Did CC just take down the crazy thread?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
61

<p>it is not an official decision...the snailmail is the official one...so it's plausible that they might post that on the site for some students even on or after the 15th.</p>

<p>also: what you did may not technically be illegal in this case, but accessing stuff that is public but intended to be private is actually illegal. A man was arrested and jailed because on multiple occasions his computer's IP accessed a networked HS girl's locker room security camera that was not protected properly.</p>

62

<p>2100 or bust, he's just saying that its wierd they posted that letter for people who haven't gotten a decision yet...it would be pretty bad practice (IMO) to say that decisions will be posted on the 15th for ED applicants but have a high number of applicants who are all psyched up to check on the 15th get a letter saying a decision has yet to be made. In fact, that would make most people furious...so you have to think the rest of the decisions will be posted by the 15th, and therefore its just really wierd they wrote a letter saying that a decision has not yet been made for some people (when by the 15th, everyone should have a decision).</p>

63

<p>i honestly think that a guy looking at little girls in locker rooms is totally different from what we just did. lol.</p>

64

<p>Yeah...I its honestly so easy to come up with, some kid was just messing around with the URL and happened to come up with it. I doubt that GLfromCornell guy (or girl) was some sort of hacker trying to trick us, rather just someone thinking they were helping people out by spreading the "news."</p>

65

<p>what a suspicious username "GLfromCornell"- ha i dunno</p>

66

<p>G(irls)L(ockers)fromCornell? lol... creepy....</p>

67

<p>ok wait a minute.....i got the feeling that those who didnt get a decision yet letter...like myself...they will just REPLACE that with the decision by the 15th....isnt that what it is?</p>

68

<p>maybe all the ppl who didn't get decisions are people applying to CALS with TWO majors...(one if they aren't accepted into their first?)</p>

69

<p>It is different from what you just did. I was just giving an example of a situation involving private material accidently made public. Of course the nature of the content is differen.t</p>

<p>BK2CU: I believe that's what they do, but since it's not an official decision, it's possible that a few don't get updates until later online.</p>

70

<p>
[quote]
Yeah...I its honestly so easy to come up with, some kid was just messing around with the URL and happened to come up with it. I doubt that GLfromCornell guy (or girl) was some sort of hacker trying to trick us, rather just someone thinking they were helping people out by spreading the "news."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is exactly what happened with the Harvard/Stanford MBA scandal. You almost described word for word just replace GLfromCornell with the poster from that time. People at the time tried to use the same explanation as you did but nevertheless had their acceptances revoked.</p>

71

<p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/04/harvard_applicants_breached_security/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/04/harvard_applicants_breached_security/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

72

<p>Wait, I don't get how that happened? How can that link have decisions, and the actual self service site not have the decisions? And Holden, how are you so sure they are real?</p>

73

<p>ok, nobody hacked! its called clicking an innocent link! its all it is in a public forum, if anything, the student who spread the link should be liable.</p>

74

<p>How were people accessing their decisions without logging in and without being automatically logged in? ....did this even happen? How were people seeing their friends decisions?</p>

75

<p>thats not possible.....ppl logged in, then they clicked on the link provided on CC....friends probably told each other their decision....the link was posted by some girl who apparently was last years applicant</p>

76

<p>i'm not sure anybody hacked the other year either. but hacked is a great newspaper word to make it sound badass...</p>

<p>I found out the process for the backdoor access to the page. While i obviously won't reveal it. It is more than just clicking a link, and is sort of hacker-esque. For those of you who already had the cookies enabled as someone said, you should explain that, but otherwise, what you did was actually going through a process that was pretty sketchy.</p>

<p>However, since you were just accessing a page after gaining permission legitimately, it may be that they are unable to check if you illigitimately gained knowledge of your decision. I doubt that though...i bet they can track it via IP/your permission cookies.</p>

<p>My opinion now: If they can't track which pages you went to after logging in: you're fine
If they can track which pages (i.e. the decision page): you're quite possibly screwed since what you did was more than just link clicking.</p>

77

<p>ok, will they seriously track down all these poor, innocent CCers + their friends numbering in the hundreds??</p>

78

<p>do you think emailing would be ok. we can better explain ourselves, and it is also well documented</p>

79

<p>
[quote]
what you did was more than just link clicking.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What else did I do other than click the link?</p>

80

<p>the process was not "click link->log in at target site->decision appears"</p>

<p>yes, all you did was click links and log in, but the order in which you did this for most of the people who did was not so innocent.</p>