[x_h0rr0r_x]

I do know that if this were my child, and police had given me nothing to go on after three months, not one lead, and the case had gone all but completely invisible....I'd be doing whatever I had to do.

I understand completely..I have kids also and I can't imagine what she must be going through..But as Geoff has stated ,what you are asking is ILLEGAL..She will get alot further by asking FB to open his account for her..Tell her to contact Facebooks office and explain to them the situation and tell them that law enforcement is currently searching for her child..They might want conformation from the Law but if this Request is legit I don't see why FB would not open his account..


Good Luck,

-x_h0rr0r_x

[unnamed]

I do know that if this were my child, and police had given me nothing to go on after three months, not one lead, and the case had gone all but completely invisible....I'd be doing whatever I had to do.

I understand completely..I have kids also and I can't imagine what she must be going through..But as Geoff has stated ,what you are asking is ILLEGAL..She will get alot further by asking FB to open his account for her..Tell her to contact Facebooks office and explain to them the situation and tell them that law enforcement is currently searching for her child..They might want conformation from the Law but if this Request is legit I don't see why FB would not open his account..


Good Luck,

-x_h0rr0r_x

Well said, we can't take illegal requests.

[Terri]

I don't think she has known to ask. Since he disappeared while out of town on a "field trip" with a group the police there didn't involve their home. A friend of the family has the computer and is trying to get what he can off of it I believe. Foul play was/is not suspected that I know of. It is unknown if he died in an accident, or was a runaway. He had no money, no car, no shoes, no shirt...where could a kid be for 3 months and no one saw him? But no body was recovered either. So what is she to think...
I don't know.

But when your kid disappears like that...and police are searching for a body...and you wait and wait then the search is called off. And requests are made for witnesses who might have seen him alive....and none come forward...and you wait for him to come home and he doesn't....and you wait for police to tell you anything and nothing comes....and then before you know it three months have passed. And every hour you look at his facebook and then the media becomes silent...you don't know what to do. Think about that. I will tell her to go to the providers herself and start demanding.

Thank you for your time. A moderator may delete my account if you like.

[Terri]

By the way, I was not intentionally asking for anything illegal. I didn't know that connecting someone with his mom and their doing it with her expressed permission would be illegal. I would not have sought out the "ethical" hacking community if that were the case.

(Slightly curious now what "legal hacking" and "ethical hacking" indeed is, but not enough to try to find out.)

Have a good day you guys.

[x_h0rr0r_x]

I didn't know that connecting someone with his mom and their doing it with her expressed permission would be illegal..
(Slightly curious now what "legal hacking" and "ethical hacking" indeed is, but not enough to try to find out.)
Have a good day you guys.

Connecting someone with their child is not illegal,But asking someone to break Internet laws to do it is...

Computer Hacking and Unauthorized Access Laws
Hacking is breaking into computer systems, frequently with intentions to alter or modify existing settings. Sometimes malicious in nature, these break-ins may cause damage or disruption to computer systems or networks. People with malevolent intent are often referred to as "crackers"--as in "cracking" into computers.

"Unauthorized access" entails approaching, trespassing within, communicating with, storing data in, retrieving data from, or otherwise intercepting and changing computer resources without consent. These laws relate to either or both, or any other actions that interfere with computers, systems, programs or networks.

Click For Internet Laws in The United States.

[The Real Slim Shady]

By the way, I was not intentionally asking for anything illegal. I didn't know that connecting someone with his mom and their doing it with her expressed permission would be illegal. I would not have sought out the "ethical" hacking community if that were the case.

(Slightly curious now what "legal hacking" and "ethical hacking" indeed is, but not enough to try to find out.)

Have a good day you guys.

You wouldnt ask a lock smith to break into a commercial building because her son's employer has an employee file on him would you? You might have the right to that information, but you dont have the right to access that building or the offices or the property within. Lock smith gets caught doing that he goes to jail.

Same thing on the internet. Just because there is data on a server somewhere that someone has a right to access, does not give that person the right to break in and steal it. The servers and infrastructure that data is contained on does not belong to the person making the request, it belongs to facebook. Thus if facebook were to detect a hack, involve the authorities, its the hacker that goes to jail. And like i said, in this scenario, if there is an active investigation, may incur other charges and penalties like evidence tampering and interfering with an investigation.

[Terri]

I understand internet law about hacking. (**And that word even seems so odd with what I was asking come to think of it). Apparently I just misinterpreted WHO has the right to GIVE AUTHORIZED CONSENT where a minor child is concerned when, ill, incapacitated, in danger, possibly deceased, etc.

**Forgive me for thinking like a parent. My 16 year old's friends seem to break the law on a regular basis I suppose. How many times I have seen "ha your girlfriend was here" as a status. And as a parent how if you think your child is smoking cigarettes...well you just search their room. I suppose it's easy for me because with apps all I have to do is take the iphone I pay for and look at which 35 year old guy has messaged my daughter inappropriately and report him to the provider. Actually as a rule there's a list in my lock box that should always have every account listed with the current password and passwords are not allowed to be changed without permission. Rather than "hacking" in the illegal sense of "tampering with a website", my mind was on the path of the parent being able to GIVE EXPRESSED CONSENT ...and something more along the lines of "how many times will it take someone who's good at this, to like the girlfriend who changes the boyfriend's status, to guess the password?" But I think you all have clearly reprimanded me.

Geoff, I do appreciate your communication skills and somewhat sense of sensitivity. I would even suggest perhaps that you volunteer to lead a future "sensitivity training forum". You would be my pick for that job.

I understand how frustrating it must be for you all to participate in a community who's entire basis is "we have the knowledge" but "we will never be allowed to use it". Perhaps you guys could use some of your skills to do legal activities to help missing kids...such as help parents who don't know how find their kid's PUBLIC activities to find them...like askFM, Twitter, youtube, instagram, etc. You have no idea how much it means to a mom to see that last uploaded youtube video of her kid doing the cinnamon challenge in his/her room that she never knew knew existed. Sometimes it's the last thing she will ever see. Be creative. Care...try.

Bye yall.

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"such as help parents who don't know how find their kid's PUBLIC activities to find them...like askFM, Twitter, youtube, instagram, etc. You have no idea how much it means to a mom"

The police don't do anything remotely like this by the way. In many places you are lucky to find an "investigator" who understands what facebook is...forget even trying to explain instagram.

[Terri]

Can someone please advise me as to how to delete my own personal account here?

[chmod]

What you don't seem to understand is that you have come here, to an ETHICAL forum full of intelligent talented people and asked them to perform an illegal activity, claiming it's for a good cause. Now don't get me wrong reuniting a parent with a lost child is a very good cause, but there are a few things that really concern me about this whole thread:

I am assisting a family who's son is missing. He is verifiable and in all the missing persons databases. News articles are available. I do not wish to reveal his name in a public forum.

You are searching for a missing person, details of the case can be found publicly, but you refuse to give details publicly. The information is already out there why ask for help and then deny access to the relevant information?

What his family would be looking for is someone of sound ethics and outstanding reputation who could hack facebook, email, etc.

The purpose would be to verify that there has not been account activity (sent messages for example) after his disappearance.

Corporations like facebook, google etc are required BY LAW to help the police with information regarding cases like these if you really was searching for a missing person the police would already have access to these accounts. The law is the law and it doesn't matter if you are from a small village or a huge city they are still required to act.

By the way, I was not intentionally asking for anything illegal. I didn't know that connecting someone with his mom and their doing it with her expressed permission would be illegal. I would not have sought out the "ethical" hacking community if that were the case.

(Slightly curious now what "legal hacking" and "ethical hacking" indeed is, but not enough to try to find out.)

yes this is illegal we wouldn't be attacking her sons accounts we would be attacking those companies directly they own the servers and the content within them not your missing person, if caught the one helping you would be in serious bother and face a long time in prison and I very much doubt you would be so eager to come to his/her aid.


All these things lead me to believe that you have absolutely no intention of helping a parent find her child and are trying to gain access to someone's accounts for your own personal gains. We have seen a lot of attempts like these and they are usually very quickly discovered, just remember we have experts in human manipulation residing in these forums we know the tricks of the trade.

[Terri]

You are absolutely incorrect. I came here to ask a question. I got the answer. I have been assisting this family as a volunteer. This was a part of gathering information.

I will be happy to send you the missing person information in a private message on request. We would be grateful if every person posts it to their facebook page, prints flyers and put them up in their community. I just don't think this is the place for it. Thank you for your understanding.

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Please send me a message, chmod. I will reply with the information. I am not familiar enough with your board to know how to message you.