Slashdot Mirror
WebTV 911 Hacker... Cyber Terrorist?
Mastab286 writes "Federal agents have arrested David Jeansonne, 43, of Louisiana on cyberterrorism charges under the USA PATRIOT Act for a malware attack against eighteen MSN TV (formerly known as WebTV) customers. As part of an online conflict in July 2002, Mr. Jeansonne wrote a script to change the dial-up number of MSN TV equipment to the 911 emergency number. He disguised the script as a tool to change the colors of the user interface, and sent it to his eighteen foes; the next time they tried to log on, they would end up calling the police instead. Several of the customers sent the tool to friends, bringing the total number of victims up to twenty-one. The script also posted the users' browser history to a website and e-mailed hardware serial numbers to a free webmail account. Prosecutors charge that the act meets the definition of cyberterrorism since it endangered public safety."
Another example of the DOH'S trying to justify their existance.
On a similar note, the search for Bin Laden is finally underway. They've begun using tactics innovated with Saddam's capture such as 'interrogating relatives' and 'transfering special units in'.
If by terrorism they mean bologna deoderant.
I don't think any of us can say with any confidence what the intent was from the limited information available. It may seem to you that the intent was to hassle the 18 targets and not 911 service. But you're inferring from limited data.
How do you know this wasn't a test-run for a large-scale DDoS attack on 911 service?
How do you know doofus wouldn't have had so much fun (had he not been caught) that he'd do it again, maybe to all his enemies' friends' friend's via some automatic means (self-propagating virus + 911 DDoS)?
Any way you answer those questions other than "I don't" involves assumptions and inference. That's OK, as long as you maintain a reasonable level of confidence about your assumptions. It bothers me to see others in this thread proclaiming with 100% confidence what this guy's intent was.
Maybe we should create some sort of forum in which all of the relevant evidence, witnesses, and experts could come together to discuss the case and try to ascertain intent and then apply an appropriate punishment. Oh wait, that's a court, and that's where he's going.
everything in moderation
But the word is they're going to really demonize him by showing that he is planning to destroy the U.S. by diluting and undermining the sacred institution on which all of civilization is founded, you know, the one that will simply evaporate if the goverment fails to regulate it adequately.
He's marrying another man?
Haida Manga