CastleCops® - What do you think we are?

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Q&A: What do you think we are?

So I've seen CastleCops called lots of things through-out the years, including one that is old yet new: vigilante. Are sites like CastleCops and other antiscammers seen as communities that take action into their own hands?

I certainly can tell you that we don't go on the attack. We work with the proper authorities in taking down scam sites legally. Does that make us vigilantes? Not in my opinion.

So what do you think CastleCops is?

Posted on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 02:32:42 UTC by Paul (1876 reads)
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Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by Turbine (dilbert4hire@msn.com) on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 02:46:12 UTC
(User Info | Send a Message) http://www.ss-hof.com

IMHO, Castle Cops is a group of good people trying to restore order from the chaos caused by evil people creating evil programs with evil intentions. If that qualifies for vigilante status, sign me up.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by misdeal on Sunday, 14 October 2007 @ 00:39:29 UTC
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I'm not up on the newer buzz words but wasn't there a term for concerned citizens acting for the public good--posse comitatus(I'm a horrible Latin speller, but it's been 50 years since I had the course). That might describe a facet of what Castle Cops does....

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Re: What do you think we are - vigilantes? (Score: 1)
by Thane_Eichenauer on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 05:25:33 UTC
(User Info | Send a Message) http://digg.com/users/teichenauer/

Far from it. To even claim that CastleCops are vigilates you would first have to be someone who is either willfully ignorant and chooses to claim victimhood (and so get favorable media coverage from a journalist who either doesn't know better or is just too lazy to research the issue) rather than correct issues that need to be fixed - or far more likely you are a spam/phish businessperson (to use a neutral term instead of plain ole criminal) or a business or a shill for a business who is a happy customer of a spammer or phisher and doesn't want to have their best advertising vendor put out of business.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by Ikeb on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 05:53:19 UTC
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In everyday life we don't usually need to take the law into our own hands. But even in civilized countries citizens can do so. For example in the United States, it's quite legal to defend one's own home even to the point of inflicting lethal force. Such force is allowed when there is no other recourse.

Applying the same concept to the Internet, it is commonly viewed that malware criminals, the phish con artists, the spam merchants, etc. are becoming even more prevalent than in the past and prospering even more from their illegal activities. I believe many folks have become frustrated with the lack of action on the part of authorities so feel justified in taking matters into their own hands. They believe there is no other recourse.

So what is CastleCops then? Certainly CastleCops is an oasis for travellers traversing the ever expanding desert we know as the Internet. Some just come to seek solace here. Many come to CastleCops to repair any damage done and venture back out into the wild hopefully having gained some wisdom from the experts who frequent CastleCops. Then there are the folks who volunteer their time to help others cope with the wild wild web. In fact they form the oasis known as CastleCops.

But some who frequent CastleCops want to do more than just grin and bear it. Some are satisfied with being able to report illegal and immoral activities. Others are willing to take more activist measures such as filling spam orders with garbage data. And a few are quite willing to entertain DoS attacks in retaliation.

Certainly the latter approach can be considered a vigilante activity, especially when coordinated with like-minded individuals. But should bothering spam merchants with fake orders be considered the be a vigilante activity? In my opinion, protesting illegal activities by activist actions, even to the point of depriving commercial gain, serves a democratic purpose.

Where the line is drawn is not a black and white issue. Certainly CastleCops is firmly against any form of DoS retaliation but hasn't discouraged activist activities. One aspect that might be considered is warning those considering activist actions about the potential risks and the need for extra protection from retaliation by the criminals.

Research and take down of illegal sites via the P/M/S/IRT services is a specific activist action that CastleCops is encouraging and facilitating. In fact by spearheading this public service, CastleCops has become widely recognized by law enforcement officials as highly credible and thus a solid source of forensic evidence. Vetting and training *IRT Handlers is a demanding task though; it's a lot of work and the Handler retention rate is low. And the retention rate is low because it's time-consuming to research even a single takedown. In fact the site owner is now devoting most of his time further developing the IRT service and personally taking down illegal sites.

In some respects the CastleCops forums are suffering because of the decreased attention in favour of IRT development. IMO, the single biggest challenge for CastleCops is scaling the current *IRT operations while retaining the familiar CastleCops forums oasis so many have come to rely on ... and which many of us now call home.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by esacnitsuj (spam_is_horrible@nospam.ca) on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 11:52:02 UTC
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Hi,

All I can say is I totally agree with all 3 posts so far. I've been a member since 2003 and have never seen CC as vigilantes???

No CC does NOT take the law into thier own hands. That I am certain of. I've seen a lot of flame wars, trolls, spammers, etc. in the forums section, but AFAIK, CC has GR8 staff, moderators, etc, and most have been here from the beginning as well.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by newangels on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 14:10:16 UTC
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I agree with everyone.

I for one am so glad I found this site, Your Motto, Report Evidence , Don't Delete it says it all for me.

Why should the internet be left lawless and governed by criminals if 10 mins of my day is spent report all these phishing attacks at my email address and they get caught and eventually shut down then my job is done.

To long these spammers, con artists and just outright criminals have been left to carry on. Vigilantes, well No, just like Neighborhood Watch In my country I see I report end of story.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by AmateurExtra on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 15:33:24 UTC
(User Info | Send a Message) http://k3csg.org

A vigilante takes the law into his or her own hands, hunts down a lawbreaker and summarily executes said lawbreaker. (Perhaps a note is left on the body as a warning to others.) While this method may have a perverse romantic appeal and prevents future criminal activity (at least for that particular perpetrator) it leaves vigilante as the subject for a hunt and when the vigilate is captured, that is the end of the vigilante's crime fighting career.

CastleCops and other like CastleCops, work within the law in a continuing attempt to fight criminals and their nefarious activities. Vigilantes create chaos. CastleCops seeks to end chaos by being diligent and working lawfully to bring about an end to criminal activity. Thank you.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by PAN_IRISH on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 @ 16:19:49 UTC
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Exercising my civic responsibility.

Re: What do you think we are? (Score: 1)
by sundog on Tuesday, 02 October 2007 @ 04:36:44 UTC
(User Info | Send a Message) http://www.weblightstudio.com.au

We used to have a thing called Neighbourhood Watch in the streets here.

Responsible citizens watching each other's houses, children and all the rest of it. Far from being Vigilantes it was the responsible members of the community keeping a benevolent eye on their neighbourhood. They would call the Police if that was needed or hop on the phone to tell someone their kids were in trouble..whatever.

Like Castle Cops it was responsible people being responsible for their part of a community. I want the internet to be a place of information, exploration and entertainment not something that is too dangerous to use if you are not fully tooled up and trained.

Castle Cops deserves the highest regard and kudos for their stance. In here I feel part of a community.

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