Slashdot Mirror
Would-Be Akamai Spy Busted By Feds
itwbennett writes "Elliot Doxer, an Akamai Technologies staffer, was charged on Wednesday with wire fraud. The case began in June 2006 when Doxer sent an e-mail to the consulate of a foreign country (referred to as 'country X') in which he 'expressed his desire to help that country with whatever information he could obtain in his position,' according to an article on ITworld. 'The foreign consulate that Doxer contacted turned his e-mail over to law enforcement authorities, and a little over a year later, he was contacted by an FBI agent posing as a representative of 'country X.' Over the next 18 months, Doxer left confidential business information such as customer lists and contracts at a designated spot called a dead drop, acts captured via video surveillance.'"
It made him feel more like a secret agent, so they humored him.
It doesn't look like espionage was his goal. From the article:
He also seemed preoccupied with ill will toward his ex-wife, writing at one point that "not enough bad things can happen to her if you know what I mean." And he offered to drop his request for monetary compensation in return for information or pictures of his son.
It sounds like it was more about retribution. His ex-wife apparently disappeared in "Country X" with their son.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/10/07/2741170/jewish-internet-company-employee-arrested-for-selling-secrets Jewish Internet company employee arrested for selling secrets October 7, 2010 (JTA) -- A Jewish employee of a Boston-area Internet company was arrested on suspicion of selling confidential information to a foreign company. Elliot Doxer, 42, who works in the finance department of Akamai Technologies Inc., was charged Wednesday with wire fraud for providing confidential business information to an undercover FBI agent that he believed was a foreign government agent. The information included contract details, employee information and customer lists. The country was identified in the indictment as Country X. "I am a Jewish American who lives in Boston," Doxer reportedly wrote in an e-mail to a foreign country's consulate in Boston. "I know you are always looking for information and I am offering the little I may have." Doxer, who had access to invoices and customer contact information, also said in a later message that his goal was "to help our homeland and our war against our enemies." He informed the agent that his company served the U.S. Department of Defense, Airbus and several Arab companies. Doxer reportedly asked for $3,000 in compensation for his actions. According to the complaint, Doxer provided the agent with a list of Akamai's customers, several contracts and a list of employees and their contact information. Doxer and the agent first made contact in September 2007.
No, entrapment would be if the FBI came to you (posing as a foreign power) out of the blue to ask if you would share secret info and then you did. e.g. they enticed or entrapped you into doing it. In this case, the guy initiated the action all on his own. The FBI in this case was just proving that the guy really wanted to do this, not just making an offer that he never intended to follow through with. From wikipedia: Government agents entrapped him if three conditions are fulfilled: 1. The idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime. 2. Government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving him the opportunity to commit the crime is not the same as persuading him to commit the crime. 3. The person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before the government agents spoke with him. On the issue of entrapment, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped by government agents.
More specifically, Akamai is a content distribution company that serves as a local mirror for it's customers and their customer's clients. You'll see them everywhere from streaming video at Yahoo! to deploying Windows Updates with Microsoft. You would be surprised with how much content is delivered to your computer from their servers.
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
Country X in this case is Israel. Doxer identified himself as jewish when he tried to set this up in the first place. (source)
"I am a Jewish American who lives in Boston," Doxer reportedly wrote in an e-mail to a foreign country's consulate in Boston. "I know you are always looking for information and I am offering the little I may have."
Doxer, who had access to invoices and customer contact information, also said in a later message that his goal was "to help our homeland and our war against our enemies."
He informed the agent that his company served the U.S. Department of Defense, Airbus and several Arab companies. Doxer reportedly asked for $3,000 in compensation for his actions.
I'm sure I'm getting part of this wrong, because it's been about ten years since I sat through a presentation by an Akamai dude in the waning dot-com days, but their main offering was a sort of content caching/mirroring system with servers all over the place to back it up.
So for example, you're Fox and you sign up to have your streaming TV episodes "Akamaized". The day after a new episode of American Idol is posted to the web, probably a lot of people are downloading/streaming it. Akamai's setup would automatically mirror it out to a bunch of local servers all over the place, so in theory, no matter where you the watcher are, you're streaming from a server a low number of hops/latency from you, and you're not slashdotting Fox's own servers.
Gathering proper evidence, getting proper legal documentation, talking with his employers, and getting several drops to see what information he was willing to give up.
You now, due process and getting solid evidence.
In the real world, you don't go around accusing people and then arrest the one that tries to kill you*, you don't drive a fast sports car until some shoots at you, and you don't other evidence from a magic computer in 22 minutes.
*AKA: The Charlie Angels school of crime fighting.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
This is/was an attempt at industrial espionage, NOT TREASON. Big difference, this one the worst he will face is the potential of a few years in prison. And in fact he's only being charged with Wire Fraud.
Treason can (very unlikely) face the death penalty.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
Israel can't possibly endanger its relationship with the U.S. Look up the USS LIberty or if that is not bad enough look up the Levon affair of 1954 where Israel failed to attack British and American interests in an attempt to blame it on random terrorists creating a situation that would require the U.S. to stay in the Sinai.
every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
Treason is *VERY* far away. Constitutional amendment far. http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/t103.htm
Do you Gentoo!?
Honestly have you not paid attention to what has been happening here?
Your laptop needs to be empty, sanitized, clean. put all important stuff on a memory device you can smuggle in on your person or in a different way (memory card in a camera get's past our idiot guards)... Treat coming here like entering North Korea.
Most people have known this for years that entering the United states is identical to entering a fascist dictatorship country.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Habeas corpus was suspended under G.W. Bush. Obama reinstated it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus_in_the_United_States#cite_note-28/