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from the would-you-like-javascript-with-your-coffee dept.
We've discussed the potential for stealing CPU cycles from javascript-enabled browsers many a time. It seems one coffee shop in Buenos Aires has put it into practice:
A customer of Starbucks Buenos Aires accused the popular café company of illegally mining Bitcoin using his personal laptop. Noah Dinkin, the man who discovered that his laptop was being used to mine cryptocurrency via Starbucks' free WiFi, tweeted a screenshot to prove it. [It] shows that the WiFi provider in Starbucks Buenos Aires forces a 10 second delay when you first connect to the WiFi so it can mine crypto using the customer's laptop.
Starbucks responded to Dinkin on Twitter to clear up the accusation 10 days later.
Other twitterers pointed out that the crypto-currency in question was in fact Monero, not Bitcoin.
Also covered by The Register and the BBC among others.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RamiK on Friday December 15 2017, @02:25AM (1 child)
A smarter dev would have popped up a window disclosing "I'm mining bitcoin to pay for the wifi. Closing me will disable the wifi. Ask your waiter about an alternative hourly/daily billing plan." and made sure it worked as specified. I'd even leave a little a running "tab" estimating how much bitcoins are being generated per minute (well, percentage) and when the connection is closed/lost it would function like a receipt.
Evil Done Right™
compiling...
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Friday December 15 2017, @08:59AM
But the wi-fi is paid for by Starbucks (corporate), not the local management.