Slashdot Mirror
Russian Snared By The FBI Sentenced To 3 Years
Mark Cantrell writes "Vasiliy Gorshkov, one of two Russian crackers who were arrested in November 2000 after the FBI broke into their computer systems were sentenced Friday. Taking pity on Gorshkov's family, they sentenced Gorshkov to 3 years in prison and a fine of nearly $700,000 USD. They also mention how a U.S. judge found that the FBI wasn't breaking any laws in breaking into a Russian computer system, despite the fact that they were breaking a Russian law doing so. So apparently, it's ok for Americans to break Russian law if they're in the U.S., but not ok for Russians to break U.S. law, even while in Russia."
Gotta love how US foreign policy rears it's ugly head again...
Just how much was the judge paid by the Bush campaign to keep things towing the party line?
It would also be interesting to see the US convict a muslim for the exact same crime. The sh!t would hit the fan then, eh?
user@host$ diff
And yes, I want the US to enforce US law as much as possible on anyone who acts to harm any American in any way. Why shouldn't I?
The US government has the right and even the responsibility to act in the National Interest, just like every other government. Duh!
To you critics of the US: demonstrate to me even one time when your government acted beyond it's own National Interest - and following the US lead doesn't count. Here, I'll give you some US examples to demonstrate what I'm talking about: WWI, WWII, and the League Of Nations/UN.
BTW: To you critics of the Bush Administration's Foreign Policy: where were you when Clinton was Wagging the Dog in Serbian; bombing Libia; bombing Iraq? That latest is especially hideous; occuring purely as a distraction from the Impeachment, it made weapon inspections impossible, and thereby guaranteed the continuation of the 10 year embargo which has produced so much suffering and death among the people of Iraq. And before you Bush-haters try to pin that on Bush the Elder - no one ever imagined that the Bush administration would be followed by one so cowardly and heartless as to ignore the people of Iraq and their plight for the next eight years!
There are plenty of reasons to critisize US foreign policy, but the truth is that the situation we are in is the accumulation of many years of mistakes. Personally, I think the US failed to adapt to its new role as sole remaining superpower. As such, we need to be, and be seen to be, as even-handed with the rest of the world as possible. We did become more even-handed in Asia, but barely did so in Central Europe, and have actually become worse than ever in the Middle East.
Whatever. At least Bush is focused more on addressing the problems and less on pawing the help.
"Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
Crackers are criminals who should be punished to the fullest extent of the law in the home region of the computer system where the crime took place. Moreover, the law enforcement agencies throughout the world should cooperate as much as possible to make this happen. If that requires breaking into a cracker's computer, that is fair game.
Complaining about the reverse cracking on part of the police is analogous to complaining about a police officer's use of a firearm against a criminal who is also wielding a firearm. By breaking into other people's computers, you forfeit your right not to have it done to you by those who want to catch you.
It's normal for police officers to use the same tools that are used by criminals: speeding cars, deadly firearms, break and enter tools. The tools go with the territory; the tools alone don't define the moral context of their use.
In your post on 9/15 titled "getting closer..." under "VoIP Cell Phones Coming", you failed to capitalize the first word of the sentence, you misspelled ubiquitous, you failed to capitalize the first letter of the following sentence, then the next sentence, then you failed to capitalize the 'i' in "I'll", then the following 'I', and finally the first letter of the next sentence.
Now then, if my misspelling of a single word makes me a dumbass, what do the numerous mistakes mentioned above say about you? Oh please, demonstrate some of that good old-fashioned American HIPOCRISY for me with a reply... Aren't you glad I spelt it right this time?
Show me an effect without cause and then I'll believe in chaos.
>I think he is referencing our unstinting support >of Israel despite their many atrocities Oh yes, the atrocities! How dare those fucking Jews get blow to bits while commuting to work? The nerve of some people! And then they proceed to get chopped to pieces by nail bomobs while out clubbing! What's next, being detonated during religous ceremonies? Oh wait, they do that too. Those damn Jews! We really ought to do something about them. The way they slaughter Palestinian kids for fertilizer and drink the blood of slain Christian babes. It's a wonder nobody has had the bright idea of exterminating them yet! Oh wait...Yeah anyway, what the fuck were they thinking killing all those hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin and sneakily burying the bodies in unmarked mass graves? The Jenin masscare must be answered for!!! Except...oh yeah, Amnesty International admitted there was never any masscare, so forget about that. Moving right along...The Six Days war, what's up with that? Those fucking Jews think that just because all of their Arab neighbours decide to band together and wipe Israel off the map they can, like, defend themselves and shit? Fuck that! They should have gone like lambs to the slaughter. Except...isn't that what we accused them of during WWII? I guess so..Uh..yeah...anyhow, Sharon is a nasty nasty man. Cause like..uh..erm..yeah, well, he doesn't want peace in the region, see? Nevermind that Arafat turned down Barak's Camp David proposal for a Palestinian state, with a capital in Jerusalem no less, opting to initiate a new intifada. That proposal was obviously flawed, see, because it would have been a compromise for both sides, and those damn Jews know well enough that the Palestinians are a proud people and can't be arsed to compromise. So in conclusion...let us not let pesky facts get in the way of good old fashioned Jew-bashing, k?