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Hacker Faces 105 Years In Prison After Blackmailing 350+ Women
redletterdave writes "According to the 30-count indictment released by the Central District of California, 27-year-old hacker Karen 'Gary' Kazaryan allegedly hacked his way into hundreds of online accounts, using personal information and nude or semi-nude photos of his victims to coerce more than 350 female victims to show him their naked bodies, usually over Skype. By posing as a friend, Kazaryan allegedly tricked these women into stripping for him on camera, capturing more than 3,000 images of these women to blackmail them. Kazaryan was arrested by federal agents on Tuesday; if convicted on all 30 counts, including 15 counts of computer intrusion and 15 counts of aggravated identity theft, Kazaryan could face up to 105 years in federal prison."
But no doubt he'll take the plea bargain and spend a mere 1% of that in a low security prison, just like Aaron was supposed to.
You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
Now, now - let's not rush to justice until we've had a chance to see the evidence.
"Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
I have no problem with this type of scum getting some sort of jailtime. The question is, does the punishment fit the crime? I do not believe that this person will get anywhere near 105 years, especially if there are no priors. Before passing judgement, I think I will wait for a conviction. Is there a precedent for this type of crime with the same kind of scale to it?
Just like in the Anthony Wiener scandal, the clear bit of advice to come out of this: Never, ever, ever transmit pictures of yourself over a computer network with fewer clothes on than you'd wear in public.
I'm sure some people find that kind of thing fun, but the simple fact is that the damage is greater than getting many STDs.
I am officially gone from
Guys pretending to be girls on the internet? Say it isn't so... Once upon a time I got involved in some rooms on yahoo (back when they existed and had a sense of community) and made friends with a girl who was a regular there - I'd show for her on cam occasionally - "she" didn't have a cam, but talked on mic (I didn't realize you could use a pitch shifter on it). This went on for a while then "she" started getting bossy about it and I refused to do it anymore. Next thing I know, "she" announces to the room that "she" is a he and he fooled us all. He had been recording the cam stuff and uploaded some videos to some porn sites. Luckily I was pretty much just topless in them and not ashamed of my body, but that was the day I decided no more cam. As to those saying how stupid the women are, I would have no issue flashing my boobs at a girlfriend in person or on a cam - based on the story it seems to me that's how he did it and then kept pushing things to get more and more compromising images of them. I unfortunately am jaded and now assume that most females I talk to online that are into girls are just men.
That ship sailed long ago. Coincidentally, our system of 'due process' is basically one massive blackmail racket. If things operated as intended it would be an invaluable tool for the courts and the defendants to provide a win/win. In our completely perverted system charges are trumped up to the maximum (even completely fabricated) levels to force a plea.
He's scum. He preyed on innocents without remorse and deserves punishment. And yet you're going to give him more jail time than he'd get for MURDER?
I hate that I have to stand beside him and say this is wrong. I hate that I have to support someone so despicable. I hate that the flawed system actually makes me support people like Gary Kazaryan.
And yet it's something I must do.
We don't.
Of course, because convincing some marks to send you nude photos of themselves and then blackmailing them is totally equivalent to repeated violent rape. How can you even pretend to be appalled by this guy's actions when you would like an even worse penalty for him?
Two problems there.
First, they were not posting images of themselves on the open Internet. They were storing images of themselves online, in, as they say, "the cloud," behind password access. Which the suspect allegedly hacked.
Second, your suggestion that possessing nude photos of one's self voids one's expectation of privacy is sexist and objectionable.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
So, let me get this straight...
This shmoe could face up to 105 years because of "XX" number of counts of the exact same crime.
By that way of thinking, each perpetrator of the LIBOR fixing scandal committed acts which affected millions or perhaps billions of people. Shouldn't THEIR sentence be something then on the order of millions of years of prison?
And yet, NOT ONE person is going to go to jail for LIBOR. Aaron committed suicide over his potential 50 years, for downloading some crap, but LIBOR guys are going to have their banks pay a small fine, they are still going to get their bonuses, corner offices, mansions, Ferraris, Yachts and hot babes in bikinis.
Dude, if your going to commit a crime, think big -- as in "too big to fail", "too big to prosecute" -- Frankly, if Lance Armstrong had just been Lance Armstrong Bank, he'd still have all his medals, and everyone would still be doing business with him, because they'd have no choice.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Yeah. In America we know that "potential sentence" is for people who exercise their "right" to a fair trial. If you just roll over for the Kangaroo court and sign a confession, you won't face nearly as bad of punishment.
Here's a hint. Start at mass murder or genocide. Work your way down to murder. Then manslaughter. Then rape. But here's the thing. Work your way down from the mass murderer. Not up.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Second, your suggestion that possessing nude photos of one's self voids one's expectation of privacy is sexist and objectionable.
How is it sexist? He could have just as easily been blackmailing men here...
"The unknown persons then demanded that [victim 1] and [her sister, victim 2, who was actually in the picture] take their tops off and show their breasts on the Skype camera or he would post the photos on their Facebook walls for all of their friends to see. The unknown person told [the sisters] they had 10 seconds to do this. The girls attempted to stall the unknown person. In retaliation for not complying within 10 seconds, the unknown person, without authorisation, logged into [a friend of both girls'] Facebook account and added the [topless] photo of [victim 2] to [the friend's] Facebook wall. The unknown person then instant messaged [the victim] on Skype and sent the link to Facebook with the compromising photo attached. The link was [sic] the photos he had just put on their Facebook walls since they did not comply to his demands." http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-01/30/internet-criminals
He is exactly the kind of person that we WANT taken out of society.
Speak for yourself. I think you are the sociopath. I have empathy for everyone involved here. The girls have learned an important lesson about how information tends to escape and about trusting people too much. The guy has probably already learned his lesson, but a month in jail or restitution of, say, $200 to each victim would probably suffice for punishment.
It's amazing to me that the US is supposed to be a Christian country. Christianity is supposed to be about kindness and forgiveness. Not about hanging everyone who behaves in a manner you don't approve of. I'm an atheist myself and even I am shocked and saddened by the enthusiasm with which my country pursues punishment as if just imprisoning or executing enough people will solve every problem. This case is more about petty vengeance than any sort of real justice. Justice would be posting nude photos of him on the internet. After all that is what he threatened to do to them. An eye for an eye and all that.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
The HSBC money laundering case is another good one: That bank was caught laundering billions for drug lords, and there will be no jail time for anybody involved.
I am officially gone from
I have seen women get blackmailed before with the threat of their nudes being leaked by their ex bfs. I've seen women blackmail dudes over pictures they sent of their cocks, taboo perverted fantasies, or cheating on their wives. I have seen girlfriends and boyfriends use the threat of suicide to keep a leash on their partners as well as using the threat of leaking dirty secrets. These scenarios are VERY common. Why is this one guy being singled out? Because he has hundreds of victims?
There are probably millions of victims from hundreds of thousands of blackmailers doing the same or worse. This guy is being singled out probably to bring precedent or as a test case. If they can convict him of 100 years in prison then there are a million others just like him all who can be convicted the same way.
And unlike the whole pedophile hysteria which are more akin to the red scare I think this is a real problem. Blackmail is a real threat and in most of these scenarios there isn't a way to catch the hackers involved. It's one of the trades of blackhats,which also include identity threat, entrapment, swatting.
I can see that you aren't exactly a disinterest party in this discussion.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Violence against women? What the hell are you talking about? He just tricked them into showing him nude photos. That makes him a prick. Definitely not a nice person. But putting everyone who isn't a nice person in jail is not the answer.
And anti-Christian? Seriously? I thought my post was pro-Christian. I believe in the values of kindness, tolerance, forgiveness, mercy, empathy, and just being nice to others. And, yes, that does include not putting people in prison for their entire lives just for embarrassing people. Are those not Christian values?
Admittedly I am doing a bit of cherry picking since I guess Christianity is also about punishing sinners and eternal damnation and all that. Those are not values that I admire in a philosophy (religions are just ancient forms of philosophy) or in people. Cruelty, intolerance, hatred, revenge, bloodlust are not qualities that I admire at all.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
You are 100% wrong in your assumptions about me. If anything I empathize with the girls more. I hate being embarrassed. I wouldn't want a nude photo of me posted anywhere on the internet. Although of course he didn't actually do that. He just threatened to. I don't like being threatened either. Of course there are a lot of things in life that I don't like.
I bet I have a better idea of how they feel than you. If I were in that situation I would do my best to speak out about what the state wants to do to him. I would feel a lot worse about being partially responsible for taking the man's life than I would about my own embarrassment at people seeing me naked.
Have you considered the idea that you may just be a selfish, cruel, insensitive, vindictive person who cares only about revenge and nothing about justice? Putting this guy in jail for the rest of his life isn't going to change the fact that these girls were tricked into sending him nude photos. It won't reduce their embarrassment. And even though a few of them may feel a bit of vindictive pleasure at the idea of hurting the guy I'm betting many of them will eventually feel some guilt if the guy ends up getting life in prison for seeing them naked. Or at least I'd like to think so. I hate to think that the majority of people are as evil as the ones who want this guy to get life in prison for this.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
This guy should run if he gets the chance. He is seriously fucked. If he was smart enough to pull this off, why was he not smart enough to do it anonymously from public or unprotected wifi or even an internet cafe? Well, unless he did and the FBI have the wrong guy.
The FBI has a huge hardon for any kind of ToS violation crime or really any sort of GeekCrime, and I bet the FBI agent assigned to this case was a pissed off female with an axe to grind. How dare he trick girls into giving him naked photos!
He'll almost certainly be found guilty of the computer intrusion and is likely to be found guilty of the extortion as well, depending on how specific the wording of the federal law is about the monetary nature of any gains. He at least didn't ask for money.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
You certainly justify your user name.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
105 years jail for nudie pics.
If he did this in New Zealand and raped the women as well he'd be out of jail in 5 years.
He'd still have had to spend 5 years in New Zealand though.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it