Slashdot Mirror
Does Hacking Grades Warrant 20 Years in Jail?
While there have been many students who decided they would rather change their grades than come by them the usual way, the punishments for the most part have been pretty reasonable. However, the latest chapter in this type of behavior finds two culprits facing a $250,000 fine and 20 years in jail based on the number of charges leveled against them. "The guys have been charged with "unauthorized computer access, identity theft, conspiracy, and wire fraud." Obviously, these guys did a bad thing, but it's hard to see how the possible sentence matches with the crime. Of course, it seems unlikely that any judge would give them the maximum sentence, but even hearing that it's possible just for changing your grades seems ridiculous."
TFA and the post author confuse the issue by saying that these guys are getting punished for the end result (changing their grades), rather than the method (hacking an admin account, using that access to hack other accounts, stealing privileged information, AND taking cash to change someone's grades).
Imagine some jerkwad walked into a 7-11, got a Slurpee, tried to walk out without paying for it, then shot the clerk when the clerk confronted him. Then imagine the Slashdot article saying "this guy could get the death penalty just for stealing a Slurpee."
That's an extreme example, but it gets my message across. They're being prosecuted not only for what they did, but how they did it.
Also, if you read the original press release from the DOJ, it states: "The charged counts carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. However, the actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables, and any applicable statutory sentencing factors."
So even the Feds, while stating the maximum possible sentence (probably for the deterrence value), are admitting that the actual sentence depends on a lot of factors and probably won't be the maximum. Although giving these guys double-dimes in the pen would send a message.
Start a happiness pandemic
Remember when hacking into the school's computer system to change grades was considered to be a prank that resulted in maybe at most a suspension. Now, it's literally a Federal Crime. What, in a few years, you'll get the death penalty for hacking grades?
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
The old laws simply need updated to reflect todays technology. Unfortunately the govt is too busy worrying about how many ounces of breast milk you can carry on plane to investigate this matter. At this point the accused party might as well have beat up some cops and then raped their wives to get 20 years.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Sentencing guidelines are a mistake, and that's the whole problem. What sentencing guidelines do is move the judiciary power into the federal power, and as a result, you have a race to ever more ridiculous sentences for political reasons. What we really need is to have judges doing the sentencing based on the facts of the case and the real severity of the crime, not a congress in a race to imprison people to seem tough on crime.
Sure, one can say that there was identity theft involved, but, what -really- happened? If the students used a password cracker to try and break in, then technically, yes, there was an identity theft because they logged in as someone else. However, this sort of an attack doesn't really constitute an identity theft in the sense we would reasonably define it - which is, using someone's personal information to destroy their life. Like, they weren't breaking into accounts to steal visa numbers and go on a spending spree. Yet, they are going to be charged with the crime, and the government is using a technicality to smear them in the public.
Such actions by the government will only undermine people's faith in it. As Princess Leia once said, "the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
This is my sig.
If you think that 20 years is a harsh sentence for illegally changing grades, just think of the kid who had sex with his girlfriend and got 10 years.
In the mean time, some asshole who shoots a kid to death because the kid knocked on the wrong door walks around free, and is even considered an unsung hero by some.
Complaining about the maximum sentence shows lack of experience with matters of law. There are many, many laws in various countries that carry a substantial maximum penalty for a crime because the crime _can_ be severe but it can also be ridiculously petty.
For example, most countries carry the crime "theft" on the books and if that country only has one statute for any sort of theft, the maximum penalty will look harsh if it would be applied to someone stealing a candy bar. However, one has to consider that the same statute also covers stealing millions from a bank in which case a sentence closer to the maximum could be justified.
That's why we have HUMAN judges, with all their faults, instead of just a computer that checks if all the conditions for the crime is met and just prints a "default" sentence, because not every case is the same even if they are punishable under the same law.
It's the standard MO of DA's these days. Pile on charge after charge until someone is looking down the barrel of 50 years for jay-walking, until they're very willing to take the plea-bargan slap on the wrist. Essentially torturing someone until they admit guilt. This way the DA doesn't have to actually work to convict someone while padding their resume with lots of convictions. Who wants to risk going before a capricious and tough on crime public, or worse, a tough on crime judge, to plead their innocence when they're looking at that much time? After all, if you were innocent you wouldn't have been arrested, right?
It seems that the punishment for computer crimes has become more harsh, almost as though hiring competent admins and securing the network is more work than changing a law...a law being passed by people that refer to the Inet as "tubes" that get clogged, and haven't the slightest idea of what the internet is all about.
Troubling.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
It's bad enough to take a peek, but many are curious so that's not unusual, but whenever data is modified without permission it's a really bad crime. Even as tempting it may be some things are best untouched. If information is incorrect there are better ways than to modify it yourself.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
I really don't understand what this means. Terrorism existed all around the world before 9/11. The US itself had suffered terrorist attacks previous to 9/11. The oceans did not protect us before 9/11. There were people out there who wanted to hurt us before 9/11. There were school shootings, criminals, terrorists, enemies of the state...plenty of reasons for the government to want to wiretap and snoop before 9/11.
9/11 was a horrible tragedy, but the world did not change - only America did.
I get so tired of hearing "post 9/11" as an explanation to every kind of stupidity.
Kid suspended for weeks because he drew a picture of a gun? Post 9/11 world.
Guy fired for talking about going to the shooting range after work? Post 9/11 world.
Police freaking out about magnetic light-brites? Post 9/11 world.
Warrantless wiretapping? Post 9/11 world.
Bottled water on a plane? Post 9/11 world.
Guy arrested for paying with $2 bills? Post 9/11 world.
next step: we arrest anyone that likes shop class or chemistry ... they could be supporting the terrorists in the future.
Already a step ahead of you...
Quite frankly, it is enough to punish the most severe charge and not adding the others. Or to let people serve the penalties in paralell. 20 years for this is not reasonable at all. There is no relation to the damage done. For some reason the US system still does this "damned forever" punishmenst, and increasingly for for non-violent crimes dtat did not cause a lot of damage. From Europe is looks a bit like the prison industry is behind this, as they need as many long-term convicts as they can get. All in all my impression is that the US is the "free' country with the longest prison terms and the least effect of the penalties on the crime rate. Don't you people want to rehabilitate your criminals and change them into non-criminals? Does not look that way to me.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Well we better get rid of that whole supreme court "striking down of unconstitutional laws" thing, now shouldn't we?
After all, since all laws are proper and right and they never can be struck down or challenged in court (which usually requires someone to break them first) why bother even having that system?
That's what you get when you let people write the laws whose understanding of math ends at adding and substracting.
Obviously, a much better formula would be more appropriate, something as simple as a geometric series, but the lawyers wouldn't understand it (and, let's face it, neither would the general public).
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
The US justice and social system needs some serious work. If you have 1 in 142 US residents in jail you have a problem. This equates to just under 2 million inmates and this is only based on 2002 figures, so I'd hate to see the current status.
This inmate population is enough to populate any of the 13 least populated states in the USA.
I am not saying what these people did isn't wrong, but the crime sounds more like revenge that punishment. This kids will be in debt and slaves to the system by the time the get out. Any time they would have had to think about what they did will be marred by the excessiveness of the punishment. Maybe the American society is just looking to continue slavery, but using other means to do it?
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
It will probably be a fine and some community service, along with the stain on their records for being convicted of a crime, which would doubtfully make a positive impression upon prospective employers, unless Enron and Arthur Anderson were still in business.
Enron and Arthur Anderson are the rule these days, not the exception. Money is no longer a tool, it's now our national religion. Anything is forgivable if done for money, nothing is forgivable if done for any reason besides money.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
It is a PUBLIC USE COMPUTER... the entire faculty and staff has access to it via one format or another. This leaves lots of avenues of access so ALL DATA ON SUCH A SYSTEM IS SUSPECT!
Especially in an educational facility, I've been on both ends of this argument the hacker and the hacked, so trust me on this or don't, but data on government and facility wide access machines, is NOT secure and is ALWAYS suspect.
Of course, as far as I'm concerned, this is yet another reason NOT to worry about school, IMHO.
I did most of my learning as an "extra curricular" activity. It paid off dividends, while schoolwork and college work have yet to pay me a penny. In fact, most of my non "vocational" education has cost me dozens of thousands of dollars and haven't paid me back even a fraction of the cost involved. So IMHO, hacking grades is pointless, because neither straight A's nor straight F's will get you a job, or get you well paid, or anything. At best, you can slave away for straight A's so you can end up a boring, lifeless, possibly low paid, and certainly easy to fire cubicle monkey for the jock who learned how to run a business, or the geek who never showed up for class on time and barely passed gym or shop when he was in school.
Look around, history's brightest people, inventors, discoverers, all were either failures in school or not particularly shining examples of "classwork drones". Why? Simple, their attention was diverted to this thing called "life". And while you were trying to get ready to live your life one week of vacation per year of work at a time, they were living theirs... (and if they didn't get stupid with their investments, they probably continued to do so well past the time where you had a kid or three, a mortgage and car payment, none of which you couldn't afford... which in the end is the reason so many of us "geek" types end up broke... poor investments, of both time and money.)
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
No, it does not. It gives a range which the Judge is urged (not required) to consider as the appropriate guidelines for punishment. The Judge is free to depart from these guidelines. If a departure is given, it may require justification.
In short, the "problem" as you state it does not exist.
It is entirely possible, even likely these kids will get off with a very light sentence, or none at all (unlikely, but if they go to trial and win...).
Regardless, the law does not "give a 20 year sentence regardless of the harm done", it places that as the maximum suggested penalty available.
I think many people here have the same misconception as you do regarding the sentencing guidelines.