Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Adrian Lamo Pleads Guilty

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the turning-oneself-in dept.

darth dickinson writes "InfoWorld reports that Adrian Lamo, the so-called 'homeless hacker,' pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges that he broke into the internal computer network of The New York Times. The 22-year-old could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at a sentencing hearing in April." From the sound of things, he just wants to pay his debt to society and put this behind him. It'll be interesting to see if the judge sticks to the suggested sentence or not.

6 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. This is NOT right - Please DONATE to his fund by Amsterdam+Vallon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Go to Freelamo.com, a non-profit website DEDICATED to supporting Adrian Lamo.

    ALL profits from donations and or merchandise purchases are donated to the Adrian Lamo Defense Fund.

    We HAVE to help this guy out. Jail is not right -- what he did was mere curiosity mixed with the desire to HELP these companies fix their network.

    He did nothing of REAL financial damage. Please help him today (imagine if you were in HIS shoes!).

    Thank you for reading this, friends. We, as a large tech community, have to get behind this guy and show others that mere EXPLORING is not to be looked down upon. What if we didn't explore Mars/Moon?

    --

    Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
    1. Re:This is NOT right - Please DONATE to his fund by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wrong. He's a criminal and should pay for his crimes. Let him rot in jail where he won't do any more damage.

    2. Re:This is NOT right - Please DONATE to his fund by rblancarte · · Score: 2, Informative

      It doesn't matter if the ammount of damages are right or not. The fact is that Lamo broke into computers that were not his. That is illegal. He deserves to be punished. Now that all being said, because of him owning up to what he did, I agree that the maximum punishment is too harsh, but he does need to be made an example of.

      RonB

      --
      It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
  2. Re:Why by gantrep · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because he didn't have a permanent address and occasionally stayed in empty buildings.

  3. Lamo may have a deal with the prosecutors by Honorbound · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to TechTV's "The Screen Savers" (computer help and trends show, for those not familiar), who have interviewed Lamo several times, he has struck a deal with the Feds to server six months in Federal prison. He was asking for six months of home detention, but he still ended up a heck of a lot better than five years!

    --
    "I'm not, like, that smart. I, like, forget stuff all the time." -- Paris Hilton
  4. Re:Six months of home detention? by 9Nails · · Score: 2, Informative

    His parents mortgaged their home to help defend him. Perhaps this is the reason for the "homeless" label?
    Yea, I thought he plea bargained on Monday to a fitting 6 month probation? So did CNN...
    http://news.com.com/2100-7348-5135351.html