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Comment by gnfargbl | Hacker News Reader

This is well-meant, but the author seems to be based in Italy, and this is illegal in Italy [1]. I know how tempting it is to retaliate against these people, but you have to stay on the right side of the law.

If you choose not to stay on the right side of the law, then at a minimum you really should avoid blogging about your crimes.

[1] https://iclg.com/practice-areas/cybersecurity-laws-and-regul...

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Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law.

I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org.

I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone.

I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

FWIW, I don't think you should worry too much.

I'm not at all familiar with the Italian justice system, but it's hard to imagine that anyone is going to investigate this case unless the injured party complains -- which they aren't going to do, because they were committing a crime themselves at the time.

Just let this post drop away, learn from it, move on. Don't let it spoil your day.

You did fine in the action (breaking the law isn't the end of the world), just a little naive over the consequences.

They're back online

https://uniquemost.online/home.php

I expect it will all blow over.

Being a vigilante is great, but there's a reason Batman has a secret identity

I don't think I did fine in the action, tbh. It was not my job to do such thing.

Many people do good things that are not their job, the worst thing that could come out of this is that you lose your drive and curiosity and start playing things safe.

Probably he doesn't have planning permission for the Bat Cave and wants to keep it hush-hush

have been poking about some of the form inputs have names like `_mc4wp_honeypot`

I've flagged the story to help it vanish faster. I encourage others do the same.

Do you have anyone that can mentor you on such matters? This whole thing has a vibe of self-taught about it. I recommend finding someone older and more experienced to talk to... if for no other reason, than to avoid making mistakes that can put you in legal jeopardy.

That being said, I don't think anyone here thinks you're a bad person for wanting to clap back at scammers. We just want to emphasize caution and working within the law.

If you feel lost or alone, the community here is full of hackers of all stripes (and spots, and scales, and ...). You'll find someone you can vibe with pretty easily.

I don't have any mentor at the moment. I'll avoid doing such things and exercise more caution while handling this kind of matter.

Thank you for flagging

I'm not advocating for you to use it or not use it, but I wanted to make you aware that archive.org do have a mechanism for accepting requests for removal: https://help.archive.org/help/how-do-i-request-to-remove-som...

You can learn these skills in "safe space" environments like TryHackMe.

Learning both offensive and defensive skills is useful for general security awareness when building software.

Wouldn’t it require the affected party to file a charge in Italy? That would make them also vulnerable to persecution.

But I guess none of us is qualified to answer such questions. Better safe than sorry.

I think he took the hint and removed the post.

The internet rarely forgets though

https://web.archive.org/web/20230907091046/https://www.elise...

Maybe he just looks like a php script in pictures.

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