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

Not So Free

[LittleGuy]

Info Week Version, for those slashdotting CNN

Mitnick was freed in January 2000. The terms of his probation, which expire January 20, require he get government permission before using computers, software, modems or any devices that connect to the Internet. His travel and employment also are limited.

Also:

Christopher Painter, deputy chief of the Justice Department's computer crime section and the former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Mitnick, said that once the former hacker's probation is over, he won't be subject to any special surveillance.

"Not any more than anyone else would," Painter said. He added that "if there's any indication that anyone is engaged in illegal conduct, we're going to look into that."

So, it's not all reset-button and blue skies against Da Man. Until Mitnick gets a full-blown Presidential pardon, he's going to remain a marked man.

His Girlfriends Blog ...

[rtnz]

... Is here: http://www.labmistress.com/content/pn/html

rtnz

Re:Interesting Perspective

[rmadmin]

Well, considering the fact that he's already used them, I'd say your a bit behind.

but not allowed to touch a computer or log onto the Internet until January 20, 2003.

This is wrong. He's been able to use computers for quite a while now, he was just banned from the internet. So, in theory, he's been able to use MDK and XP, which you can purchase at a store. (Why anyone would use MDK when Slackware exists is beyond me). Jokes aside, if I remember correctly, I read somewhere that he was heavy into Solaris when he got busted.

Re:So where's the story here?

[LostCluster]

Kevin is in the news now because this week the FCC has ruled that he may renew his ham radio band license. Mitnick has had that license since he was a teenager, never used it in the course of his hacking, and this stays clear of his ban on networked computers because it doesn't need a computer.

The FCC ruled that he has done his time for his crimes, so there's no valid reason to deny the renewal. Unfortunately, it took Kevin thousands in legal fees to get them to reach that conclusion.

Re:Free Kevin first..

[JSmooth]

Another truly amazing fact is how little you know about the case. Though Kevin's actions may not be justified neither were the government's. He was held for five years with NO trial. Let me say that again NO TRAIL. I keep forgetting. I thought it was those evil facists countries that did that kind of thing like... America...

And of course the claims from Sun, Novell, etc that he did tens of millions of dollars of damage (which is why he became such a sensation) were never held up in court. During the actual "trial" no company could produce anything but cursory evidence to the damage he did. As for the credit card fraud. Err. I mean file he had this same file was in the possession of any decent hacker at the time (kinda like being a *nix geek and NOT hanging out at /. if you can imagine). What he did was completely wrong. What the media and government did to him was worse.

This was not an eye for an eye but an eye for the whole freaking body.

DETAILS on his pretrial detention??

[MacAndrew]

IIRC Mitnick was held in pretrial detention for ~4 1/2 years, then released on a plea and time served. I spent a while some time ago trying to understand how this happened.

Now, his initially being in detention w/o bail after an extended run as a federal fugitive should not surprise anyone. If you fled you pretty much demonstrated that you are a flight risk.

Also, that we was held longer that the 100-day Speedy Trial Act span is unsurprising because of the numerous "tolling provisions" that can stretch out that time. I think most prosecutions are affected by these.

Finally, that he waived Speedy Trial Act protection is not uncommon and was partly to his benefit, as it gave the defense more time to prepare for trial. In other words, he didn't waive to be nice to the gov't, although he was under considerable pressure to do so.

All this I understand except -- how did it all add up for 4 1/2 years? I have read a ton of criminal cases and never heard of anything like it. I'm not interested in hearing dark conspiracy theories. I suspect it was a failure of the system more than prosecutorial manipulation, and don't want to see it happen again. Was Mitnick partly responsible?

BTW, conditions in pretrial detention may have been better -- prisoners there, being pretrial, have incentive to play nice (I visited one of these places, and it was much nicer than even federal prison) -- and the 4 1/2 years may not have been excessive for his second offense, his flight, and other aggravating factors. But I don't think this is the right way to be doing things -- it would have been lovely if he proved to be innocent.

Re:DETAILS on his pretrial detention??

[espo812]

All this I understand except -- how did it all add up for 4 1/2 years? [...]Was Mitnick partly responsible?

Depends on who you ask. Another factor in delay until trial was that Mitnick and his lawyers needed access to the evidence to be used against him, including over 9GB of electronic data. The government didn't want to provide access to a computer for Mitnick to use for examining the evidence. Another issue was the government monitoring his (and his lawyer's use) of the computers while examining the data. This could clue the government in on certain pieces of info that they hadn't noticed earlier - or perhaps the strategy the defense would use. So this issue took quite some time to sort out. A quick look through the news section on freekevin.com shows his attorney filed a motion for discovery on Nov 24, 1998 based on a court order to make the evidence available. The last mention I saw of this situation was March 31, 1999 - again, I did only a quick scan of the archive, more careful analysis may come up with better information.

The reason I say "depends on who you ask," is that some would say it was his fault for wanting to see the evidence. However, I believe the blame should be pointed towards the government for failing in their constitutional duties to provide for a fair trial.

Re:Free Kevin first..

[LabMistress]

The problem with Kevin's story is that a lot of it is based on myth created by John Markoff and other reporters, and not fact. The statement that you made is completely false, and Kevin was never indicted nor convicted of stealing any credit cards. I refer you to a story on my site. Please pay particular attention to #3.

Re:Well... HE DIDN'T

[Anonymous Coward]

He didn't just sit in a jail cell awaiting trial. That was a great big giant load of crap. He was convicted to 22 months for posses cloned cell phones when they caputred him and he was serving that sentence while waiting trial for breaking into the Motorola and Sun etc., computers.

Here is a link to the dept of justice site that actually gives the facts. Gee, wouldn't that be different, eh? The facts that is...

Here's a nice snippet backing my statement:

Mitnick was sentenced today by United States District Senior Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer. The 46-month term was agreed to by Mitnick and the United States Attorney's Office. Mitnick was previously sentenced by Judge Pfaelzer to an additional 22 months in prison, this for possessing cloned cellular phones when he was arrested in North Carolina in 1995 and for violating terms of his supervised release imposed after being convicted of an unrelated computer fraud in 1989

I disagree. Kevin broke the law

[Billly Gates]

In my opinion reading a dvd that I purchase is not the same as braking into someone elses property and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Jon Johnson and elmsoft did nothing but *read some files that were originally encrypted on their own systems!

The DMCA is absurd and I do not like comparing the 2 arrests. If we support anyone who hacks then no one will take us seriously when an injustice occurs like the case with Jon Johnson and Elmsoft.

The difference between the cases are night and day and the doj actually had a legitmate case with Kevin.