Adrian Lamo Pleads Guilty

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.

Comments

The Hacking / Breaking In Analogy

[sjbrown]

Ugh. How many times are we going to see this analogy. Slashdot's lameness filter should be able to catch this one by now. If you're trying to prove that it's easy to abuse analogies, congratulations, point made. Here let me help:

This is the same as putting up a big sign on your home that says "We Have Pay Per View Movies In Here!", then, some kids walk up to your huge picture window and look through the glass and watch your Pay Per View Movies.

Would you use my analogy? I hope not. So stop using the "Break In" one.

Yes, I know. IHBT. Whatever.

Re:If a guy breaks into your house, make him a her

[9Nails]

More like a building inspector who found a door wide open to your house, and when he found a termite infestation, he let you know you needed to fix it immediately. So what if he grabbed a soda and sat on the couch? It's all virtual any way. The important thing is that his intentions weren't malicious. And he wasn't trying to extort money from NYT nor was he trying to steal CC numbers.

It's a criminal act without criminal intent. Adrian Lamo came forward to NYT with the imformation. (The NYT didn't know about the security hole.) And he turned himself in to the FBI when he heard he was wanted. A criminal would not have been so honest. And the prosecution should lighten up.

Re:Prison? What kind of prison?

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

Let's all be nice and send him a present. Something he could really use.
Stuff like a good waterproof lubricant, anti-asspain spray, a soft pillow to sit on and some soap that can't drop to the floor.

short sighted and blind. (Sounds like your name)

[twitter]

Dick at work writes:

It is publically accessable without tresspass. But it isnt archived, indexed, cross referenced and made easily searchable, and that costs money.

The gratification you and others get from punishing this "hacker" is small minded and cruel. It's bassed on a needless scarcity and private profiteering at the public expense. You will see that the larger crime is being commited by Lexis-Nexis.

Think, Dick, think, the answer has been demonstrated and the implications are clear. The lack of organization sounds a lot like the internet to me. Too bad states don't just put the electronic infromation they create on the web in raw form for anyone to ogranize as they see fit. It's comming and you will think of well organize and useful access to the law as a right.

People getting in the way of that availabilty are criminals. People who listen to them are just dicks.