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by kesselvon 1656 days ago
Flooding your public website form isn't a crime in the same way prank calling a customer service line isn't a crime.
2 comments

Actually it is a crime (even though prank calling isn't a crime) because of the CFAA.
Pretty much anything done on a computer could be a crime because of the CFAA. It is extremely broad.
A recent case at the Supreme Court has limited this, and it seems applicable here, on the face of it.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/supreme-court-overturn...

> the Court adopted a “gates-up-or-down” approach: either you are entitled to access the information or you are not.

To me, it sounds like you are entitled to submit a job application or you are not. I don't see how a charge under the CFAA for submitting an application would stick, when they are inviting the public to submit applications.

Submitting a single application would probably be OK, but the coordinated flood might not be
Nonsense. Using a public form, which is clearly intended to be a public form, is not using a computer without authorization or in excess of authorization.

You can't make someone using your computer a crime just by retroactively deciding that you don't like they way someone used it.

To be clear, are you saying you believe DDoS attacks are legal?
Not OP, but I believe they should be legal in the case of a protest/strike lead by union members.
The constant underhanded tactics are the exact reason joining a union is immoral.
> The constant underhanded tactics

They are also the reason many corporations are immoral.

Or: most unions are legitimately just trying to improve the situation for their workers, and many business owners have a conscience and weigh more than profits in their business decisions. It’s mostly the mega-wealthy who have become disconnected from normal humans and give us these Snidely Whiplash characterizations that ultimately paint both sides with a bad brush.

Enterprise businesses are a majority of the workforce and drive trends that are followed by small businesses.
IMO a union's primary purpose is to provide counterbalance against disparity in a greater game of power.
Reminder that this attack comes from users on reddit's r/antiwork sub, not union workers.
A DDoS is a pandemic friendly remote way to join a union lead strike.
What are they doing? I was under impression that american unions are kinda toothless.

Is it worse than what kelloggs is doing, spending money to replace striking workers rather than giving them a raise?

Fighting fire with fire. By the actor in the weaker position.

Maybe it's the Scots Borderer in me, but it warms my heart.

Employer underhanded tactics are so common it's an SOP.
Legal lawbreaking is such a stupid concept. Have people forgotten that civil disobedience is purposely breaking the law for good reason? God it's like an entire generation forgot how to be rebels when they grew up -- "Oh I'm sorry could you pretty please let me protest you."
Isn't part of civil disobedience that you understand there will be negative legal consequences for your actions, but you do them anyway? What I see a bunch of today is people saying "yeah I broke the law but I should be immune from the consequences because blah blah blah".
Filling in a form a few times is not a DDoS attack, even if it's automated.
Intent matters, and the intent is clearly to deny services.
That and denial of service doesn't even need to be something that "clogs up" technical systems. Just making it impossible for the HR people to work by overwhelming them is still a DOS attack.
This isn't the case, though, the intent is to disrupt their ability to hire non-union workers by submitting bad data, not by taking down their ability to ingest data in general.
Isn’t ability to hire people a “service” in this context?