Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Hacking

a british hacker broke into some government computers (looking for evidence of ufo's, naturally) back in 2000-ish. he didn't actually get any classified info, just 'sensitive'. today he it was ruled that he should be extradited to the us. see stories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
gotta love the defense of its their own fault (and that he cites the movie 'war games' as inspiration). i have heard this defense from some members of this here blog saying that if people are stupid enough to leave doors open than we are free to walk through. but i have to say i don't think that is a good defense. i do think this guy should be punished, whether he intended harm or not, but not 70 yrs in prison. if you consider the 'they are stupid' defense as valid than what robbery would be considered illegal? you were stupid enough to use a safe in your bank that was susceptible to being opened by dynamite, it's your own fault for leaving the money available to be robbed. now that doesn't excuse the government for being stupid. i do think they deserve to have some egg on their face for that.

as an amusing side note: the spell checker in blogger doesn't know the word blog.

2 comments:

k2h said...

I saw some news on that guy a few days ago.. when questioned if aliens exist, If I remember correctly.. he just gave some vauge answer and smiled.

I don't think the arguments that apply to physical theft have direct relevents in cyber space. true... there are alot of REAL consequences as a result of corrupted or breached information, but I still see it as a slightly artificial world where the penalty should always be less than killing someone.

you can argue with that all you want, but its my opinion and i'm sticking to it!

forkev said...

in one story, i was let to beleive he HAD found something, and he was going to play it as a wild card if he was convicted.

World of Warcraft (I think it was) anyways, one of those huge MMORPGs moved money equivilent to the 80th nation of the world. REAL money going in and out of the game. Hacks into social commerce like second life will continue to leave real world imprints when money is involved.