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Lawyers Say Hackers Are Sentenced Too Harshly
Bendebecker writes "Cnet is reporting: 'The nation's largest group of defense lawyers on Wednesday published a position paper arguing that people convicted of computer-related crimes tend to get stiffer sentences than comparable non-computer-related offenses.' Finally, someone is listening..." The document makes the points that most computer crime cases involve disputes between an employer and employee, and that the seriousness of the offense is generally comparable to white-collar fraud cases.
I think it all depends on the crime committed.... stealing 8 million credit cards is a lot more serious than defacing a website for an hour, don't you think?
On the other hand I AM glad that computer crime is possibly going to be recognized as a white collar crime instead of a terrorist threat.
This one bombed a bus. That one stole a credit card. Kill 'em both!
Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
In many cases, the victim would be ignored if s/he didn't over-state the actual damages. I've heard victim after victim (right here on slashdot) state that they've went to the FBI/local officials, and were denied help because the actual damages didn't add up to a certain amount.
No wonder victims are overstating the problem, it's because they don't like being ignored.
--sex
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Scenario A: man walks into a store with a gun, demands they empty the till, walks out with a hundred bucks.
Net effect: 100 bucks for the store + mental anguish for people in there.
Punishment: Ten years
Scenario B: Man defrauds investors, pension funds etc out of millions or billions
Net Effect: Pension funds slashed, thousands made unemployed
Punishment: 5 years
We all know that white collar crime gets punished a whole lot less, but is that right ? Why shouldn't execs from the likes of Enron, WorldCom et al be looking at life behind bars for the havoc they have reaked ? Well because there really is a different set of laws for the rich. Sure they might even get 15 years in the cases of these massive frauds, but is this enough given the damage they have caused ?
So maybe the problem is that white collar crime is punished too little, rather than hacking is punished too much. Maybe having sentences for theft, fraud etc (of any kind not involving actual violent which already has punishments) should be related to the amount of money stolen.
Maybe 1 year per $1000....
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
I thought a laywers job was to understand the law and to represent his/her client, not decide what's fair or not fair regarding the law.
Who says they are deciding. They are stating their opinion. It is up to legislators to create and modify the law and judges to uphold it. Lawyers just happen to be the most intimitately involved with both types of cases and therefore are qualified to state an opinion.
I would also point out that they are as free to state their opinion as you are.
I don't want them making any public statements on my behalf...
Your behalf, eh? That's admission of guilt, get him boys.
"Probably the toughest time in anyone's life is when you have to murder a loved one because they're the devil." -Philips
Are hackers sentenced too harshly, or are "comparable" criminals not sentenced harshly enough?
--
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It's because lawmakers have no idea what hacking is. All they know is that the news and their handlers and their real constituents (donors) say it's very bad. It's just like way back in the day when people were put in institutions for being depressed. No one knew why they were depressed so they just put them away.
Now, I'm not saying that hacking others' equipment is good. I'm just saying that the punishment should fit the crime, not get 10 years in jail because you made the RIAA website say they love mp3s instead of money.
Note To Self: change plans from hacking to fraud.
-You're wasting your time. Alfador only likes me.
If I break into someone's house, I'll be charged with breaking and entering, and with trespassing.
If I hack into someone's network and don't even do anything but look around, I'm charged with causing losses of millions. I'm charged with stealing any sensitive content I gained access to whether or not I even looked at it. Not to mention they'll slap all the cybercrime and terrorism laws they can find down on me too. It has nothing to do with the severity of the laws, just that you get pinned with so many of them.
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You can't send all the president's friends to jail, who will he invite to his barbecues?
arguing that people convicted of computer-related crimes tend to get stiffer sentences than comparable non-computer-related offenses.
Only in US. Convicted hacker Raphael Gray, who stole 23,000 credit card no. and sent Bill Gates boxes of Viagra, was only sentenced to three years of community rehabilitation. As he told BBC:
"...Kevin Mitnick was stopped from going near computers, even from working a cash register, but they can't do that in this country.
I've had two job offers - one from the guy who tracked me down..."
...are the hackers of today.
"... McOwen was charged under Georgia law with computer trespass. Facing up to 120 years in prison..."
A man installed a program that for all intent and purposes is a screen saver and he could have been forced to serve 120 years in prison had he not plea bargained. Clara Harris killed her husband with her Mercedes, was found guilty of 1st degree murder, and was only sentenced to 20 years (she'll get out in 10).
I think something is wrong with a system that gives you more time for installing a program that doesn't do any damage than it does for murdering a person in cold blood.
...more year in prison than the average raper ?
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An 11 year old snuck into his classroom during lunch and changed some of his grades on his teacher's computer. He was caught and is now facing FELONY computer fraud charges. Tell me that's not a bit ridiculous.
-Dan.
People have always tended to be hysterical about that which they fear and don't understand. They see this "hacking" (it should be called "cracking" in this context, but that's a lost cause) as a vaguely defined but fearsome threat, regardless of the actual reality of harm, and clamor for the modern equivalent of witch burnings.
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Too harshly? Why, in my day, after Prometheus stole fire and gave it to mankind, we chained the guy to a rock and had a giant bird eat out his liver every day. Now that's punishment!
-kgj
That a lot of the problem here is due to double standards and lack of accountability.
Joe Schmoe embezzles from his S&L firm for ten years, gets caught, and it is realized that he made off with 500K. He is slapped on the wrist, fired, made to "pay it back" on time deferred payments, or maybe stuck in a white collar prison/country club for a few years.
Mike, the l337 hacker from down the street, defaces Stuff-Marts web page, pointing out that Stuff-Mart buys 80% of its stuff from china, where it is made in forced child labor camps at gunpoint, and it is repaired in an hour.
Now.. Stuff Mart's lawyers tell the jury that they *potentially* lost MILLIONS due to the damage, (when in fact, they did not "lose" anything.. and there is no way to prove how many people would have bought during that time anyway). The SM lawyers also point out that it cost "an estimated 100K dollars to repair the damage!".. which means they just budgeted in A) the new server and colocation company to handle the site, B) the three person team who maintains and handles the site already, and C) all of their IT staff who received an Email about the "hack" and therefore were "working" on it.
Its all about what the jury wants to hear, and all about language.. "potential" is used ahead of "we could have potentially lost BILLIONS in sales!" but the judge/jury does not hear the "potential". Nor do they realize that 99% of that IT staff was already working there, doing their routine jobs, and had nothing to do with the repair anyway.
(Same reason a procedure at the hospital that took all of 15 minutes costs your insurance company as much as your house did.. funky accounting and everyone wanting to be "in" on the action.)
I think a lot of "hacking" is a no harm no foul problem anyway.
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
100 years ago before the automobile became dominant, society & the economy depended quite a bit on horses. As such, you would be hung for stealing a horse, not because it's such a horrible offense, but because if the punishment wasn't really stiff excess horse theivery would probably have actually undermined the stability of society. Who would want that!
The same forces are probably in effect here.
Keep passing the open windows...