Google ads from the po-po can prevent vengeful gamer nerds going full script kiddie – research

What's the best way to stop young gamers slipping into a life of cybercrime? Google ads from the cops, apparently. That's according to a study from the Universities of Cambridge and Strathclyde which looked at four different types of law enforcement interventions. It found that high-profile arrests and sentencing of …

[Blockchain commentard]

Let's hope these young 'uns never learn of pop-up blockers or this system is doomed.

[Doctor Syntax]

Shocked to discover that budding skiddies don't already know about them. The state of education today...

[Wellyboot]

or maybe 'where can I find a DOS provider' returns zero search results?

[Doctor Syntax]

Not even FreeDOS?

[RyokuMas]

... or is this some long-game of Google's to try and imply that those who use pop-up blockers are criminals?

[David Roberts]

I always do what Teddy says

Someone has been reading Harry Harrison.

Extrapolate.

[Wellyboot]

We're watching you 24/7

to protect you from any incorrect actions citizen.

[phuzz]

Re: We're watching you 24/7

It's more like a "don't drop litter" poster, strategically placed where people tend to drop litter.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: We're watching you 24/7

Agreed. If the kids are going to use search engines that serve targeted advertising, and they see ads that say "hey, buying these services is illegal", I don't see any incremental harm.

It's like if 2600 had carried advertisements, and AT&T had taken out an ad that said "phone phreaking is against the law, dudes". Or Phrack printing an ad pointing out that distributing malware is illegal.¹ Or those "the FBI, Interpol, and Santa Claus will kick your ass if you even think about copying this crap film" notices that have been slapped onto video recordings since Sony v Universal.

¹If Phrack carried advertising, of course. PoC||GTFO has ads, but they're old-timey ads that Laphroaig et al clip out of old computer magazines and the like, not actual paid advertisements.

[Anonymous Coward]

Other uses

Lets just hope the more puritanical parts of the population don't use this research to justify buying ads to display alongside porn searches. It may just put me off my stride. Then again it might just help me get over the line...

[katrinab]

Re: Other uses

They already do it extensively for searches on abortion, even going as far as setting up websites for fake clinics.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: Other uses

Actually, this seems to me like a great way for them to waste their money. I'm all for it.

(Don't porn sites themselves typically carry advertising? I'm assuming they aren't all funded by direct subscription and/or malware.)

[Pascal Monett]

"between 30,000 and 50,000 such attacks every day"

That's a lot of pathetic losers.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: "between 30,000 and 50,000 such attacks every day"

Yes, though I suspect it's a rather small fraction of total online gamers. Can't be bothered to try to accumulate the statistics.

Personally, there are thousands of things I'd rather do than play games with strangers, but to each his or her own. I can't see any objective reason for calling it a less valid social activity than any other.

[Dinsdale247]

Of Course?

Yes, big brother reminding you that you are being watched is an effective way to model peoples behavior. But I thought Orson Welles already established that pretty clearly?

[Danny Boyd]

Perplexed

If kiddies can google for a booter service provider *and find it*, what precludes FBI et. al. from doing the same? Then take the provider down?

[doublelayer]

Re: Perplexed

I think they do that, but it takes a certain amount of time to take something down, especially when the person investigating it doesn't live in the same country where it's run, and others can find and use its services while it's not been shut down yet.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Haha

Justice and police. That's funny from the company hosting nearly all of the world's phishing and 419 scammers while spending billions of dollars researching new ways to bypass privacy laws.