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I was doing research for a college research paper and I got bored and opened up CMD. I don't really know more than the next guy about computers, so i figured id just play around. I googled the commands for the command prompt and started trying some out. (I was connected to a college wifi network) I typed net statistics and then server and it brought up a server window. Then it said that receiving data is blocked by a remote location. I think I just ran into a security wall and thus am ok. I was just playing around, Again I don't really know a lot about computers so yeah. I was just wondering if i did something illegal by typing in net statistics and then server. I'm kinda worried so a quick and simple response would be nice. Thanks a lot.

LBP2creator
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    I'm pretty sure no legal framework defines running netstat as illegal. Regardless, legal issues are off-topic here. – Polynomial Oct 17 '13 at 15:20
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about specific potential legal ramifications of an action, not Information Security. – Xander Oct 17 '13 at 15:33

2 Answers2

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Legal matters depend a lot of jurisdiction, so it is quite hard to come up with a single answer. However, in most jurisdictions:

  • Intent matters. It is hacking if you are willingly trying to bypass security measures or obtain access rights that you know you should not have.

  • A college with a WiFi access point to which you are connected should have a usage policy to which you more or less explicitly agreed to comply when you connected. These rules should be the first document you should have a look at, because they will tell you what the access point owner considers to be acceptable usage and what is not. This does not necessarily matches what is allowed by Law, but it may tell you what may trigger retaliatory action from the owner.

net statistics on Windows systems is a pretty basic tool which cannot reveal really confidential data, but, just like any other tool, it may help in pursuing nefarious goals. Knifes are not illegal, but can help in killing people; so if you have a knife and wave it around threateningly then security guards may find it fit to shoot you. Similarly, a simple net statistics attempt should not be enough to incriminate you; however, really paranoid sysadmins may take it as a hint that your are up to something nasty, and come down on you. You would probably not be ultimately declared guilty by a court of law (I make no promise here, but that's really improbable), but in the short term this might degrade the state of your relationship with the college sysadmin team, and thus hinder your research efforts. If in doubt, abstain.

In practice I doubt anybody actually noticed the effect of your command.

Thomas Pornin
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I don't know the laws in your area, but it would be a very poorly written law if that was illegal and even a very badly written policy if that was invalid use of the network. You just tried an action, found out it wasn't allowed and didn't pursue it any further. If you were to start trying to get around it, then you might run afoul of the terms of use for the network which could get you in trouble in some jurisdictions (basically for the digital equivalent of trespassing), but I really wouldn't worry too much about what happened since your actions were entirely benign and any administrator who has a clue about what they are doing wouldn't care about it, and most likely those who don't wouldn't know how to look for it.

AJ Henderson
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