The Trap Set By the FBI For Half Life 2 Hacker

eldavojohn writes "You might remember the tiny news that Half Life 2 source code was leaked in 2003 ... it is the 6th most visited Slashdot story with over one kilocomment. Well, did anything happen to the source of the leak, the German hacker Axel 'Ago' Gembe? Wired is reporting he was offered a job interview so that Valve could get him into the US and bag him for charges. It's not the first time the FBI tried this trick: 'The same Seattle FBI office had successfully used an identical gambit in 2001, when they created a fake startup company called Invita, and lured two known Russian hackers to the US for a job interview, where they were arrested.'"

Comments

Old News

[VoltCurve]

Really, quite old news. This was reported on right after it happened. If I remember right though, Gabe claimed that they had succeeded in tricking the hacker. They did speak with him on the phone

shouldn't be legal

[nurb432]

I don't care what the guy has done, tricks like this should not be legal.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[eison]

Why not?

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Culture20]

You really thought you were getting that free boat, didn't you?

Re:shouldn't be legal

[sampson7]

One of my favorite law stories ever:

The judges in the small county I used to work in (Charles County, MD) were notoriously tough on cocaine dealers. The neighboring jurisdiction was so overwhemled with drugs that drug dealers in that county were typically given much lighter sentences. The disparity was so great that smart dealers refused to deal in Charles County. Instead, they would arrange deals next to the border without actually ever crossing into Charles Co.

So when the Charles County Sheriff's Office wanted to mount a major drug sting, they moved the "Welcome to Charles County" sign back a hundred feet or so, and would arrange deals just across the border. We put away a lot of bad people for a long time. Brilliant.

Um... Yeah. I have no problem with this.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[SoapBox17]

From wikipedia: "Entrapment is the act of a law enforcement agent in inducing a person to commit an offence which the person would not have, or was unlikely to have, otherwise committed."

This is not a case of entrapment because the person was not induced to commit an offense. He was induced to come to the country after the offense was committed.

A good example of entrapment would be if the FBI tricked him in to coming in the country and then arrested him for coming in to the country illegally (invalid visa or some such).

Re:shouldn't be legal

[jcr]

If the perp is stupid enough to travel to a country where he's wanted, that's evolution in action.

-jcr

Re:shouldn't be legal

[jcr]

if they were legal, they would do the same thing.

Why didn't this happen back when all drugs were available over-the-counter?

-jcr

Re:shouldn't be legal

[bunratty]

The damage has already been done? Huh? You are aware that in most cases arrests occur after the commission of a crime, right?

Re:shouldn't be legal

[mrchaotica]

It's not an issue of protecting the source code -- I think even the FBI is minimally competent enough to realize that cat's out of the bag -- it's an issue of punishing the guy for the computer tresspass etc..

Re:shouldn't be legal

[qbzzt]

Wasting money protecting source code after the event.

Any time the police arrests a criminal, it is by definition after the event. Sometimes the damage can be undone, as in theft. Sometimes it cannot, as in murder. We still want criminals punished to deter others.

If you truly don't want source code leaks punished because it's a waste of your tax dollars, you're welcome to lobby to change the law. However, I'm sure other tax payers, such as corporations that own source code, would lobby to keep it.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Tony Hoyle]

It depends on where he committed the crime. He's a german citizen commiting a crime in germany (and he was punished for it under german law) then that FBI can GTFO as far as I'm concerned. If they were that bothered they could have applied for extradition rather that using underhand tricks.

No different from the Dimitri Skylarov case, except he was arrested for something that wasn't even a crime in his home country.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[kingrooster]

Haha, you're funny. On the whole, drug users do commit more crimes than non-drug users. I'll give you that. On the other hand, poor people commit more crimes than rich people. Young people commit more crimes than old people. Punish the crime and treat the addict. Don't ignore illegal drug trafficking, regulate it. Drug use and sale in and of itself should not be a crime.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[LateArthurDent]

Why not?

Because it bypasses protections established by extradition treaties (or lack thereof). How would you like to be tricked into visiting Iran, and then be prosecuted for posting some offensive comment on slashdot?

Re:shouldn't be legal

[AK Marc]

Because fraud is illegal. Con games in order to deprive someone of something are illegal. The government should never partake of otherwise illegal means in order to "catch" anyone. If you can't get them playing within the rules, let them go. If the government is willing to set up someone, what makes you think they won't set you up? They have proven they are willing to lie and cheat to get what they want. Are you ok with that if it is what you want, but not ok if it isn't what you want? I find that a inconsistent and hypocritical stance, and I take the one where they shouldn't lie ever. If I were emperor of the universe, I'd pass a law that any police officer that lies, any judge, prosecuter, or such that misleads a suspect, anyone that "tricks" anyone through deception to reveal something should be immediately sacked. If there is a proven history of it, they should be prosecuted for deceiving the public. Those in the positions of authority should not be allowed to abuse it. Cops have fought in court for the right to lie. As such, they are self-confirmed liars who will abuse the law in order to uphold the parts they think important (without ever making it official what is and isn't important, and that may change at any time). That's not a very good job of "protecting and serving."

Re:shouldn't be legal

[jaredbpd]

"A boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything.

It could even be a boat!"

Re:shouldn't be legal

[SpottedKuh]

Wasting money protecting source code after the event. I'm a taxpayer [...] If someone releases a game based on it, follow the money.

Yeah, as a taxpayer, I'm really upset too when the police waste money trying to arrest a murderer after the event. I mean, the victim's already dead, so they're wasting money trying to protect him. If someone releases a book about the murder, then follow the money. Otherwise, big deal.

In case the previous paragraph didn't drip enough sarcasm in your direction, let's try this another way. It's the job of the police to investigate crimes that have occurred and to arrest those that they have reasonable grounds to believe are guilty. In this case, police have reasonable grounds to arrest him on suspicion of having committed a crime (some variant of breaking into a computer). What does it matter how much or how little he profited from the crime? That's for the judge to take into account, not the police.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Anonymous Coward]

Except it's not fraud, and it's not illegal. What the government did, arresting a foreign criminal who committed a crime in the USA, is perfectly legal. How they got him to enter into the USA, by setting up a fake job interview, is also perfectly legal. I can set up fake job interviews with as many people as I want. So can the feds. It's not against the law.

But what most people seem to be missing is the sheer stupidity of the criminal. If a company I had hacked into, stolen source code from, and embarrassed publicly suddenly invited me to their corporate HQ in a foreign country, I would be a weee bit suspcious.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Neoprofin]

You mean like when they send letters to bail jumpers about having won a free boat if they just come pick it up?

Wont's someone please think of the criminals?

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Toll_Free]

What is the difference?

If the computer storing the game bits of code is based in the US, and he attacks it (hacks it), then he committed a crime under US law.

Don't tell me you actually think that people doing malicious hacking shouldn't be appropriately dealt with by the country whose laws they fucked over by hacking.... I mean, all you'd have to do is go to international waters and you could do all you wanted, to any country you wanted, to any server you wanted, and there would be no retribution.

Unless you where going for the point of if he copied it by USB method, he is guilty of criminal trespass as well as computer trespass.

--Toll_Free

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Rakishi]

Entrapment is when the authorities cause you to commit a crime (that you wouldn't otherwise) which is not the case here since the crime was already committed.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[prisoner-of-enigma]

At the very least advertising a non-existent job should be punishable under "false advertising" laws.

False advertising laws are in place to protect consumers from abuse. Advertising a job interview is not the same as advertising a product. It's perfectly legal for me to invite as many people as I want to my office for an interview -- and no job need exist for me to do that. I can interview them all, get all their resumes, and never follow up with a single one of them. It's not illegal, nor should it be. After all, if it were illegal, why would it be illegal? Have I deprived anyone of life, liberty, or property? I have not. If people came and wasted their time, they did so voluntarily.

You need to get out of this mindset that something "ought to be illegal" just because you don't like it.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Anonymous Coward]

However, I'm sure other tax payers, such as corporations that own source code, would lobby to keep it.

Waitaminute. It's not being a taxpayer that gives someone a stake in the government - it's being a citizen, and having a vote. That means that a lifelong welfare recipient and a survivalist hermit, neither of whom pay a dollar of tax in their lives, have a representative in Washington who is supposed to look out for their interests and listen to their concerns. A corporation, regardless of how much tax it pays, is not supposed to have such representation.

Sorry for jumping on you here, but I think that the way your post is expressed - implying that a corporate taxpayer deserves representation - is a dangerous subversion of democracy.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[jcr]

Where are the studies saying it didn't.

Pick up a history book sometime. You might learn something.

-jcr

Re:shouldn't be legal

[qbzzt]

Sorry for jumping on you here, but I think that the way your post is expressed - implying that a corporate taxpayer deserves representation - is a dangerous subversion of democracy.

It's a dangerous subversion of democracy, but it's also the real situation in the US(1). The CEO of Chrysler has as much voting power of a single welfare recipient. To whom do you think elected officials listen?

Besides, while corporations don't have votes, they do have employees. I'd be reluctant to vote for a candidate whose policies will hurt IBM. When your employer suffers, you usually suffer too.

(1) Arguably, it's also the system working as designed. Many of thhe founding fathers were scared of democracy, and much preferred an aristocratic republic on the Roman model.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[LingNoi]

He DIDN'T commit the crime! RTFA!!!

He told others that he got into valve, said others figured out how he did it and stole the code.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[timeOday]

Because it bypasses protections established by extradition treaties (or lack thereof). How would you like to be tricked into visiting Iran, and then be prosecuted for posting some offensive comment on slashdot?

By the way, this does happen. 2/3rds of the time you hear about some American "kidnapped" by Iran, it turns out there's some legal basis for it - in Iran, of course. (e.g. "Not without my daughter" and Haleh Esfandiari. Does that mean Iran is right? Nah, it means be careful where you go.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[alzoron]

Entrapment is tricking someone into committing a crime. This is more like when the police send out raffle prize announcements to everyone with outstanding warrants and arresting them when they show up.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Free the Cowards]

Funny how physical location doesn't matter on the internet right up until a "hacker" does something "heroic", and then suddenly it's all "nyah nyah, jurisdiction".

He committed a crime against a US entity. He was then foolish enough to put himself within US law enforcement. He's now suffering the consequences of his crime and his stupidity.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[rmdashrf]

So by your reasoning, you should be able to be imprisoned by the chinese government if you watch (by chinese government deemed) illegal content on a website that's hosted on a server in China. Even though the content of the website is perfectly legal in the country where you are browsing in? No? Didn't think so... This type of entrapment is a slippery slope.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[Toll_Free]

OK, MDMA was given to people as a mood elevator in the 70s and 80s.

MDMA is a methamphetamine derived chemical. There is (if memory serves me well enough) either 2 or 3 differences in the chain.

They also DID prescribe methamphetamine as a mood elevator, as well as a brochiodilator.

Methamphetamine was given to our troops in Viet Nam. A good friend of mine actually has a bottle of it (the empty bottle, the contents where LONG ago consumed). His argument for having it is: I'm a methamphetamine addict. I had never touched it, nor heard of it, until Viet Nam. My government gave me pretty much all I wanted then. So, they gave me the FUCKING habit. Should I ever be arrested, this is a DAMNING piece of evidence. I don't think he would do very well, but it still serves as evidence of Methamphetamine ABuse from our government in the 60s / 70s.

Matter of fact, Methamphetamine is STILL legally prescribed in the United States. It's used for SEVERE obesity as well as narcolepsy. VERY few people get it for ADD/HD as well.

Cocaine? Yup, we have that as well. Most opthamology shops set up for surgery (not your basic eyeglasses plus type place, or julios lasic clinic, but REAL eye surgeons), they get Cocaine. It's one of, if not the only anesthetic used IN the eyeball.

Coca Cola ALSO STILL uses Coca in their drink. The Coca BASE (which is cocaine, after refining) is whisked away for no apparent reason (I'd say, more than likely, for the production of legal cocaine, for eye dox, but I'm sure they don't say for security reasons) is brought to the states. Matter of fact, Coca Cola Bottling is the BIGGEST single purchaser of Coca in the world.

Care to anonymously talk about this some more? I tend to know a bit more than the average idiot about drugs, drug use, pharmacology, and the such. Growing up in one of the largest methamphetamine production towns in the world during the 80s kinda does that for ya.

--Toll_Free

Re:shouldn't be legal

[badpazzword]

What is the difference?

If the computer storing the game bits of code is based in the US, and he attacks it (hacks it), then he committed a crime under US law.

Do you really mean that Chinese people do not commit a crime by talking about "taboo topics" as long as they do that on US-based Blogspot?

The guy has undergone a trial in Germany already, and has been condemned already. What makes it fair for him to be charged twice for the same crime?

Re:shouldn't be legal

[RockDoctor]

FYI, if you dont know the crime was commited on Valve computers, meaning the original crime was performed in the USA.

There's a hidden assumption in there - actually several. They may be correct, but your point is only valid if they're all correct.

• You're assuming that "Valve" is an American company - in the corporate sense ; it's perfectly credible that (for example) tax reasons, it's not an American company, though they maintain a façade of being American for political reasons.
• Even if Valve are actually an American company, you're assuming that the servers in question are in America ; given the relative costs of bandwidth and administration, it's not incredible that a Valve programmer sitting in a home office in Much Hammering (why would they work in a centralised, expensive office?) is working on code stored on a server actually hosted in India.
• ("Much Hammering" is a fictional programmer's enclave in the Schwarzwald, or anywhere the programmer chooses to live ; the code jockey is hired for his skills, not his physical location. One of our staff programmers recently moved 500+km over the border into England, but that doesn't stop him from continuing to work for us.)
• You're also assuming that the command passed at some point through communications infrastructure located in the US. Even if Valve were an American company, if their data were in India and were hacked from Germany, the routing may well not have touched American-owned or -operated systems at all.

Some (if not all) of those points need to have been checked before spending American TaxPayer's money on this (via the FBI). It's quite plausible that no crime, by American rules, has been committed. It's equally plausible that an alleged crime is not supported by sufficient evidence to succeed with an extradition request under German law.

Re:shouldn't be legal

[smoker2]

If you don't have the guts to do it regardless of the law, then you probably don't have the inner strength to actually make it through the trip without freaking. It's not like riding a roller coaster, where after 30 seconds it's all over. Some trips can keep you going for 12 hours and more. Once you have started freaking, you are stuck with it. You need a very particular kind of attitude to be able to deal with that and not come out a shambling monkey. How much primal animal fear can you handle ? (hint if you're worried about breaking a law, then I'd guess not much) Imagine the very worst thing you can dream up - now amplify it and live through it. The mind is a very powerful thing, and not enough people know their own mind well enough when they're straight let alone when it has assumed the power that LSD can give.
I've seen big hard men reduced to quivering crying babies after thinking they could handle LSD.
I'm not saying that if you have the right attitude you won't freak, but when you freak (and everybody does sooner or later) you can handle it. I had to get someone to turn the stereo off once before the song reached a certain line, because I was so immersed that I felt that hearing the line in question was going to kill me. (Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb).
Remember in the Matrix, Neo asked "if you die inside the Matrix, you die in real life too ?", Morpheus said "The body cannot live without the mind". This is quite possible. If I had been taking acid when the Matrix came out, I would probably never had taken as much as I did. As it happened, I stopped doing LSD a good decade before that film.
Pro-tip : never trip by yourself, always share the experience with a friend (who is in the same state). Know when to say no. If you have even the slightest fear about doing it - don't do it. That fear is the seed of a Bad Trip. It IS pitch black, and you ARE likely to be eaten by a Grue.
Beginners tip : just don't. But if you do, get as far away from civilisation as you can before you do it, and enjoy the stars or something. Avoid natural hazards (cliffs, ravines, rivers) and keep your clothes on ! Also, read the pro-tip.

My final word here is just to stress that hard drug taking is not like a funfair ride. You can't just get off the ride when you feel like it, and it will change you and your life, immediately and for ever more, even after just one trip. You will never be the same person ever again. None of what I just said is related to addiction, just the fallout from the experience. So, ask yourself - Do I feel lucky ?

Disclaimer : I am not a doctor, I am not your doctor. I post here to redress the imbalance of information between people who think drugs are cool and spout off bullshit, and those who have actually been down that road and survived (just). I will never and have never encouraged anybody to take drugs.

Charged in Germany anyway

[Pinckney]

The article mentions that this trap failed. Apparently he suspected something.

Anyway, Gembe was sentenced to probation in Germany for the breach and leak. Interesting that the FBI apparently took this so much more seriously than the German courts.

myg0t

[Digitus1337]

The group named in the article is "myg0t" not "mygot." They developed some of the first hacks for Counter-Strike (the original). They became so well known in game as cheaters that a lot of servers are set to automatically kick any playing wearing their tag.

Note to self

[yo303]

Do not go somewhere where I'm wanted. Stay in the countries where there are NO warrants for my arrests.

In this job market

[KalvinB]

that's just cruel.

Re:Kilocomment?

[Anonymous Coward]

depends ...

Is a kilocomment 1000 or 1024 comments ?!?

If i am supposed to slow down...about telling me how slow

Re:What happens when other countries do that too ?

[Derkec]

If you are wanted for a crime in some country, you should avoid:
1) Going to that country
2) Going to countries with extradition agreements with that country

If you are dumb enough to go to the country, you deserve to be arrested.

How would I feel if someone tricked dumb American criminals into getting arrested? Pretty good. We could use less criminals on the streets. Feel free.

This isn't exactly a civil rights issue.

Re:a fun bit of trivia

[shadow42]

From the talk page of a Valve developer on their developer wiki:

When we were getting very close to releasing Half-Life 1 (less than a week or so), we found there were already some projects that we needed to start working on, but we couldn't risk checking in code to the shipping version of the game. At that point we forked off the code in VSS to be both $/Goldsrc and /$Src. Over the next few years, we used these terms internally as "Goldsource" and "Source". At least initially, the Goldsrc branch of code referred to the codebase that was currently released, and Src referred to the next set of more risky technology that we were working on. When it came down to show Half-Life 2 for the first time at E3, it was part of our internal communication to refer to the "Source" engine vs. the "Goldsource" engine, and the name stuck.

Re:Kilocomment?

[YesIAmAScript]

A kibicomment is 1024 comments.

Re:Kilocomment?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a difference between a Kilobyte(1000) and a Kibibyte. (1024)

The Kibibyte was coined to distinguish the former from the latter.

For more information, please refer to this chart: http://xkcd.com/394/

Re:What happens when other countries do that too ?

[puto]

Americans get worse treatment in other countries then visitors to the US do when they come here.

I can say this because I hold citizenship in three countries. And have lived in all three would rather tangle with the american law enforcement then the other two.

When Michael Fay was caned in Singapore for vandalism, the majority of the USA cheered, because he acted like an ass in another country, and he deserved what he got.

I had the misfortune of meeting the prick years later, and he almost got caned again with a pool cue.

But in the US there is a saying. IF you can't do the time, do'nt do the crime.

Nothing arrogant about the way they were caught.

Apart from the HL2 Source Code

[Psychotria]

Apart from the HL2 source code being realease into the wild (which I agree was a big thing), the stuff this guy did to get the source code is probably a bigger deal. He compromised Valve's machines. He broke into their network. He installed keyloggers. He hijacked email accounts. He (maybe) initiated DoS attacks on their servers. Even if he did not steal and release the HL2 source code (trade secrets) what he did was pretty damn wrong... and illegal in most places of the world. The FBI, in my opinion, has every right to chase this guy (no, I do not live in the US). Chase the guy, catch him and let him rot in jail. Summary: the HL2 source code release, at this point in time, is not the big deal; it's all the other laws he broke.

!#@%! Metric

[Greyfox]

I'm from the USA. What's the conversion between kilocomments and shit-tons? Google conversions doesn't seem to have it. I find it odd that they will happily do furlongs per fortnight but don't have this...

So if Valve doesn't care if your TV is stolen

[unassimilatible]

Should the FBI not pursue the thief? Valve pays taxes, too.

I love how so many Slashdotters are absolutists about following the law - until someone they disagree with is protected by it.

Don't let your dogma run over your karma.

Re:Kilocomment?

[EvanED]

What I don't understand is why we allowed some asshole RAM and HDD manufacturers to steal our word?

Speaking as someone who grew up learning that "kilo-" means 1000, what I don't understand why we allowed some asshole CS people to steal our prefix?

Re:Kilocomment?

[cryptoluddite]

Speaking as someone who grew up learning that "kilo-" means 1000, what I don't understand why we allowed some asshole CS people to steal our prefix?

Because base-10 is soooo 1900s. Get with the program.

--
One-one was a race horse, One-two was one too.
One-one won one race, One-two won one two.