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TJX Hacker Claims US Authorized His Crimes

Posted by samzenpus on from the one-armed-man dept.

doperative writes "Convicted hacker Albert Gonzalez is asking a federal judge to throw out his earlier guilty pleas and lift his record-breaking 20-year prison sentence, on allegations that the government authorized his years-long crime spree. From the article: 'The government has acknowledged that Gonzalez was a key undercover Secret Service informant at the time of the breaches. Now, in a March 24 habeas corpus petition filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts, Gonzalez asserts that the Secret Service authorized him to commit the crimes. “I still believe that I was acting on behalf of the United States Secret Service and that I was authorized and directed to engage in the conduct I committed as part of my assignment to gather intelligence and seek out international cyber criminals,” he wrote. “I now know and understand that I have been used as a scapegoat to cover someone’s mistakes.”'"

5 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. It's illegal... by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's illegal if the gov't does it too. They can't "authorized" illegal activity, and "following orders" is not a legal defense.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:It's illegal... by ComputerGeek01 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah it kind of is, It's called the Nuremburg Defense. It's still illegal but what this guy is saying is that it was is (CO? Handler? I'm not sure of the terminology in this instance) commiting the crime based on the Command Responsibility doctorine.

    2. Re:It's illegal... by HungryHobo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd be very doubtful unless he has good proof he was working for the government.

      the government can do a lot of things and authorize it's agents to do a lot of things which would be illegal otherwise.

      For a trivial example:The executioner is not guilty of murder for executing a person sentenced to death.

      Police can take someone against their will and lock them up overnight for very flimsy reasons without the same penalties as a kidnapper who does the same thing for the same reasons.(Just try locking up your neighbor in your basement against his will to punish him for being drunk in public and see how it turns out for you)

      If someone believes their actions are at the behest of their government it shouldn't be a total defense but intent is important.

    3. Re:It's illegal... by Jurily · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Seems like government agents breaking laws like these (theft and fraud) should be subject to harsher penalties to the people who ordered them.

    4. Re:It's illegal... by Moryath · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd be very doubtful unless he has good proof he was working for the government.

      Uhm.. the government ALREADY ADMITTED that they were using him as an undercover informant.

      One of those things about the word "undercover" is that unless you are participating in what is going on, chances are the people you are trying to inform on will peg you real quick. "Hey, don't talk to that guy, everyone he talks to gets busted by the feds."

      The Secret Service is no different than any other law enforcement agency. The dirtiest, most corrupt wing is always "Vice", simply because in order to find the guys they're trying to bust the cops have to get very, very, very dirty themselves. Sometimes they go native, sometimes they really go native, sometimes they get really freaking insane (more here. Sometimes it's even worse. Undercover cops on major mafia infiltration cases have had almost carte blanche to participate in anything that went on, so long as they testified later.

      Am I completely convinced he's telling the truth? No. Is it reasonably plausible that someone in the Secret Service gave him verbal instructions to do certain things in order to keep his credibility up so as to set up future busts, but then decided he wasn't worth it and used him as a scapegoat? Absolutely.