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When you don't know someone gender, using the 'they' form is considered standard practice.

No, Godrik is right. This predates the recent gender naming controversy.

Ah, so we must assume that multiple parties are present. Interesting logic.

Ah, so we must assume that multiple parties are present. Interesting logic.

Only if your reading comprehension fails so fucking hard that you didn't notice the multiple instances of singulars in the sentence.

Singular They has been in use for some 800 years. Go back to school.

Read it and weep. [wikipedia.org]

Yes, but only if you were taught English in America and dropped out of school in grade 2.

AFAIK all modern filling station pumps are programmed by remote controls which are readily purchased online. The pumps have little or no security, ie: default pins and passwords which station owners fail to change or which are easily obtained from employees.

It doesn't help that there are only a few pump vendors and there are third party universal remotes.

So, you go up to the pump and do all the normal pay at the pump stuff while your buddy knocks the price per litre down to nothing.

Universal pump remote [levtech.ro]

Same thing in Colorado [newsnationnow.com] back in March.

Similar thefts have been happening around NA and Europe. I am sure it happens anywhere there are pumps with remote programmers.

Police and station owners are often make statements about inside computer knowledge is needed and it is complicated. I think this is just to discourage copy cats because the systems have to be simple enough that the midnight minimum wage gas mart clerk can program a price change in a few minutes with little or no training.

Apparently nobody told them you can make your own fuel for free at home, if you buy an electric car. Completely legal too!

Okay, okay, you have to buy the panels.

There is clearly some important details missing from this story. As it stands it doesn't pass the smell test. I'm guessing their may be a hole in the design of the system that is being exploited but the story is so lacking in details it is near worthless to read.

There is clearly some important details missing from this story. As it stands it doesn't pass the smell test. I'm guessing their may be a hole in the design of the system that is being exploited but the story is so lacking in details it is near worthless to read.

Obviously details are missing and for good reason. Until the vulnerability is patched (which might not be so easy) then others could exploit pumps using the same technique. So, it's not surprising the article doesn't go into the specifics.

Obviously details are missing and for good reason. Until the vulnerability is patched (which might not be so easy) then others could exploit pumps using the same technique. So, it's not surprising the article doesn't go into the specifics.

Obviously details are missing and for good reason. Until the vulnerability is patched (which might not be so easy) then others could exploit pumps using the same technique. So, it's not surprising the article doesn't go into the specifics.

You would think but actually this has been a growing problem for a few years now. Articles with details are easily found and I believe /. had another story about this in the not so distant past. Used to be a rarity but much more common now.

I don't know what could be done without including at least some sort of two factor authentication for changes so that all access is tied to specific people and not just a password or pin. Likely that would mean either licensing a security dongle or fob product for e

In the old days you had a hard-wired connection back to a console inside. While calling it "secure" might be ignorant, it was at least protected by a traceable level of security.

The only real vulerability then was at the explosion-proof fittings where the wires entered the building, but leveraging that might be a bit tricky.

Yeah, I hear you. As soon as it went wireless (rf or infrared) and use a handheld that is sold to anyone who wants one, security got flushed down the commode.

There's a deliberate back door in a lot of pumps for maintenance access. I assume you could figure out the details of the wireless signal and comm protocol, or you could just steal a gas pump tech's device.

Or hell, maybe you could just order one direct from China. That's probably where they're made these days.

I think the "$20,000 in damage to the pumps" might be a significant detail that needs explanation. I doubt they damaged the pumps just for kicks and grins.

FTA "Officers also saw a suspect place a bag into a garbage can. After a search, officers said they found more than 160 grams of methamphetamine and 13 pills with tadalafil, a prescription drug used to treat erectile dysfunction." "Authorities did not say why they believed one of the suspects had placed the bag containing the drugs in a garbage receptacle at the station."

Guessing an employee or owners were in on it, and that was payment for the "stolen" gasoline. Owners get drugs and insurance to pay for the

Back in my old home town during the '70s during the oil embargo, a couple of "geniuses" got the idea to steal some gas. The cut hole in the floor of a panel van and lined the cargo hold with tanks. The parked the van over tank caps of the station and pretended the truck broke down.

While one of them was under the hood acting like he was thing to fix it, the other one would take the caps off and lower a hose through the hole they cut in the van. You would think that someone would notice the hose in to the tanks but they did a pretty good job of hiding that.

What they didn't take into account was the weight of gasoline. The station owner got suspicious as he watched the van get lower to the ground as they pumped. Nor did they think of gas fumes because when the police got there the truck was so full of fumes that if they had tried to start it, odds are they wouldn't' have made it out of the parking lot.

I know a few gas station owners. They hope to break even in fuel while sales in their convenience stores provide the profits. They tend to lose a few cents per gallon if you consider gas stations (in California) must be rebuilt over couple of decades.

Those 5,000 gallons per day represent 200-300 customers and they hope to get $8/person in sales each per day.

All storage tanks have a lifespan. Is this some revelation to gas station owners?

Who said it's a revelation or that gas station owners aren't fully aware of the issue? Just what imaginary words did you read in your head before writing your reply?

This happens were I live. A few stations went bankrupt to avoid the expense.

And here there is another dumb law, tanks must be underground. Why is beyond me.

Stations that had above ground sheltered tanks had to replace them with underground tanks. I guess if a small leak occurs, who cares if it seeps into the ground water. If above ground you would see it quickly and make a rather cheap repair.

I'm pretty sure that you can use a concrete-encased vault in all states for fuel storage at a gas station. You might need a grade difference to make it work for the tankers, but it is possible.

However, the tanks still have a finite life and need to be replaced.

So, the real question is: "Did the pump scammers buy any junk food at the station?"

this will help to diminish the fortunes of lazy robot pump owners who do nothing but roast on the beach and convert ethanol into piss.

this will help to diminish the fortunes of lazy robot pump owners who do nothing but roast on the beach and convert ethanol into piss.

er, pump owners that are robots?

I don't think we have any of those in these parts yet, although I have heard that the Roombas can get uppity.

"Kill all humans" - Bender Bending Rodríguez

By many standards, you are rich. Where do you keep your stuff so that some poor, homeless people might better the conditions of their lives?

I know how this trick works. There is a few second delay after putting your card in. If you get the timing just right, you will have a chance to enter a pin number. If you manage to successfully enter the pin number, you sometimes then are prompted for a ZIP Code. I always just put in my billing ZIP Code during this time.

After that the pump dispenses gas. Ive been using this method for years.

in the real world, you can't even get wholesale for fenced shit

in lawyer land, every time you listen to happy birthday on youtube without ads an executive - sorry, an artist starves

How is 30,000 gallons of gas worth 180,000 dollars (six dollars a gallon).

How is 30,000 gallons of gas worth 180,000 dollars (six dollars a gallon).

It is bullshit. Fuel in Sunnyvale is well under $5/gal (in some cases, under $4.)

It is now, but that wasn't the price all year long. The story doesnt say when the gas was stolen or whether it was premium.

In the summer, prices for premium were well over $6. I paid $6.99 on a road trip in June for premium in CA for my 2015 Volt. Fortunately I only fillup a few times a year, mainly during road trips. This is why I remember the price. It was probably the worst possible time to buy gas. But nevertheless, gas got close to $7.

Diesel has been as high as $6.99 up here in Humboldt. Premium is still over six bucks AFAIK.

I paid $6.99/gallon in June for premium on a road trip in CA. I drive a Volt, though, and usually go about 6 months between fill-ups outside of road trips.

A lot of things don't add up. Gasoline is 6 Lbs a gallon and a tanker hauls 10,000 gallons. That brings the GVW to around 80,000 lbs which is the limit. So they're saying they stole 3 tankers worth of gas? They'd have to be really busy beavers to make off with that much gas. Then there is storing it. Did tractor supply sell a whole bunch of water tanks or something? Then of course it's not exactly safe.

IMHO, they're off by a digit or two. Maybe they made off with 300 or perhaps even 3000 gallons. That would

or just pick the lock and force it to spit out

10 gals/hr? Even a super stud probably couldn't manage that. Oh, you're still talking about the fuel. Apparently you mean EV chargers, because American cars hold 10-20 gals of fuel, and it takes at most a few minutes to fill up. Maybe limited to 10 gals/min. So now it's 3000/60 hours of pumping.

https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]

Misread that last night. The limit is 10gpm not 10gph. 30K gals would therefore take 3Kminutes or 50 straight hours of pumping 105 tons of fuel.

Seriously, none of this is real.

I'm guessing you didn't bother to read even the first sentence of the article.

"in a series of robberies"

And you're out of your mind if you think US pumps can only dispense 10 gal/hr. My car's tank is 10 gallons. It's never taken me more than a few minutes to fill the tank.

So, we've established that you don't read and have never bought gasoline.

You contributed nothing. You took a typo and imagined it's like a thing.

You live to criticize, but you don't create.

You are nothing. You will always be nothing. All you contribute is criticism.

Nobody hired you as Editor of the Internet.

Don't bother responding. Just die. Nobody cares for your unprincipled uncivilized uneducated "opinion", dick.

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