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Kevin Mitnick Free Today
Well, today is the day Kevin Mitnick is supposed to be released from prison. But many people feel sites like this one aren't obsolete quite yet, because it's hard for ex-cons to make their way in society, and it may be especially hard for Kevin because he isn't allowed to use computers - and that's what he's good at, right? A 60 Minutes interview with Kevin is scheduled to run this Sunday. Hemos comments, "One wonders if having a microphone near violates his Draconian parole computer restriction orders." An interesting - and scary - thought.
It isn't just Mitnick. The Melissa author also stands ready to be keelhauled. There are lots of people eager to lock 'em up and throw away the key but look at what Mitnick did and what he got. Then look at some of the sentences violent criminals are getting. It seems like nearly any offense gets 3-5 years. That doesn't make sense. In fairness, we either need to ease up on the Mitnicks or come down harder on violent criminals.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
#2 Use a fscking spell checker! You're post was beyond atrocious
That's "Your post" not "You're post".
dylan_-
--
Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
He got caught doing something illegal and he's being punished. If you don't want to be an ex-con then don't break the law, what a concept. There were legal ways for Mitnick to practice his 'inquisitive mind', he could have got a job as a security consultant. He could even have donated his services as a security consultant to non-profit organizations if getting payed for it was somehow morally reprehensible to him.
Sorry, I have no sympathy for him at all. Personally I wouldn't want him working in my company, he's already demonstrated not only a complete lack of trustworthiness but a surplus of stupidity by violating the terms of his probation.
Let him serve fries at McDonald's, don't complain about the results of his own stupidity.
I happen to agree with C. My computer happens to be my personal property, I don't care if you broke in to steal something or if you broke in just out of curiosity. You broke in. If there was some way to prove that your intentions were good then my viewpoint might change, but you would be pretty hard pressed to prove to me that you a) did nothing malicious, b) had no malicious intentions and c) weren't pleading good intent just as a 'Get Out of Jail Free card'.
If I want security advice I'll hire somebody for that advice. If there isn't some understanding between us (sure, break in, tell me how you got in and don't break anything) I will assume you had the worst possible intentions. I'd do the same if you appeared in my living room at night and told me "don't be alarmed, I'm just testing your security, by the way, your front door was locked".
I wonder if he can leave the US. Then I suppose that the US laws don't apply on him (but [FLAMEBAIT]ask the Cubans about Helms-Burton[/FLAMEBAIT]). At least in spirit, the goal is to keep this man off the US computers.
Maybe he could work with computers somewhere else [FLAMEBAIT]in the free world[/FLAMEBAIT]. But what if he is given a telnet to the US?
--
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
I kinda wanted to see the story with a fistfight between Mitnick and Shimomura and everyone on rollerblades and constantly saying "What is the Matrix?")
**>>BELCH
the terms of it are that he can't use computer equipment with any kind of modem or network connection, can't use PC's or coporate computing equipment, etc. the real problem here is ATM machines, which use modem/network connections to connect back to the bank. i feel for him; i couldn't live without my ATM card. *grin* --bc
the amazing bc
------------------------------------------
latin/funk flugelhorn & trumpet
webnaut, music junkie, sysadmin from hell
the amazing bc
just another guy doing IT
webnaut, music junkie, holes-in-head
That sounds more like the strange case of Intel and Randal Schwartz. (Randal Schwartz is a big-time Perl hero and Intel is a large CPU manufacturer which employs at least one managers who has the strange ability to testify one week that he has examined pages of Perl and found security backdoors and then to testify two weeks later that he wouldn't recognize Perl from phonetic Swahili.)
Find more details here.
--
how to invest, a novice's guide
"It was no game to the man who was trying to catch him, Federal Prosecutor Chris Painter. "Millions of dollars in damages...conduct that caused these companies to shut down their networks...retool....That's not a prankster," says Painter.
Is it really damages when a company was forced to do what they should have done all along, that is, secure their systems?
Why's that scary? If someone I didn't authorize to do so broke into my computers and just looked at the data, that's basically trespassing. I can't walk into your house and just leaf through your belongings and leave and expect that that's okay.
Houses have locks for a reason. They're mostly symbolic though, because people can easily smash a window, chainsaw through a wall, climb down the chiminey, etc...
Computers have passwords for the same reason. Yes, it's possible to circumvent them. It's also possible to find out what it is through social interaction. That's basically like somehow coming in contact with a key and making a wax dupicate of it.
People keep saying here that if you don't want your computer broken into, then use a secure OS. That's bull. Or no, that's not bull. But a hacker/cracker/whatever should not expect to get off because the person or companies computer he broke into used Windows 98 or NT rather than OpenBSD.
We know computers are not secure. Stop proving it by messing up webpages just for the sake of proving it, already.
>ask him a few questions, Like how he himself would secure a server. What OS is the most secure (in his opinion).
how would he secure a server? he hasn't touched a computer for 5 years. I'm sure he's still a security expert, but 5 years is a long time in computer years.
im not sure what kind of isolation tank they had him in, but it would be alot more interesting to interview him in a month or two and get his perspective on the changes that have taken place in the last 5 years. (THAT could be enlightening)
"Tension is the great integrity" -- R. Buckminster Fuller
Lets face it computers are EVERYWHERE...
There is NO WAY he can NOT come into contact with one.
If he drives he has the cars onboard computer, cross the streat and the crosswalk is computer controlled.
lets look at the streat lights... Maby you had to deal with street lights that went out of sync.. only 5 seconds to cross the road before you got ran over.. or worse the walk sign says "walk" before the cross traffic gets a red or the cross traffic gets a green and the walk sight still says "walk"... also issues of a fast "green yellow red" switch time causing accadents as well as times when ALL LIGHTS are green.
Also many citys need to control the folow of traffic to prevent traffic jams.. It gets all complex and statistical and it's run by computer...
So when you push that big "WALK" button.. Yep.. now can Keven do that? No..
Walk into a store.. wops.. that security computer just scanned you to be shure your not walking out with stolen property (it dosn't know what direction your going).. computer....
Now he comes near a point of sale terminal.. Computer.....
TV Cable.... Apartment uses newer power indicator... UPS wants you to sign for a pacage..
It'll take a volation for people to recognise what this means...
If he can not come near a computer (if memory serves that was one of the requirements) he can not go outside...
I'm using a Ricochet modem.. it works by sending signals vea short distence relays.. thies relays are small computers mounted on telephone polls(with citys permition)... He can not come into my city becouse we have those relays...
Forget the Point of sell terminals for a moment... walk into a convence store and a bunch of the gadgets on sale are computers...
My grandmother is a bit of a ludite.. she REFUSES to have a computer in her home.. so Kevens safe there right? Door bell and TV... thats all but thats enough...
(Only one of the 2 TVs BTW.. The wide screen TV with all the neat features and digital cable box vs the older "solid state" TV).
Her Microwave uses a macanical timer so he dosn't have to worry about that but many use imbeded computer systems...
Even toys today use imbeded computers today...
Might as well say he can't come near indoor plumbing...
Now post 2 on this topic [a troll] also dose make an intresting point by example... People do not have any idea what this means... They see "Computer" and think Univac.. They forget the last 30 years of technology...
I mean... consider this... He may not be free long... He's going it sit infront of a streaming video recording computer (profesional TV camra) and talk into a audio sample computer (A digital mike).... and not even know it....
Finnaly I'd like to suggest that Keven saved them money... If he hadn't exploted the security defects someone else would have...
But what he did was wrong.. no one asked him to find defects.. he was basicly waisting his time and tallent...
Now what is he going to do? Sell his skill to someone who can use it? Like a REAL theaf?
Becouse he can't do anything else..
I don't actually exist.
Erm... How is he going to read your questions without using a computer ? Do you want to put him back in jail or something ;-)
superblog.org: all your favourite blogs on o
...on the definition of a computer in his case. Is a Palm allowed? What about a digital watch? A calculator? WebTV? (With a keyboard and a Java telnet client...)
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
What else would you do in jail?
Prepare your defense. I understand that this is what Mitnick spent most of his time on.
Hmm? I have a problem with judicial systems (or people for that matter) not realizing that killing is killing and really won't be anything other than a murder, no matter the side of the law and the circumstances.
GNU/Linux. The Freshmaker.
If the term used by the judge is "computer," that is sufficiently vague for someone to claim Mitnick has violated it by driving a car. Vague laws (or judgements or decisions) are very easy to abuse. I see things twisted every week to say what the person WANTS it to say because there's just a tiny ambiguity.
If the terms of his parole only dictate that he can't interact with "a computer" then that can be abused by someone to say that his using a microwave oven violates his parole. Ambiguity in law is a very, very bad thing.
I agree with e-gold - I would be freaked out too if man in black drags are running around signing arrest warrants.
I'll bet his lawyers will win an appeal stating that with our technology rich society, not having access to the net is somehow perceived as cuel and unusual punishment.
Oh please! You don't honestly believe that tripe you spit out do you? I mean amputation, vivasection, stoning, and burning all pale in compression to not being able to surf the net for nudie pics and get into IRC pissing contests.
The majority of the people in the USA (and the vast majority of the world) isn't even on the the Internet. Are they being punished? No. Are they're lives somehow less? Not a chance. Are they not able to function in society, hold adequate jobs, or raise families? OF COURSE THEY CAN!
If you believe that not having a cable modem running to you home somehow makes you less of a person you've been reading Wired and listening to Madison Avenue for too damn long.
People here are saying: "Computers are everywhere! He violates his parole just walking across the street." Only fools don't know what the court meant by "computer". The judge meant PCs, Macs, workstations, servers, etc. In general anything that can reasonably be used as a cracking device. Use common sense people! When you hear someone say they're going to use the computer do really stop and thing, "Gee. I wonder if they're going to be using the CD player, or maybe the washing machine? No wait I got it! The digital alarm clock!" Trying to excalate an embeded microcontroller to the same level as the machine each and every one of you are using this very moment is a gross overstatment.
Times like this make me ashamed of reading slashdot.
Sorry, but your sarcasm just doesn't work here. When bankers and traders break the law, they are routinely prohibited from working their profession for years after their release from prison. Doctors found to have been negligent can no longer practice medicine. Lawyers who commit crimes are disbarred. And this is a good thing.
Just because you can't imagine life without a computer doesn't mean that it's not possible. I have nothing against Mitnick, but he's certainly not a saint, and doesn't special treatment. Give the man a broom -- that is, if you can find one without a built-in computer.
---
"Go Metallica. Die RIAA." -- Linus Torvalds
The fact is that : if you leave your front door
open, and someone walks in, is that considered
breaking and entering??
Depending where you live, yes. In many jurisdictions today, the "breaking" element is treated only to mean crossing the "close," or the invisible border that represents the protectible property interest of the title-holder. Other jurisdictions still require the "breaking" element to require the tearing away or removal of a lock, or the like.
But guess what? It doesn't much matter what the crime is called, entering without permission is still a crime. Merely entering or remaining without authority, license or express invitaiton, constitutes criminal trespass in many states. In Florida, entering or remaining in a dwelling with intent to commit an offense therein constitutes burglary, a first degree felony. If someone dies during the felony, that alone can be grounds for first degree murder!
Is there any serious question whether the state proved to a unanimous jury beyond a reasonable doubt all the elements of the crimes with which Mr. Mitnick was charged and convicted? If so, let's talk particulars, in view of the particular statutes, and stop this bullshit about whether any wrong has been done or whether a straw man charge can be laid at the feet of some hypothetical individual.
From the AP, I can't really see how in this day of internet connected everything, he cannot be around anything that will connect him. I'll bet his lawyers will win an appeal stating that with our technology rich society, not having access to the net is somehow perceived as cuel and unusual punishment.
Virtually nothing done by a modern state stands afoul of the Eighth Amendment. In view of judicial determinations that execution by an electric chair do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, this argument doesn't pass the giggle test.
Umm, people on parole are normally not allowed to leave their city without asking for permission. Obviously they have to stay in their country...
-
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
That means Kevin cannot go to a college. That's a great reason to appeal. As of not being able to leave the country... maybe China, Cuba will strike a deal with him and he can work there as a Net Warior against the US?
I have no idea how much judicial review there is for parole-board actions, but if they are subject to injunction or appeal this may be a way to give the government a black eye. If Kevin is willing to try something like the word-processor thing and the government jumps on him, having them reversed on First Amendment grounds would look very bad for the parole board. It would also put legal handcuffs on future parole boards; once there's a decision saying that such tactics are an abuse of a parolee's civil rights, they can't even use the threat again.
--
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
The problem with that is that he'd have to write his decisions in longhand, and I'm sure that OSHA would have something to say about the ergonomics of his workstation and repetitive stress injuries resulting therefrom.
--
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
In the can means that a film has been shot and is being held off for various reasons. The reference being to the physical film being stored in a film can. This can basically mean at any stage, but most likely pre-editing. Many movies are "in the can" because post-production is so costly and the time is spent soliciting money to get the film back on its feet.
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
Just days after Kevin Mitnick got sent back to jail for using an atm several strange events occured.....
A guy begging for a cup of coffee got a dollar instead from a friendly stranger. He was subsequently arrested and put to jail for life. Reason? He was a convicted bank robber no longer allowed to come near money.
Another guy was found just outside his house frozen to death in a snowstorm. Apperently the man was an ex-burglar who wasn't allowed to touch doors.
An old lady got the shock of her life when a woman fell on the street out of nowhere just in front of her. The woman was convicted of several traffic offenses and she was apperently using the roofs of buildings to get to her appartment cause she was no longer allowed to come near roads.
On a more positive note, the traffic in the newsgroup alt.people.armed-robbers is rapidly increasing. This is mainly attributed to the fact that more and more armed robbers may no longer come near people and as such must seek their social contacts elsewhere.
And I thought chopping of a thiefs hand was medieval......
It worries to see people paint Kevin Mitnick as some kind of hero. This guy knowingly broke the law, repeatedly. Slash dotters are known for their love of freedom. However, true freedom comes with responsibility. Responsibility for ones own actions. Living within the framework of the law is part of freedom. It is there to protect your rights. No countries laws are perfect. Infact they are often far from it. In this particular case you may disagree with the sentencing. That's up to you, but that is a seperate issue. Making a hero of Mitnick will only result in other gullable people following the same course of stupidity and beleiving they are "cool" when "fool" would be a better description. This bloke's life in now a mess but just remember who really messed it up. Himself. He thought he was invincible but he was caught!! I for one do not feel sorry for him.
P.S. You can learn a whole lot about computing, networking, security etc without having to infringe on the rights of others!
(That great crashing noise you just heard was me falling of my soap box)
It's gonna be a bitch to debug his code ;)
I feel that everyone is taking the "all computers" to an extreme. Judging by the rest of the sentence, "all computers" would actually suggest that they mean "all personal computers". He isn't very well going to crack the cash register at the Kwik-E-Mart, and I really doubt that the circuitry in his microwave poses any real threat to the rest of the technological world. Everyone simply needs to realize that this judgment was most likely passed down by a less techno-savvy individual than those of us who frequent /., and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt.
"May the Code bless you and keep you until the day of your Compiling." ~Requiem
I'm not sure where you heard that. It might have been part of what happened, but Mitnick was arrested for breaking into several systems not owned by him or his employer, and running from the feds for some time. He is most certainly a criminal, but I don't believe he was treated fairly by the justice system.
What if Kevin moved to Europe ?
Is he allowed to leave the US at all and if so, what if he took up a job accross the atlantic, would the arms of the upholders of US law stretch that far ? I seriously can't imagine that to be the case. They're _craving_ for good people over here in Europe, and should one get lonely, there's always the 'net. These parole computer restriction orders seem like an exercise in futility for inhabitants of the global village that is the 'net.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
That's why his sentence was harsh, IMHO. I seriously worry about this free-market economy in which we are all a part when crimes are measured by the amount of financial harm done, rather than measured by how much humanity or society was in danger. It seems that for murder, (unless the trash press get ahold of it) you can expect to do your time and be out in 20 years, but here, we're denying basic rights way after this poor sod's got out of jail, simply because of the amount of money he allegedly cost a corporation, trying to fix holes in their computer security that shouldn't have been there in the first place!
My hangover's clearing now.... I needed that rant.
- "How do we do it? Volume!" - The Bursar of Unseen University.
From the AP, I can't really see how in this day of internet connected everything, he cannot be around anything that will connect him. I'll bet his lawyers will win an appeal stating that with our technology rich society, not having access to the net is somehow perceived as cuel and unusual punishment.
Never knock on Death's door:
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
Yah,
This is a good example of what "justice" really is.
And this is just one case, though high profile.
Other areas, where there are probably people in jail, in your own county even, that is just is bad, is the handling of Child Support in this country. If you get laid off, and can't find work quick, well, you'll lose your drivers license. When you get back to work, they'll take large %s of your pay til it's caught up, and still threaton you with jail.. If you don't get caught up, well, welcome to bubba.
The constitution is violated in many areas of law now. Ramsie Electronics was another example.
And it's not just the MONEY.. A lot of this comes from special interests. The support laws are based on propaganda from a "Womans" organization that has long since been proven wrong.
And Ramsy, where they just happened to be a victim of political getbacks.. Yet Radio Shack hasn't been raided yet..
take the power back
Eric A. Griff
I dont know the specifics of the Kevin Mitnick case, and I wont even attempt to dispute the guilt of either the defense or the prosecution. I just want to know, why is punishment being extended beyond the time served? Why is it that American's (who I am one of) will stand by their rights and Constitution, but at the same time will deny those rights to others if they feel threatened by them? Yes Mitnick commited a crime and was found guilty, but once he serves the time, he should be free to live his life. I guess this is a wide spread problem as sexual offenders can never be truely free once convicted. The thing to think about though is, if you keep a computer hacker from computers for fear of future crimes, why are murderers allowed access to people?
For the lack of nothing better to say. Have a good day.
Okay, so as long as your evesdropping on your roommate's phone conversation is kept a secret, it's not intrusive, disruptive, or wrong. Sure.
The bottom line is, he broke the law. No social status should allow anyone to get off the hook.
As far as the punishment goes, I think it fit the crime. He broke in to a computerized system and nosed around. The punishment should, in my opinion, have something to do with limiting his access to computerized systems like the ones that he used to break the law in the first place.
I also agree that in this day, zero computer access/use is almost impossible. However, there are people in the world (and even in the US) who funcion very well without Internet access (an inconceivable notion to some /. readers ;)
On the other hand, if the assigned punishment was too harsh, what should it have been? I don't think there would be an easy way to regulate computer access on a daily basis or something.
Sometimes, it's better to give a little harder kick as a warning to discourage further actions.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -- Albert Einstein
So, Mitnick is not to be allowed near a computer again. How about the DoJ not letting Microsoft go near a web browser ?
Stephen Hawking has written another book. It's about time as well.
What is your opinion on Lewiz Depayne? Have you heard of Lew's online business? (Note to the reader: this site is REALLY Lew's business)
Well, I personally am not that interested in Mitnick himself, but the various factors surrounding his imprisonment and trial do interest me quite a bit.
He spent four years in jail without being convicted of a crime. This is partially because his lawyer was forced to waive his rights to a speedy trial. There were several million pages of evidence presented by the government, and Mitnick was given one part-time lawyer (whom the court refused to pay extra to give him more time to sift through the pile of evidence) and extremely limited access to a law library (and no access to computers). If he didn't waive his rights to a speedy trial, he'd have to waive his right to a fair trial. Forcing him to give up one or the other of his constitutional rights is obviously not something that should be allowed.
The damages claimed by the various companies also raises the issue of the financial cost of piracy, an issue discussed on slashdot in the past in other stories. Several companies claimed that since Mitnick obtained the source code to their operating systems and software, they had sustained a loss equal to the entire cost of development of the software and any future projected sales. This is obviously extremely innacurate (but common practice among the various anti-piracy groups). There's also the interesting fact that these millions of dollars of supposed losses were not reported to stockholders, as required under SEC regulations.
Finally, there's the issue of computer-use restrictions on parole. Many people, including myself, feel that these are wrong, and certainly counter-productive. Rather than keeping him from engaging in computer-related crime again, they will be more likely to remove his chances for employment and force him into crime to make money. His skills are computer-related, and even if he were to go for a job that wasn't directly computer-related, nearly all jobs these days use computers in one way or another.
Anyway, these, and some other assorted reasons, are why I, and I suspect many other slashdotters, care about Mitnick, despite the fact that he's a relatively uninteresting hax0r d00d in and of himself.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I'm no Mitnick expert, but didn't his lawyer waive his right to a speedy trial?
I think this is an excellent point of view. Lots of private information can be exploited for profit, but the acquisition of it is not necessarily theft.
By this logic, if I inform someone that their house is on fire, I should be charged with arson.
...as long as he doesn't use a computer to do it? I'm just curious since I remember seening a book containing a complete printout of the 2.2.5 linux kernel last time I was over in Border's. For a guy who had developed such a "penchant for cracking systems in search of proprietary source code," wouldn't it be just great to see some Mitnick-contributed code to the linux kernel? (Perhaps regarding security...) Afterall, the article clearly identifies Mitnick as a "Hacker"... (c: --Cycon
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
Whether you consider him to be a script kiddie punk, or a political martyr, the fact remains that the man has been incarcerated longer than some who are sentenced for rape, kidnapping, agrravated assault, battery, grand theft auto...
Surely I wasn't the only one in this thread that remembers hearing WGO radio giving thier 'Mitnick
Manhunt Updates', and thought something like,
"What if that was me?".
*shiver*
Hey Kevin, let me buy you your first beer in four years. It's the least I can do.
Isn't that kind of like telling a con-man who used fake ID to con people that he may not use an ID or a razor blade, ever?
Or a B&E artist that he may not posess a crowbar, hammer, or any rope?
Or... a white-collar money launderer that he can't have any money?
Or... well, the list goes on.
The exception, of course, is guns... but we, as a society, prevent those who committed 'violent' crimes with guns from being allowed to legally posess guns, as they have demonstrated that they are a threat. A *violent, life-endangering threat*
Many things you might not consider today constitute theft under state law. In particular, Kevin's own analogy, "joyriding" is, at least here in Florida, theft. Likewise the use of computers in various ways to manipulation of information legally constitutes theft. As does the use or disclosure of trade secrets of another.
Not for years has the legal definition of theft been limited to the "taking and asportation of personal property of another with the intent to deprive permanently." Modern statutes have liberalized or deleted virtually every element of the crime, largely because of hypertechnical arguments used by criminals to avoid justice.
Many words have both common and legal meanings, that may differ. Such differences, even if present, do not factor into whether the man is a criminal. By his own words, he was "like James Bond." Great, so instead of being a mere thief, he committed a capital crime!
So, this "argument" is really down to p.r. or sophistry. Sure, it may not be Kevin-Theft, or Slashdot-Theft, whatever those words might mean but if it is Legal-Theft (read the statutes) guess what? He goes to jail and deals with his probation.
For my part, this man's conduct was both wrongful and illegal, whatever it might have been called. He has not manifest great insight or technical skill in his admittedly routine cracking. He has offered nothing of value to the society which he has harmed. And so, he has done nothing to justify the martyrdom status bestowed upon him, and reflects poorly upon us all.
In modern life, computers are _everywhere_. Even a digital watch has a 4bit computer, probably more powerful than an IBM 1130.
Telephones, TVs, elevators, cars, ATMs, POS, VCRs, CD players and the list goes on. Even fastfood joints use computerised cooking equipment. Oddly, an old reel-to-reel tape recorder has no computer, so Kevin could use one to reprogram credit card magnetic strips. So maybe he shouldn't use credit cards either. If he could even get one.
Now the Judge probably didn't mean to prohibit these devices, or even know that they could be considered computers. But Parole Officers have a bad reputation for capriciousness, especially with high-profile parolees they want to take down a peg-or-two. So Kevin will have to watch is back, perhaps worse than in prison.
-- Robert
Yes we all fuck up at some time in our life, but we don't all blatantly break the law like he did.
Trying to excuse his behaviour because he was addicted is like excusing a drunk from holding up a liquor store because he's an alcoholic. It just doesn't fit.
Adam
Why should we be interested in this guy? He's a cracker, and a pretty poor one at that.
He's the computer equivalent to the shaking junkie who sticks a gun in the face of a 7-Eleven clerk to get money for a fix, then waves to the security camera on the way out. He left a trail a mile wide, and couldn't stop his illegal activities even when he knew the authorities were after him.
Why is he being portrayed as some kind of Digital Martyr?
"Kevin Mitnick has been imprisoned by the U.S. Government for:
4 years, 11 months, 6 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes, 55 seconds
Kevin Mitnick will be released from prison in:
11 months, 30 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes, 8 seconds"
Y2K bug still alive and well huh?
All opinions are my own - until criticized
Can't hurt to try. ;-) I'll write to Kevin's grandmother - who seems to be his point of contact with the outside world - and ask.
Thanks for the idea.
- Robin "roblimo" Miller
that Kevin won't be able to read...
ZDNet's got a Kevin Poulsen-written article on the Mitnick release here.
(Most of what I know of the Mitnick story comes from Jonathan Littman's book "The Fugitive Game" (which is about as Kevin sympathetic as "Takedown" is self-congradulatory), and the article sounds like Lewis DePayne's pretty Anti-Kevin now -- of course, he's got his own legal problems and probably wants to avoid some of the attention that a former accomplice might bring)
ABC News has (at least as of midnight thursday) a poll on whether hackers should go to jail on their front page. (Not many options though.) They've got the Associated Press story on it here.
Salon's got the same AP story here. (in case you want to look at different banner ads, I guess)
A decent summary of the Miramax flick is here. (interestingly, it lists the Project phase as "In the can" which sounds worse than "On the shelf" as the other articles mention-- which is too bad. I kinda wanted to see the story with a fistfight between Mitnick and Shimomura and everyone on rollerblades and constantly saying "What is the Matrix?")
-transiit
I seem to recall NTK (http://www.ntk.net) suggesting that with all these restrictions on using, associating with or learning about high-tech stuff, the only job Kevin will be able to get is a judge :-)
60M: Mister Mitnick, do you believe that your computer restriction orders will limit your hacking activities?
KM: SKREEEEEEEEAWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
GONNNNNNG GONNNNNG
KSSHHHHHHHHHHH
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
First off, I'm all in agreement with everyone who said that Kevin's treatment by the Justice System was a shambles. Alot of the system got trampled in the rush to prosecute, and I'm not happy with the way the whole thing went at all.
That said, I'm really tired of people bitching and moaning about how Kevin really didn't do anything, and how his sentance was soooooo long, and now he has all these nasty restrictions, etc...
Some facts and a reality check here, folks.
So please, stop with the bitching about the sentance length. It's not atypical, nor unreasonable.
Bottom line here, folks, is that Kevin broke the law bigtime. I don't condone how he was prosecuted, but he IS a criminal.
And, if you look at things in the big picture, white collar crime is seriously UNDERPUNISHED in the US. White collar crime is generally far more damaging to society that violent crime (whose affect is more focused), in that white collar undermines the economic system itself. A couple of years washing dishes in a minimum-security facility doesn't even come close to being either a deterent or reasonable punishment.
One last thing here. The terms of his parole are neither onerous, nor atypical. Yes, for most of us, living without a computer would be unpleasant, but it is VERY easy to live a life without coming into contact with computers (or at least, in ways that Kevin's parole stipulate he not use them - and the ATM argument is bogus. He should have no problem using an ATM, if I read the parole terms right). Sorry, Kevin, you're just going to have to go be something other than an IT worker. That still leaves lots open. And plenty of non-menial jobs, too.
An old aphorism hold here:
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
I have no sympathy for Kevin himself. None at all. I'm still mad that prosecution handled itself the way it did, and I think they need to be taken to task for it, and heavily chastized. But I still don't feel for Kevin one iota.
And, I'm sorry, but /. shouldn't be interviewing convicted felons.
-Erik
There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
... See subject.
60 minutes may not get the questions that we want to hear. Ok, so we'll find out on Sunday.
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind