Feds Drop CFAA Charges Against 'Hacker' Who Exploited Poker Machines

FuzzNugget writes "According to Wired, the two CFAA charges that were laid against the man who exploited a software bug on a video poker machine have been officially dismissed. Says Wired: '[U.S. District Judge Miranda] Du had asked prosecutors to defend their use of the federal anti-hacking law by Wednesday, in light of a recent 9th Circuit ruling that reigned in the scope of the CFAA. The dismissal leaves John Kane, 54, and Andre Nestor, 41, facing a single remaining charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.' Kane's lawyer agreed, stating, 'The case never should have been filed under the CFAA, it should have been just a straight wire fraud case. And I'm not sure its even a wire fraud. I guess we'll find out when we go to trial.'"

Comments

Aaron Swartz must be

[MouseTheLuckyDog]

spinning in his grave.

Re:Aaron Swartz must be

[Smallpond]

So from now on I can get out of any crime by threatening suicide? The DAs are all quaking in their boots.

Know when to hold em

[Anonymous Coward]

You got to know when to hold em.
Know when to fold em.
Know when to walk away, know when to run.

Re:Of course, it's only illegal if the house loses

[Wattos]

How many undiscovered glitches are there that cause the player to lose unfairly?

These are called features ;)

Re:Hey editors...

[Culture20]

Those newlines are there for a reason.

They would have been there, but someone couldn't be bothered to figure out what the new command for unix2dos was.

Re:Of course, it's only illegal if the house loses

[egcagrac0]

he can see your younger sister taking a shower off the shiny back of a brand new stop sign. So he videos the shower scene while legally standing on a public sidewalk, and puts in on YouTube. Illegal or a legit use of a bug?

Legit use of a bug, but a violation of YouTube's Terms of Service ("you will not submit to the Service any Content or other material that is contrary to the YouTube Community Guidelines") and Community Guidelines ("YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content").

In the specific case of my younger sister, it's also horrific taste. She's quite unattractive. (Community guidelines: "YouTube is not a shock site. Don't post gross-out videos")

Re:Glitches

[Fluffeh]

There is no EULA on a poker machine.

What you see is what you get.. no wait... what you see is what takes your money... No, hang on, let me word this... What you see should take your money... and if it doesn't then you can be hit with all sorts of charges... Hmmm, that doesn't sound as good as my original line...