FBI Raids Security Researcher's Home

Sparr0 writes, "The FBI has raided the home of Christopher Soghoian, the grad student who created the NWA boarding pass site. Details can be found on his blog including a scanned copy of the warrant. The bad news is that he really did break the law. The good news is that Senator Charles Schumer did it first, 19 months ago, on an official government website no less. The outcome of this trial should be at least academically interesting. At best, it could result in nullifying some portion of the law(s) that the TSA operates under." Read on for Sparr0's take on what laws may apply in this case.

Boiling down some of the legalese, the charges (if any are filed) will be "conspiracy to knowingly present a false and fictitious claim upon or against the United States, or any department or agency thereof in violation of USC 18 (secs. 2, 371, 1036, 1343, 2318) and USC 49 (secs. 46314 and 46316) and 49 CFR (secs. 1540.103 and 1540.105)" (edited for brevity).

Comments

I wouldn't mess with NWA

[CrazyJim1]

They're straight out of Compton yo.

Re:For his sake

[Simon Garlick]

the second he goes missing the entire internet will raise a royal hell storm

Oh no, not a hell storm of nerds posting anonymous comments on Internet messageboards! Anything but that!

Re:Too bad it has to be this way

[ResidntGeek]

He could have put it on gnunet, turned on active migration, waited a few weeks for it to disperse, then post a few mesages on IRC and his blog saying "Hey! check out what I found on gnunet! Why, who could have put that there?"

Re:Too bad it has to be this way

[Paradise Pete]

the reason our airports were so lax before 9/11 is that we would not have put up with post-9/11 security back then.

Exactly right. And if Bin Laden had announced beforehand that he was going to find a way to make everybody voluntarily suffer in long lines, submit to invasive searches, and just generally make life a little less pleasant every day, we still wouldn't.

Re:Too bad it has to be this way

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe he shouldn't have bothered at all.

That would have been best for him.

If you find a flaw in a security system, you should be treated as a rock star for a few days.

Re:Too bad it has to be this way

[ravenshrike]

What the hell is he gonna do with 2/100s of a cent?

Who Has Some Really Big Balls?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who wants to host a copy of the script on their website?

Just think, if we can get a couple hundred sites hosting it, everyone can get a new front door in a few weeks. Oh, and all that old computer equipment you want to get rid of, but don't have time to take it to the correct recylcing center, just leave it in the middle of your living room (after you've moved all the good stuff to a friends house).

Re:In English, please?

[PhxBlue]

So, if I say "Bush has an ass the size of Texas", I should expect the FBI soon?

No, that's only a wrong word choice. It should read, "Bush is an ass the size of Texas."