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Oregon Supreme Court Declines To Hear Schwartz Case
merlyn writes "The Oregon Supreme Court declined to hear my case, leaving standing the unfavorable decision of the Oregon Appeals Court as the final authority on this eight-year-long case, well known to many
sysadmin and Perl hacker alike. Details at my fors-announce posting." If you're not sure what that means, you probably want to read at least this site which offers a straightforwardly partisan look at the complicated case of Intel vs. Schwartz as well as Schwartz's own page; it's a strange world where programmers and sysadmins can be convicted for seemingly innocent activities.
I have to confess that I am not too familiar with this case. The links in the story weren't too helpful either.
/. in jail? :)
Apparently he messed around with some Intel servers? Was he employed by them at the time?
Can anyone give me a quick summary, someone who is more familiar with the case?
Also, is Schwartz in jail now? You get
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I'm sorry, but at first blush what he was doing would not seem inocent to anyone. He was cracking passwords, and sent out some VPs password to other people. He was also not a fully employee and didn't authorization to do what he was doing.
He may not have meant any harm by what he did. And when you look closer you can see that. But what he did does not seem innocent in any sense of the word.
Yeh, now mod me flamebait like that first post AC. God forbid we should go against the Editors
(btw, sorry this post hasn't been spellchecked. I'm away from home and my spellchecker)
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Here's where I will get modded down as well, but hopefully you will see this. Please visit:
http://www.cpusa.org and join in the cause. The American people (and the other peoples of the world, at the hands of America) will continue to be raped by the wealthy classes until the workers (we may be tech workers these days, but we are *still* workers) realize that the labor is OURS.
Those big fat guys at Enron (and their friends) are only on top because we are willing to let them stay there, in part because we've been brainwashed into thinking that beyond the borders of America, there be dragons, so we should be satisfied with whatever the hell the status quo is here now.
If you're really fed up, take the time to make a difference. Together we can build a better world.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
What has any of this to do with the Schwartz case? He was caught red handed using someone else's computer to run a password cracking programme on Intel's password file. To make matters even worse, he was also cracking the password file of an outside company, namely O'Reilly.
His contract with Intel had nothing to do with security, as far as I know, and so he had no business using those computers for anything other than Intel related work, most specifically, what he had been hired to do. I would have done the same.
The point is not that he was doing cracking on someone else's computer, but the fact that he was using those computers to do unauthorized work that could leave Intel itself open to charges of industrial espionage, since it is ultimately responsible for how it's resources are utilized.
Whatever the legal aspects of the case. Schwartz should simply not have done what he was doing on those computers. If he was doing password cracking on his own computer at home, fine. To use someone else's computer to do the same, without their permission is something else.
I like knowing exactly what my computer is doing at all times. That's why I use linux. That's why I'm a open source advocate. I would not have tolerated such clandestine work either, regardless of what he was doing. I would have done the same even if he were factoring numbers to discover large primes or engaging in the stupidity of the SETI project.
It's MY computer and I decide what to do with it. Intel has the same right, and nobody, including Schwartz, has anything to do say about it. Schwartz violated Intel's computer rights, and he should be severely punished.
Ten thousand lashes with a wet noodle would suffice.