Japan's Alleged Death Threat-Making, Cat-Hacking Programmer Says He's Innocent

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Inside the memory card in the cat's collar, authorities found a resentful message criticizing the police along with versions of the virus (iesys.exe) used to carry out the threat messages, which were made remotely, through other people's computers. If you hadn't heard about the story in the news, you'd be forgiven for confusing it with the plot of a Haruki Murakami novel. In Tokyo District Court Wednesday, the former employee of a Japanese IT company wore a black suit, a wide smile, and pleaded not guilty to 10 charges brought against him. The Japan Times explained the string of threats were directed at 'schools and kindergartens attended by the Emperor Akihito's grandchildren,' as well as a Japan Airlines jet headed for New York. The plane had to stop mid-flight, costing the airline ¥9.75 million (about $93,000)."

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Re:"The plane had to stop mid-flight"

[JustOK]

The Law of Gravity doesn't apply over international waters

Re:"The plane had to stop mid-flight"

[Anonymous Coward]

This is Japan we're talking about. They are way ahead of other nations in technology.

If he's really innocent he should confess

[jrumney]

In Japanese society, the police are believed to be infallible. Once arrested for something, the conviction rate is something like 98%. Police make deals with suspects to deal with things quickly and quietly if they confess, but if they don't confess, then their name will be all over the newspapers, dragging their family into disrepute. This is why two people have already confessed to the crimes that this man is accused of.

But apparently the perpetrator doesn't like others taking credit for his work, and sent coded messages on the 2ch message board which a journalist and police were able to verify as containing non-public information that proved the sender was the real culprit, and the previous two accused were released despite having confessed to the crimes. Due to this history, if he is really innocent, his best chance of proving it may be to confess to the crime.

Re:If he's really innocent he should confess

[Anonymous Coward]

Or phrased another way, the U.S. 12% acquittal rate is 40x more favorable than Japan's 0.3% acquittal rate.

Re:"The plane had to stop mid-flight"

[TapeCutter]

Either that. or the plane had air brakes.

Even the trolls are of lesser qiality these days

[Evtim]

man, if you wanna be a good troll you gotta read a bit more. Your attempted insult is applicable for the Chinese and Koreans.

Do you hear a lot of silverware crashing noise in the names Myamoto Musashi, Oda Nobunaga, Tkeshi Kitano just to name a few....

Trolls these days....what do they teach them in school?

Don't write summaries like this!

[wonkey_monkey]

Inside the memory card in the cat's collar

What cat?!

Please, please, if you can't be bothered to write your own summary, at least make sure that the paragraphs you copy and paste make sense by themselves.

Did you even read what you submitted?

Editors: at least try to look like you're doing your job.

Re:Don't write summaries like this!

[Mashdar]

It was in Orion's belt. What more do you need to know?

Stupid summary

[daem0n1x]

What the fuck is this summary about? Don't you need basic communication skills to be a Slashdot editor?

Android

[Arancaytar]

KitKat, of course.

O brave new world / that has such creatures in't.

[Tenebrousedge]

We have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and you're arguing that not enough people are being jailed? Poverty is causally linked to crime! Assault, rape, and robbery have been in decline for years, and prison sentences have been lengthening.

It should be a surprise to no one that statistics on the income level of incoming prisoners are heavily biased towards the lowest levels of income. Income statistics for released felons are even worse. We stigmatize prison to such a degree that it destroys people's ability to earn a living afterwards, and you wonder why we have a >60% recidivision rate. Our "corrections system" is fundamentally broken, and by all measures worsening. Isn't prison supposed to prevent people from returning to a life of crime?

I am appalled at your ignorance, and the idea of a higher incarceration rate is vile. If you have no human compassion, have at least the sense to see when a solution isn't working.

Re:"The plane had to stop mid-flight"

[marcello_dl]

I hope somebody shouted HAMMERTIME!