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Programmer Arrested For Logic Bombing 'Whac-A-Mole'

Posted by Roblimo on from the up-to-15-years-in-prison-for-sabotaging-Whac-A-Mole dept.

McGruber writes "WFTV.com has the curious story of programmer Marvin Wimberly, who was arrested for having installed a logic bomb on Whac-A-Mole arcade games made by Bob's Space Racers in Holly Hill, Florida."

21 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Why programmers will never rule the world.... by Auroch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Mostly because any good software engineer could put a hard-to-find bug in the code. Thank goodness it takes a good social engineer to make money off it - and the two skills don't often overlap in real life (as much as software engineers seem to think they do).

    The other reason programmers will never rule the world - eventually the whack-a-person machines will require Marvin to come fix them.

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    Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
    1. Re:Why programmers will never rule the world.... by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Funny

      both good software engineers and good social engineers are a rare bread anyway

      I know it costs more, but you just cannot beat fresh baked!

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      Monstar L
    2. Re:Why programmers will never rule the world.... by pieterh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      419 scams depend on finding someone greedy; one original form was to find a house who's owner had left on holiday, bribe the watchman for the keys, and then sell it to another person on the basis of "OK, we've had a few good parties here, you know I'm a great guy, but suddenly I have to leave the country and need $10,000 real quick", at which the mark realizes this is a great opportunity (the house is easily worth ten times that), and offers to buy it.

      Houses in Lagos, Nigeria (when I worked there) sometimes had "419! Not for Sale!" painted on their walls, when their owners were away.

      However, social engineering depends on decent peoples' trust; head hunted calling the receptionist and asking, "who's your best Java developer?", or emailing the tech support from a hacked account so you look like the boss, and asking, "hey, give me ssh access and a new password, ok?"

      What this guy did was more like simple robbery, getting money by force.

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      My blog
    3. Re:Why programmers will never rule the world.... by rvw · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mostly because any good software engineer could put a hard-to-find bug in the code. Thank goodness it takes a good social engineer to make money off it - and the two skills don't often overlap in real life (as much as software engineers seem to think they do).

      The other reason programmers will never rule the world - eventually the whack-a-person machines will require Marvin to come fix them.

      Programmers will never rule the world, because by then they have been promoted to software engineers, managers, etc. It's the same with toddlers.

    4. Re:Why programmers will never rule the world.... by Smallpond · · Score: 3, Funny

      both good software engineers and good social engineers are a rare bread anyway

      That's a rye observation.

  2. Nitpicking. by underqualified · · Score: 3

    Each game, after turning on and off a certain number of times, sometimes 50, sometimes 500, would fail. Wimberly would be paid to fix it, and police reports say, he would insert a new virus with a new countdown.

    Does it really qualify as a virus?

  3. Re:Lies by Auroch · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's going to have to tell all the other inmates he's in for murder because he'll surely get his ass kicked for telling them he rigged Whack-A-Mole.

    There are a lot of preposterous ways of winding up in the clink, and this is in the top 100.

    Can you imagine, that in some states, he'll be sitting next to a guy in prison, who was busted for smoking marijuana.

    Marvin: So, what are you in for?
    Prisoner B: Smoking a joint while trying to relax at the carnival. You?
    Marvin: Rigging whack-a-mole so it'll fail. on purpose.

    And suddenly prisoner B is in jail for manslaughter.

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    Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
  4. At Least it Wasn't Boon-Ga Boon-Ga by Scarletdown · · Score: 4, Funny

    Imagine the hilarity that would have ensued had it been Boon-Ga Boon-Ga that was rigged instead of Whack A Mole.

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  5. He should be working as a government contractor by 517714 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least when you defraud the government you don't have to worry about being prosecuted: http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/02/20/0228236/Feds-Pay-Millions-For-Bogus-Spy-Software

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    The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
  6. Nice code reviews at whac-a-mole by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nice code reviews. Way to go whac-a-mole!!!

    When you have a tiny bit of quality, these things couldn't really happen and certainly the programmer could never be blamed.

    But any which way I put it, the programmer in this case is a truly sorry character.

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    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    1. Re:Nice code reviews at whac-a-mole by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Eh, "whac-a-mole" and "code reviews" are probably stretching the realm of probability. I'm pretty sure the "programming staff" required to implement "mole pops up, detect if whacked" could be done by a single programmer in this mostly mechanical-game-oriented company, making useful code reviews a bit tough. Sounds like it really was a mom-and-pop company, and they just put way too much trust in a real douche bag of an employee...

  7. Re:It's not a bug... by azalin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds like normal run of the mill american capitalism. Except I would call it a "Service Bomb".

    I would recommend calling it "Forced Service Intervals" and get a pay raise in addition. Laser Printers anybody?

  8. Re:You gotta feel for this guy. by zill · · Score: 4, Funny

    For Slashdot points, I will now note that what this guy planted was a logic bomb, not a virus.

    I'm guessing Detective Sherlock here didn't read the title.

  9. Re:You gotta feel for this guy. by AlamedaStone · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are you talking about? The true Slashdot hardcore do not even read the TITLES, much less the summaries. The articles? Those don't actually exist. Ever tried clicking on one? Don't waste your time, there's never anything at the other end of that link.

    That's insane, no rational human being can justify stealing music from content creators. If you want to listen, buy the media - period.

    --
    "All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
  10. Well it's wrong but... by localman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    15 years prison time? In comparison to other crimes that's pretty insane. This guy is a bigger danger to society than the numerous fraudsters that pushed the financial crisis? Bah.

    1. Re:Well it's wrong but... by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 3, Funny

      Presumably whack-a-mole is too big to fail. This guy will be a good scapegoat, but it won't solve the problems inherent in an economy that depends so much on whack-a-mole.

      Yeah. Through incompetence or malice, people can leave a national debt that will take generations to deal with, and economic ruin, yet I'd be surprised if any of them end-up doing more than five years. They'll get out even earlier if they're fortunate enough to be struck with a unique form of alzheimer's that mysteriously vanishes shortly after they're released from prison on medical grounds - as experienced by the Earnest Saunders.

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      -- Using the preview button since 2005
    2. Re:Well it's wrong but... by Hartree · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The key is "up to" 15 years. Unless it has a mandatory minimum sentence, the judge has a lot of leeway in what is handed down. A lot of other crimes have pretty broad sentencing guidelines as well.

      In this case, Whac-A-Mole isn't that big of a deal. If an arcade game fails, it's rare someone gets hurt. He'll get off lightly.

      If he'd done this with something more mission critical (and it somehow made it past QC) that might warrant more.

      Imagine if he'd put a logic bomb in a system controlling a radiation therapy machine for cancer. Even if it hadn't hurt anyone, the potential for harm would be much greater, and the judge would take that into account in setting the sentence.

  11. Re:If they didn't figure it out, they wouldn't hav by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is being able to read/write now considered 'elistism'{sic}?

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    No sig today...
  12. Re:Planned Obsolescence by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Informative

    Long lasting bulbs use more electricity. ie. It costs you more at the meter than the replacement bulbs.

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    No sig today...
  13. Re:Planned Obsolescence by number11 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Perhaps some forward-thinking bloke, back in the day 40 years ago, installed a 130V lamp instead of a 120V, which is a common "trick" for

    ...decreasing the lifetime of the lamp. Undervolting harms the lifespan AND puts out less light. You never want to undervolt your light source.

    Don't be silly. A 130-volt bulb has a higher resistance (for the same wattage rating) than a 120-volt bulb therefore at 120 volts pulls less current. It puts out less light, and runs at a lower temperature. And lasts longer. That's what most 'long life' bulbs are. The effect on lifetime is governed by the 12th power of the ratio of voltages, i.e. a 1500hr 130-volt bulb would last almost twice as long at 120 volts (1500e(130/120)).

  14. Re:Planned Obsolescence by TheLink · · Score: 3, Informative

    Water pipe analogy for you:

    Volts = water pressure
    Amps/current = amount of water flowing.
    Ohms = resistance to water flow.
    Watts = amount of water flowing * pressure.

    Bulb = narrow high resistance pipe attached to big pipe.

    If you put a low amount of pressure (2V) across a narrow high resistance pipe there is no way a lot of current will flow through that pipe.

    The higher the pressure the more current will flow.

    A 130V 40W incandescent bulb will have about 420 ohms resistance at operating temperature and voltage, and be carrying 0.3 amps.

    If you put 2 volts across a cold 130V 40W incandescent bulb, the bulb will be about 30 ohms (when cold[1]), and carry about 0.07 amps. The bulb certain won't blow up, nor would your wiring start burning up.

    A 130 V 40 W bulb running 120 Volts will only be 34 watts (but I believe a smaller percentage of that will be visible light compared to a 120V 40W bulb).

    [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb#Electrical_characteristics

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