Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Hackers Help Companies Illegally Harvest Lumber in the Amazon

by Terrence O'Brien on December 15, 2008 at 05:15 PM

Hackers Help Companies Illegally Harvest Lumber in the Amazon
If you've been wondering why we haven't moved to completely electronic record keeping systems yet, here is a tale of an environmentally disastrous hack made possible by the lack of paper records.

For years, Brazilian logging companies have been using hackers to break into government systems to alter and issue permits that have allowed them to fell much more timber than would normally be allowed. According to the latest report from Greenpeace, over 1.7 million cubic meters of lumber have been illegally harvested from the Amazon using these permits.

The report also alleges that the hackers involved in these attacks have been employed by 107 (seriously, 107) various coal and logging companies, and 202 currently face charges in the ongoing investigation. Some of those involved are already facing prior suits for violating environmental and slave labor laws.

Because the state environmental agency relied on purely electronic records, there was no way to double check the terms of the permits issued, which allowed the companies to get away with the illegal logging scam for so long. In contrast, Google's about-face on net neutrality doesn't seem so evil after all. [From: BBC]

Tags: amazon, amazon rainforest, AmazonRainforest, crime, environment, environmental, hack, hacker, hackers

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular