Hacker Admits To Scientology DDoS Attack

lbwbl writes with news that a New Jersey man will plead guilty to one felony count of 'unauthorized impairment of a protected computer' for his distributed denial of service attacks on Scientology websites as part of 'Anonymous' earlier this year. From Wired: "He faces a likely sentence of 12 to 18 months in prison based on stipulations in his plea agreement, which also obliges him to pay $37,500 in restitution. ... Friday's case, in US District Court in Los Angeles, marks the first prosecution of an Anonymous member for a series of attacks against the Church of Scientology that began in mid-January. The secretive religious group strayed into Anonymous' sights after trying to suppress the publication of a creepy Tom Cruise video produced for Scientology members."

Comments

Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[TheLink]

Yep no tears for him.

But what counts as "Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer"?

DRM that stops your OS or drives from working properly?

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[Idiomatick]

1~1.5 YEARS in prison for a relatively minor script kiddie DDOS? Thats way way WAY too harsh. He would have got less if he went their climbed up the pole and manually cut their connection. Thats WITH a plea. Totally not fair.

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[lysergic.acid]

maybe corporate crimes should be prosecuted using the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act.

people use corporations to protect themselves against legal liability in case they are sued or otherwise break the law. this is similar to how mafia bosses distance themselves from the criminal activities they profit from in an attempt to buffer themselves from potential legal repercussions.

the military chain of command and other hierarchical organizations also have a similar effect of absolving personal responsibility. but when people are not held accountable for their own actions (including ordering unethical actions or authorizing criminal activities) this encourages corruption and has facilitated many injustices and atrocities in human history.

Re:Unauthorized impairment of a protected computer

[Digital End]

The only difference between that and cutting the line would be the bandwidth costs, which would be countered by line repair costs.

If you honestly believe a person deserves 1.5 years in prison for this you're damaged. It was some kid doing what amounts to vandalism. ANY amount of prison is overkill and more damaging to society then helpful. He should get probation at worst, a fine and community service.

You honestly have no grasp of justice if a year and a half of your life is the price to pay for shutting down a website for a day. I'm guessing you're the kind who would put a highschool kid in jail for a year for taking a bat to a mailbox too eh?

Punishment must fit the crime.

Re:Anonymous

[alvinrod]

Or they could just stay on the legal side of the line. I know a guy who protested outside of a scientology center and as far as I'm concerned there's nothing illegal about that. You could go around handing out flyers explaining to people who you view Scientology as dangerous and still not get arrested. Encourage televised debates about it in a public forum and take it to them there.

You don't need to try and not get caught if you're not doing anything illegal to start with. If the CoS tries to get you arrested for peaceful protesting they'll be the ones that end up looking like assholes.

Your Rights Online?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because you disagree with a group (as I do, in this case) does not mean that you can DDoS them. That is not your right, and the law says that you should be punished. If you want to take the moral high ground (in your opinion), prepare for the legal consequences.

Re:This anti-scientology campaign is well meant

[RiotingPacifist]

Erm last time i checked anonymous didnt:
*use copyright law to prevent any embaresing details being released about them
*get its members to discomuniacte from others who disagree with their teaching/methods
*get tax discounts for being a registerd church
*break into federal offices
*get people arrested for crimes they didn't commit
*not have cake

Infact while anonymous may act like a bunch of twats (although they often use the slogan "one of us, isn't as dumb as all of us" or something like that to cover there asses) other than breaking the law they are nothing like Scientology.