Judge Refuses To Convict Hacker

Jake96 writes "A judge in Wellington, New Zealand, declined to convict a man who ran an unrequested security audit on a bank's phone systems and was charged with 'intentionally accessing a computer system knowing he was not authorized to,' according to an article in the New Zealand Herald."

Comments

Can this set a precedent here in the States?

[defile]

I hope so.

Re:Can this set a precedent here in the States?

[Anonymous Coward]

Stupid court results?? I thought that was the norm in the US so why would it set a precedence?

Maybe you should read what this guy actually did. he intruded into a banks phone system (without permission), performed a security audit (again without permission), and then tried to get the bank to pay for his work. If I was the bank I would be taking this bastard to court too. how would you feel if someone turned up at your house did some work then sent you a bill all without you requesting anythign be done. The fact that the bank has a security issue is a side note here, they should be hiring a "reputable" security firm to look at there systems.

Re:Can this set a precedent here in the States?

[joe90]

Actually, it's a bit more serious than that. The bank http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/ who's phone system he compromised is an approximate functional equivilant of the US Federal Reserve http://www.federalreserve.gov/ (but quite a bit smaller).

He's very lucky he did it in NZ where it appears that the courts consider him stupid rather than malicious. In other countries he might get charged with terrorism related offenses or worse.

Re:Can this set a precedent here in the States?

[Fordiman]

He committed no intentional crime. He was identified a security flaw, and provided this info to the bank before asking for money. Sure, it's a little like the guy who washes your windshield at a sopt light asking for money, but it's far from dishonest.

If the bank were a computer company with the present mindset, the bank would get to work on fixing the problem, and he'd have been ignored when he asked for cash, rather than prosecuted.

Re:Can this set a precedent here in the States?

[badfish99]

How about the UK: see for example here

Also, in the UK someone was fined £1000 and lost his job just for typing in a URL with "../../.." on the end of it. Story here.

Borderline scam?

[Louis A. J.]

While he didn't do anything illegal, I would be very surprised to receive a bill for a service I didn't request. His actions weren't illegal but his method of doing business definitely leaves something to be desired. Although his decision to not broadcast the bank's weaknesses to the public could be viewed as integrity, it could also be calculated business sense. It doesn't sound like someone I would choose to do business with.

Would you honestly pay for a service you weren't told you were receiving and didn't ask for if you were billed for it?

Re:Borderline scam?

[xs650]

Right, who does he think he is , the government?

Re:Miracles!

[Who235]

He did not pass the information on to others and did not use it for personal gain. "In my view his intentions were honourable."

I know. Amazing isn't it.

Although there was the slight matter of calling the bank and presenting a bill for services that were never asked for, but I'm willing to chalk that up to creative marketing. . .

On a side note, my uncle (who is a lawyer) has a low opinion of judges and tells the following joke which you may tell your friends under the JPL (joke public license):

Q:What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50?
A:Your Honor. (Substitute M'Lud or other region appropriate judge appellation here if necessary.)

Re:Miracles!

[icepick72]

On a side note, my uncle (who is a lawyer) has a low opinion of judges and tells the following joke

Enlightening indeed. After all those lawyer jokes the lawyers finally made a joke about somebody else ... and it wasn't even funny! Nice try by the lawyers, but there's gotta' be another lawyer joke in there somewhere.

First Xena, then LoTR, now this

[bunions]

what is it over there, like some kind of geek paradise?

Re:First Xena, then LoTR, now this

[Introspective]

what is it over there, like some kind of geek paradise?

Yep, thats why they created the .geek.nz 2LD. Geeks are taken seriously in NZ, almost as important as the sheep.

Re:Miracles!

[Cyberax]

It's the only joke about lawyers. The rest are true stories.

You must be American

[Anonymous Coward]

New Zealand was never a penal colony, so has never had criminals shipped to it, other than the state visits by royalty and presidents. You are obviously thinking of Australia, a completely separate country about 1800 km away. You could drop Texas into the gap in between. (and nobody would miss it either)

Not just once

[shack420]

This is actually the second time this has happened in NZ this year...

"Sahil Gupta, the second man charged over the Telecom voicemail hacking incident in April, walked free from an Auckland court last week.

Gupta was charged along with a teenager who cannot be identified for legal reasons. The teen was charged with unauthorised access of a computer system and pleaded guilty. Gupta was charged under the same section of the Crimes Act and faced up to two years in prison.

However two justices of the peace discharged Gupta saying there was no case to answer after a hearing in the Auckland District Court on Wednesday."

more @ http://www.crime-research.org/news/21.01.2006/1770 / and all over ya google.

Re:Miracles!

[Chuck Chunder]

Q:What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50? A:Your Honor. (Substitute M'Lud or other region appropriate judge appellation here if necessary.)

Or for even more entertainment, use both. F. E. Smith to witness: "So, you were as drunk as a judge?"
Judge (interjecting): "You mean as drunk as a lord?"
F. E. Smith: "Yes, My Lord."