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Blaster Variant Creator Pleads Guilty
Hello Kitty writes "Robert Parson, the 18-year-old who modified and re-released a version of Blaster last year, is on his way to being made an example of, after pleading guilty Wednesday in a Seattle courtroom. According to AP, he can now look forward to 18-36 months behind bars and -- shades of Kevin Mitnick's phantom damages -- may be expected to pay millions in restitution. And then there's that lifelong 5cr1pt k1dd13 title. of course."
In related news top Microsoft executives are expected to address a grand jury tomorrow morning for betraying the public trust by carelessly releasing software without thorough debugging. Yesterday, Steve Ballmer addressed reporters from Reuters and the Associated Press denouncing the charges. "It's like suing an automaker for selling cars without thorough crash testing and evaluation."
(Hint to foolish wannabe kiddiez: stick to posting 'me toooo!!!!111' on the warez channel du jour. They won't send your sorry ass to prison for that.)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
A smarter system would have this kid be a digital janitor for a year or so. Disinfect this computer, now disinfect that one. You know, like an intern, and maybe he could get a job out of it when he's done.
More productive than license plates, and more likely to pay society back.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Parson was charged here last August because Microsoft is based in suburban Redmond.
;-)
"We appreciate the fact that the defendant has accepted responsibility for the crime he committed," Microsoft deputy general counsel Nancy Anderson said Wednesday.
He changed Blaster to make it attack the MPAA & RIAA rather then Microsoft.
Microsoft should thank him
My pics.
A Minnesota teenager known online as "teekid" was arrested and placed on electronic monitoring Friday for allegedly unleashing a version of the "Blaster" computer worm that infected thousands of computers.
First for writing the damn thing in the first place
Idiot
Parson apparently took few steps to disguise his identity. As a byproduct of each infection, every victim's computer sent signals back to the "t33kid.com" Web site that Parson had registered in his own name, listing his home address
Second for putting in a direct trace back to himself
Idiot
In court, the high school senior wore a T-shirt that read "Big Daddy" on the front and "Big and Bad" with a grizzly bear on the back. He sported a metal stud under his lip and his hair was dyed blond on top and shaved close around the sides and back
Third for showing no humility in court
... but I think in this case, he *should* be made an example of. Virus writers need to *STOP*. Now.
On the other hand...
The fact that unscrupulous companies will bill in phantom damages just makes it worse. How are these kids supposed to have any role models when the establishment distances themselves from morality for profit? Phantom damages and those who issue them, ought be fined and sent off to jail with just as much enthusiasm as virus writers.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Harsh sentence, but I don't have a lot of sympathy. Idiot makes virus, idiot gets caught, idiot gets punished.
Next please.
He pled guilty, so he's guilty. good. send him to jail. I've got no problem with that.
But as for the millions, who actually get's the money?
an IT profesionals JOB is to deal with problems, much like blaster caused (and still ocasionally does).
What other costs do these companies incur, as a result of a worm/virus?
Do these companies want money to pay the wages of these tech's?
if the worm did it's job through the use of an OS exploit, why isn't the OS creator picking up part of the bill?
legal fee's I can ken, but the rest doesn't quite make sense to Me...
He took a worm and modified it and released it. That's not much different in spirit from what many of us did at his age, playing with tech, poking at it, learning how things work. He just picked something that caused massive headaches to all concerned, so we have little sympathy for the kid. And he seems suitably contrite since his arrest, as well he might since that event probably shook him. But what do we do with such kids? We don't want worms being released, and we want to discourage this behavior. And yes, money is involved when businesses spend time to fix the problems. But asking him to repay "millions" is an order of magnitude wrong. Let's see Kenny Boy Lay repay millions, yes. But this kid?!
Those of us who poked and prodded tech at his age, but did so in a way that didn't cause headaches to everyone, understand a little of his motivation. He was a dope, but a curious dope, and now he's learned a lesson. Will all the other script kiddie types learn from this? No way. What if he is told to pay back "millions"? Nope, they still won't care. We need to rethink how we deal with this sort of headache so that we encourage kids not to mess with worms and stuff, without treating them worse than violent criminals. I don't have the answers, but I can't see how throwing the book at this kid is going to solve much.
When the case is made against Microsoft (or "M$") and how "Windoze" is insecure and should be replaced by Leenucks, the argument is always "the worms and the viruses and malware cost businesses trillions and gazillions of dollars".
But when they nail a dumbass kid who thought he was 1337 and releases a virus (or a variation of one) then it's "phantom damages".
That's great.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
I'm sorry, but how did he not cause damages with a virus which disrupted work and forced companies to disinfect their machines?
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Saying that this guy wrote a virus is like me changing the names in The Lord of the Rings and calling myself an author....
That's one way to look at it.
One could also argue that this kid modified and released a piece of software that he knew for a fact would run rampant and infect countless systems worldwide. He'd already seen it in action, and he knew exactly what it did to an infected system. He can't even run the Morris defense of 'it was released accidentally and I had no idea it would be this bad'.
This punk got his hands on a very nasty computer virus, made changes to it, and released it back into the wild knowing fully well what he was doing and would happen as a result of his actions. That it was a mind-numbingly simple change doesn't make his actions any less malicious or criminal. Throw the book at him.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
or perhaps he did know it was wrong (why else write a "keewell" virus from an old virus?) Like he didn't know it would fuck things up - you sir, are lost if you think an 18 yr. old that knows how to code (sorta) and re-used known virus code to make another virus, is "lacking the moral logic to recognize what he was doing is wrong". Complete bollocks.
He knew what he was doing was wrong. Knew it would break shit. Did it anyway. Could have been one of those "got out of hand" things though. Fine, but it was wrong and he knew it. If you know enough to mess with viruses, you know enough to know that it's wrong to just release them in the wild and you should garner enough knowledge to hide it if you are stupid enough to release it.
In the "real world" as you call it, people know their shit. Marie Curie didn't know radioactive material would kill her, but the Manhattan Project *knew* that it did (and how to control it's reactions), and didn't blow themselves up on accident...they blew shit up on purpose. And now we have the penalty of nuclear proliferation. And the good side (before you jump the gun...again)? We have loads of great tech (cancer therapy, etc.) from her (and the MP) work....but it's for the good, much like many computers are safer for knowing this danger is out there by being patched. (yes, many are not....that is not the argument here).
Something else to add: when one starts programming and discovers fork(), one *knows* what it does and uses it carefully. If one wants to know just how dangerous it is (or wants to test its danger...much like our little friend, the virus coder might have "just been curious")...one codes in a protected environment....period. If he was really that curious and innocent, he'd have done it on a closed network for testing and learning. If you know enough to know something is dangerous and want to test, you take precautions...or you fuck up and pay the price. The "complexities...in the real world" don't give a good goddamn what your intentions are.
They're not sending him to prison for typing any more than they send rapists to jail for feeling good.
He took a known computer virus, designed to cause damage. Modified it so that he would know which computers were infected and then willfuly and purposefully released said virus back into the wild to cause havoc.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
but he didn't did he, he showed no compassion for his victims so why should we show him? He wanted to play with the big boys, cause discomfort to countless people, be the though guy. Well now he can be though in jail. Something tells me he is going to be crying for his mommy.
I don't agree with many things american but the saying "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" I can get behind. This guy was no victim of society. He was not a poor man stealing bread for his family. He was nothing more then a little punk who went around smashing peoples car, a thief stealing every bike around because he is to lazy to walk, a parasite.
Sure he was an idiot but an idiot who deliberatly set out to cause other people harm. What do you suggest we do? Give him a 50 dollar penalty? Slap on the wrist? Then he will be boasting in seconds on the net on how the pigs couldn't touch him and his leet hacking skills brought down the net.
No let him rot for a couple of months. I doubt it will send a message to other script kiddies but there is always the element of revenge. Ghandi may have a thing or two to say about revenge but Ghandi also left a country wich now has been at war for 50 yrs with itself and its neighbour. (tamils and pakistan)
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I'm such a geek. Normally I don't really give a damn about what people think of what I wear.
(It's decent. I'm not wearing a crotchless S&M outfit to work, or anything. If anyone is fundamentally offended the sight of a clean pair of jeans, they're just stupid. And I have better things to do than worry about stupid people.)
However, in this case we're talking a court of law. You don't want to piss off the judge who might, on a whim, give you a suspended sentence or community service or send you behind bars for a few years.
You _don't_ want to look like an unrepentant "fuck you all" rebel to the judge. You don't want to look like you're damn proud of what you've done. (Which is the impression that such a "Big Daddy" t-shirt would have given even me.)
I'm not even saying he should have worn a suit and tie or anything. But, you know, even if you're gonna wear a t-shirt, make it a plain one.
I mean, geeze, wear that t-shirt to school. Wear it at a party. Wear it even to a job interview if you honestly don't give a damn about the outcome. But a court of law is more serious: unlike a job interview, you can't just try again somewhere else.
Basically all I'm saying is that there's difference between not caring about stupid people, and _being_ the stupid one. Freakin' big difference.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.