Crooked Technician Hacked Laptops To Become Peeping Tom

[Zersy]

I respect the guy for being so smart though his motive makes that respect go away a little.
I have no respect for the women because that's just retarded to believe such an error message.
I have no respect for the company he worked for being so selfish and clearing any data linking him to them trying to cover their asses, (The movie Buried comes to mind).

 

[Baneat]

Harwell, however, knew that he needed to do something more to get these women to walk in front of the camera without any clothes on. So he created fake error messages that said there was a problem with an internal sensor and the only way to solve this was to put the computer "near hot steam for several minutes." Supposedly the steam would clean the sensor.

You'd think that anyone with common sense would've had some kind of warning go off in their head when this message appeared ("Steam is good for a computer? Seriously?"), but several women apparently took their laptops into the bathroom with them when they took a shower. Harwell managed to accumulate thousands of pictures of his victims.

I honestly can't believe that worked. Even once would have been a miracle but several times? How dim can people be? I truly do feel sorry for them.

You MUST remember these are the kinds of people willing to pay £50 to have RAM installed into their machine.

They don't want to know how they work. They don't care, at all. This does not make them in any way to blame for being exploited. That's the rapist's excuse-logic.

 

[klasbo]

Not sure if anyone's said this yet, but this incident sounds like it would make for a good porno...

In 240p, and with crappy sound.
And with that steam fogging up the camera...
You'll have to fill in the blanks in your imagination.

Wait, couldn't this perv have done this to begin with? Actually, never mind.
Of course not. What should he fill in the blanks with?

 

[Allspice]

I'm glad they caught him. Pervert.

Though I do wonder how it continued as long as it did. These people took their computers in to be fixed to begin with, so why didn't they do so again after they started getting error messages? I know if I took my computer in to be fixed and it come back spouting errors at me, I'd take it back and ask them what the hell happened to it while it was there.

 

[Raskolnikov34]

This is why the lens of my laptop's webcam have been broken with a knife...

 

[Raskolnikov34]

I respect the guy for being so smart though his motive makes that respect go away a little.
I have no respect for the women because that's just retarded to believe such an error message.
I have no respect for the company he worked for being so selfish and clearing any data linking him to them trying to cover their asses, (The movie Buried comes to mind).

i don't really think it was the women's fault...sure they were being a bit ignorant about computers, but not everybody is knowledgeable about them.

Ignorant about computers does not equal idiotic.

don't excuse the criminal either, cleverly doing something does not justify it. He could of used his intelligence for good purposes.

 

[Sikachu]

That said, it sounds like Harwell's going to be headed to prison soon, which couldn't happen to a more-deserving guy.

Certainly murderers and rapists aren't as deserving. You're supposed to be a journalist, have some god damned integrity and stop sensationalising everything. I expect this sort of hysterical over-reaction from forum members in the comments (and was not disappointed:

The guy should be locked up for life.

) but to get it from the 'journalist' himself is very disappointing.

For my part I'm only surprised by how incredibly ignorant his victims were. But then everyone has things they use in their day to day lives that they have no real idea of how they work, so jumping into being judgemental might be somewhat arrogant. Still 'steam' LOL.

 

[Quantum Star]

So he created fake error messages that said there was a problem with an internal sensor and the only way to solve this was to put the computer "near hot steam for several minutes." Supposedly the steam would clean the sensor.

Wow.....just wow. Obviously there's no excusing what this man did, but that's pretty stupid of his victim's to fall for that. <url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RefugeInAudacity>Refuge in Audacity anyone?

You fool! Don't link us there, we'll never get out!

 

[brainslurper]

On my computer, and all macs for that matter, a little green light goes on when the webcam is in use. So I would know if someone was using it, and thats considering they get past os x's rock solid permission system, or even run the software to try to get past the permission system without me noticing an icon in the dock. Which I would have had to run. Whatever, just another reason to buy a mac. Partly what amazes me is this guys steam idea, which is genuinely creative, and other people thinking steam would be able to fix the computer. Windows wouldn't be able to diagnose the problem and give you such an odd solution, which makes me wonder how anyone would ever fall for this.

 

[brainslurper]

Still 'steam' LOL.

how else do you get all those games with such a great achievement system and community without it? Do you expect me to use direct2drive or something?

 

[justnotcricket]

Eugh. I don't think there's much else to say, really. =S

Except perhaps that before people call these women 'stupid', with the attendant subtext of 'Women, eh? So tech-clueless' - just remember that there are probably an equal number of men who would have fallen victim to the same scam - they just weren't this pervert's target.

Also of course remembering that these women in no way 'deserved' what happened to them - but I think that has already been covered by a number of the better posts on this thread. =)

 

[kordo]

If you're dumb enough to take a laptop into the bathroom with you just because the lappy told you to then you deserve to be cammed. Hats off to that man - can't believe that actually worked lawls.

 

[erztez]

On my computer, and all macs for that matter, a little green light goes on when the webcam is in use. So I would know if someone was using it, and thats considering they get past os x's rock solid permission system, or even run the software to try to get past the permission system without me noticing an icon in the dock. Which I would have had to run. Whatever, just another reason to buy a mac. Partly what amazes me is this guys steam idea, which is genuinely creative, and other people thinking steam would be able to fix the computer. Windows wouldn't be able to diagnose the problem and give you such an odd solution, which makes me wonder how anyone would ever fall for this.

Ah. A Mac fanboy, it's been a while.

No.

That is all.


Anti-low-content-stuff: Mac's are no more and no less immune to tampering than Windows boxes.

 

[Reaper195]

Proof that people should learn some basics about computers instead of saying "I don't care, I just want it to work when I tell it to."

 

[Erana]

And this is why my built-in webcams are covered at all times.

Well, not for stupid scams, but for creepers making my computer peep at me.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

First of all.. anyone whom actually believed that crap is an idiot in my book (not deserving of what happened, mind you, but still "steam is water in gas form, water is bad for computers in general.. simple logic".

Second of all, why is this even news? The guy was a pervert and exploited a few computer-wise idiots into a situation he could exploit for his own gains, and he deserves nothing less than prison. I've read several similar cases every waking day. No need to post sensationalized criminal stories on the Escapist, stick to electronics, anti/pro-video game advocacy and press/company game release videos, eh?

 

[Jenx]

I'm sorry but why ELSE would you hack someone's laptop?

 

[Siyano_v1legacy]

I can understand some people trusting a message pop out on their computer
but the question I can't answer is How the hell it all ended to choose the wierdest possible solution
A) Bring it in your bathroom
B) Place it so that the screen face your shower
C) Exactly shower at the same time

I mean with all the other possibility and easier one. how much really did that? how is 1000 picture even possible?

I mean you could always
A) use a water boiler and put your laptop above it
B) Even if you bringed it to the bathroom, open the shower without you being in it
C) The laptop being not placed or opened at all, closed lid, closed computer etc...

with all that I can't understand how he may even took more than 2 person ankle's picture or some random lucky shot of their middle part if the computer was place waist high.

All that trouble just to get the little softcore picture? I could get more aroused by looking at the victoria's secret catalogue