen, then the goods are returned to the owner and the individual is not prosecuted. Innocent possession is not a crime.. If Mel was the original thief, why would he still have the computer? Wouldn't a thief sell it quickly as possible to make money... Not hold on to it for 2 years then use it himself?

So it's okay to virtually lynch Mel Guzman... Vigilante Justice in a form of a Hacker Hipster is acceptable in Videosift world?

Videosift is liberal minded, yet there are 98 of you who just assume Mel Guzman stole this computer. You fuckers don't believe in due process before passing judgment?

And yes, it is true it's not the court of law. Yet this video has been viewed by over half of million people... What if one of these people were someone who wanted to hire Mel Guzman. Now because of some smug smart-ass douche bag, Mel Guzman will continued to be unemployed.

You know what would be true justice... If the authorities finds mp3's downloaded from Limewire and RIAA sue the speaker, because we all know Mel does not have the password to install any applications on this machine.

You bunch of phony liberal fuckers. I consider myself a center-right, yet even I know this is wrong.

Merry Fucking Christmas and Happy New Years Assholes.

>> ^ipfreely:

Mel Guzman could have purchased it from a pawn shop, flea market or by any other legitimate means, for all we know. Yet some of you here and on youtube are passing judgement on this person. And I "love" how the speaker makes a snarky remark about having an unemployment form.
How many of you have not had to fill out an unemployment form?
Maybe this person couldn't afford the latest machine because he's, I don't know... unemployed? Maybe he didn't know how to reformat the drives on this machine? Since all the anecdotal information tells us is that Mel got the computer recently and just turned it on.
And before you people jump on my ass... lets read upon the law of Possession of Stolen Goods.
If the individual didn't know the goods were stolen, then the goods are returned to the owner and the individual is not prosecuted. Innocent possession is not a crime.. If Mel was the original thief, why would he still have the computer? Wouldn't a thief sell it quickly as possible to make money... Not hold on to it for 2 years then use it himself?
So it's okay to virtually lynch Mel Guzman... Vigilante Justice in a form of a Hacker Hipster is acceptable in Videosift world?
Videosift is liberal minded, yet there are 98 of you who just assume Mel Guzman stole this computer. You fuckers don't believe in due process before passing judgment?
And yes, it is true it's not the court of law. Yet this video has been viewed by over half of million people... What if one of these people were someone who wanted to hire Mel Guzman. Now because of some smug smart-ass douche bag, Mel Guzman will continued to be unemployed.
You know what would be true justice... If the authorities finds mp3's downloaded from Limewire and RIAA sue the speaker, because we all know Mel does not have the password to install any applications on this machine.
You bunch of phony liberal fuckers. I consider myself a center-right, yet even I know this is wrong.
Merry Fucking Christmas and Happy New Years Assholes.


I'm not sure anyone would hire someone who can't spell their own name.

But basically you're right unless Mel had already been proven to be the thief. And I imagine that would be hard to do once he denied it.

As has already been said this is the sort of conference where anything goes - but I'm surprised the organisers did not seek to anonymise much of the material.

>> ^ipfreely:

Mel Guzman could have purchased it from a pawn shop, flea market or by any other legitimate means, for all we know. Yet some of you here and on youtube are passing judgement on this person. And I "love" how the speaker makes a snarky remark about having an unemployment form.
How many of you have not had to fill out an unemployment form?
Maybe this person couldn't afford the latest machine because he's, I don't know... unemployed? Maybe he didn't know how to reformat the drives on this machine? Since all the anecdotal information tells us is that Mel got the computer recently and just turned it on.
And before you people jump on my ass... lets read upon the law of Possession of Stolen Goods.
If the individual didn't know the goods were stolen, then the goods are returned to the owner and the individual is not prosecuted. Innocent possession is not a crime.. If Mel was the original thief, why would he still have the computer? Wouldn't a thief sell it quickly as possible to make money... Not hold on to it for 2 years then use it himself?
So it's okay to virtually lynch Mel Guzman... Vigilante Justice in a form of a Hacker Hipster is acceptable in Videosift world?
Videosift is liberal minded, yet there are 98 of you who just assume Mel Guzman stole this computer. You fuckers don't believe in due process before passing judgment?
And yes, it is true it's not the court of law. Yet this video has been viewed by over half of million people... What if one of these people were someone who wanted to hire Mel Guzman. Now because of some smug smart-ass douche bag, Mel Guzman will continued to be unemployed.
You know what would be true justice... If the authorities finds mp3's downloaded from Limewire and RIAA sue the speaker, because we all know Mel does not have the password to install any applications on this machine.
You bunch of phony liberal fuckers. I consider myself a center-right, yet even I know this is wrong.
Merry Fucking Christmas and Happy New Years Assholes.