Kevin Free

An anonymous reader writes: "Surely many of you will remember that before there was ever a cry to 'Free Dimitry Sklyarov', Free Kevin Mitnick was the call of many. He was convicted on 'hacking' charges, though many on the Internet found the charges and trial to be unfair. He was freed in January 2000, but not allowed to touch a computer or log onto the Internet until January 20, 2003. See the story at CNN or read some background info at freekevin.com. "

Comments

I'M FREE

[Kevin Mitnick]

PRAISE THE GOOD LORD, USA!

Re:I'M FREE

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, You're not supposed to use the Internet for another month!!! B U S T E D !!

Re:I'M FREE

[buckeyeguy]

Guess he's still got the 'edge', if he can sneak in a first post on a thread about himself ;)

Free Kevin?

[Rayonic]

Wait... you mean free-as-in-beer, or free-as-in-speech?

Re:Free Kevin?

[gezerk]

It's perfectly clear to me, they mean free as in WILLY!

Re:Free Kevin?

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Hee hee. Next time somebody uses that tired and never-was-all-that-appropriate cliche, "Free as in speech or free as in beer?" I'll know just how to respond.

"Do you mean free as in bird, or free as in Willy?"

Hee hee. The people who take themselves too seriously are going to love that one.

Re:Free Kevin?

[Waab]

I think this merits a third freedom option.

• Free-as-in-beer
• Free-as-in-speech
• Free-as-in-Kevin

Let's hope he won't get into trouble again

[sisukapalli1]

Say, by watching DVDs on linux, or reading an e-book on linux, or... The odds are stacked against him. I suggest he take up VB.Net classes and work on IE plugins and IIS maintenance.

S

So where's the story here?

[goldspider]

Wouldn't this story be more appropriate on Jan. 20? Or are you setting yourselves up for a pre-emptive Dupe?

Free Kevin....

[Alric]

Geez. That brings back memories. I used to have that yellow and black bumper stick on the back of my car. One summer I was driving to SummerCon, and I was pulled over by a Georgia state trooper, on 85 right outside of Atlanta. He actually knew what the sticker meant, and we discussed the merits of the case. It was a very cool experience and made me regain some trust in our government, all of which has subsequently been eroded. AND I only got a written warning for going 83 in a 70mph speed zone. Hell yeah.

Re:Free Kevin....

[MacAndrew]

You have *significantly* improved my stereotyped impression of Georgia state troopers. :)

Note that you benefitted from prosecutorial discretion. Mitnick did not, I think largely because he was such as asshole and ticked off the wrong people. If you'd had his kind of publicity you'd probably still be breaking rocks in Georgia.

The (apocryphal) tale I remember was of a woman who was zipping through Georgia late at 90 MPH to be stopped by a classic Cool Hand Luke trooper with an attitude. He drawled, "Lady, no one drives that fast in Georgia." She quipped, "Sherman did." And spent the night in jail.

Ouch.

Re:What about me?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have your computer now. Pretty good hardware. Bad news for you, though. I promptly erased all of your kiddie pr0n. Don't worry, the Feds have your copy.

Irony

[Aggrazel]

"Not being allowed to use the Internet is kind of like not being allowed to use a telephone," Mitnick said Thursday in a phone interview.

hehe

Photo of the cloned baby woman!

[Anonymous Coward]

No, dear God, don't let it be true! This woman would go down into the history books...

Re:Foolish Punishment?!??

[Twirlip of the Mists]

My wife worked in the courts for a few years and while people lost the "privledge" of driving for multiple DUI and DWI's that "never" stopped any of them from driving and "rarely" caused any of them to server more than 30 days (which also was a rare occurrence).

I find your "use" of "quotation marks" somewhat "confusing." Do you "mean" them as "irony" or as "emphasis?"

Just "asking."

SPAM

[HowlinMad]

Just think of how much SPAM he has!!!!

Re:More interesting

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

Where he states how he's going to raise money for his $16k legal fees, making corporate videos for how to not be socially hacked.

I have one if you would like to see it, send me a credit card number. email me

Three YEARS of Spam!!

[Trillian_1138]

Can you imagine leaving your email accounts for three years?! He'll have gone over the storage limit a hundred times over, what with the revolutionary new offers for penis growth offers, mortgage payments made easy, and little RC race-cars.

How much email do you think your accounts would collect in THREE YEARS?!

-Trillian

Kevin Mitnick allowed back on internet

[rocketfairy]

In other news, the FBI's "Carnivore" system is experiencing malfunctions, and was taken offline Saturday. The FBI denies allegations of an intrusion.

in Soviet Russia

[thilmony]

Kevin frees YOU!

I would hate to be his ISP...

[thogard]

Phone rings...
FBI: We are the FBI and we are here to help... We want to get a tap on KM's data. we want it all logged.
Tech: You'll have to wait in the snoop queue.
FBI: We are the FBI, you can't make us wait!
Tech: The NSA guy is here in person and he claims he's 1st.
FBI: *&#*-*!

[Door breaks down. Men with large guns enter]
DHS: We are the Department of Fatherland Security, were here to help.
[Poor phone monkey gets nailed by a stray bullet]
DHS: Give us a tap on KM's data NOW.

NSA: we were here 1st and were with the NSA
DHS: Ours is bigger than yours!
[Much machoism is displayed with people wiping out badges and such]

Meanwhile in another room....
Corp Dude [from Sun or Nokia or NEC its hard to tell]: So its all taken care of now? You'll let us no so we won't get embarrassed again?
BOFH: Yes it is all taken care of, we will make sure your alerted to any hacking attempts you need to know about. Let me put down these money bags, they are getting heavy.

Maybe being his ISP wouldn't be so bad...

and only 24 days early

[Phelan]

Wonder if this is really Kevin,
does this count as a parol violation?