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Hacker 'Guccifer,' Who Uncovered Clinton's Private Emails, To Be Extradited To US (rt.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the compulsive-need-to-be-famous dept.

schwit1 writes: Guccifer, the infamous Romanian hacker who accessed emails of celebrities and top US officials, will be extradited to the United States after losing a case in his home country's top court. Reuters reports that Lehel will come to the US under an 18-month extradition order, following a request made by the US authorities. Details of the extradition have not been made public, however. Marcel Lehel, a 42-year-old hacker better known by his pseudonym "Guccifer," achieved notoriety when he released an email with images of paintings by former President George W. Bush, including a self-portrait in a bathtub. He also hacked and published emails from celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio, Steve Martin and Mariel Hemingway. Perhaps most notably, Lehel was also the first source to uncover Hillary Clinton's improper use of a private email account while she was Secretary of State, which the FBI is investigating as a potential danger to national security.

41 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Clinton's improper use of a private email"

    No. If that was true, the FBI would have charged her long ago.

    1. Re: This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Exactly. She already confirmed she did nothing wrong.

    2. Re: This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If she did nothing wrong, then neither did he. If she actually did something wrong -- like exposing state secrets to Romanian hackers -- then she goes to jail, and he is a whistleblower, a Romanian hero who did a great favor to American people.

    3. Re: This site is so biased now! by youngone · · Score: 3, Insightful

      then she goes to jail

      As if! She's far too rich and far too white to go to jail in the US.

    4. Re: This site is so biased now! by PPH · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If she did nothing wrong, then neither did he.

      Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. It depends on how exactly he unearthed details of Clinton's personal server.

      From TFS:

      Hillary Clinton's improper use of a private email account while she was Secretary of State, which the FBI is investigating as a potential danger to national security.

      I suspect that, if Lehel actually got into the server, the hacking charges might be dropped in exchange for his testimony. His viewing classified data, or even getting that close as a foreign national will be used as the evidence of damage in a trial against Hillary. It goes from a potential danger where 'sensitive material could have been at risk' to an actual incident.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    5. Re:This site is so biased now! by cosm · · Score: 2

      What, like wipe it with a cloth?

      --
      'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
    6. Re:This site is so biased now! by KGIII · · Score: 2

      There's a documentary called "The Worst Town on the Internet" and it has him in there. He didn't think he did much wrong and was pissed about having gotten a long sentence in his come country. He's gotta be right pissed now that he's gotta come to the US and face more time.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    7. Re: This site is so biased now! by KGIII · · Score: 2

      Non-sequitur. It does not follow, for those playing the home game. Hacking an account is illegal. To say that if she'd not had encrypted email on there that it is not a crime is, well... Stupid. I'm not sure who moderated you up.

      Even if she had done no wrong, his actions are still illegal. They are different crimes (maybe) but they are still going to be charged with other crimes.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    8. Re: This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We can only hope! She is a sociopath, a megalomaniac. I find it incredible that she runs for president.

      Why is this surprising? Most people who run for President are megalomaniacs—they believe they are qualified to be President

    9. Re: This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Hacking an account is illegal.

      Oh, really? Then may I ask for the extradition of the entire NSA staff for hacking the accounts of French, German and Japanese politicians?

    10. Re: This site is so biased now! by TapeCutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If she goes to jail then Powell and Rice should also go to jail for setting the precedent. Either the State Secretary's correspondence is private, or it's not. The republicans can't have it both ways.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    11. Re: This site is so biased now! by haruchai · · Score: 5, Funny

      "The republicans can't have it both ways" - you have a LOT to learn about Republicans.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    12. Re: This site is so biased now! by haruchai · · Score: 4, Informative

      NSA doesn't do warrants - they're spies. The FBI may require warrants but they don't operate outside the USA.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    13. Re:This site is so biased now! by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

      The answer to 2 and 3 are "yes" and "yes." For example, this.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    14. Re:This site is so biased now! by DarenN · · Score: 2

      That link is of a conversation where she tells an aide to remove the classified material and headers.
      Effectively, she told the aide to do something similar to the process where documents are released redacted. If the classified portion of the material is removed before transmission, the remainder is no longer classified and can be transmitted.

      Seriously, if it were as simple as portrayed, this would be a non-issue because she would have been charged.

      --
      Rational thought is the only true freedom
    15. Re: This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a professional systems administrator, The entire concept of a foreign government compromising my accounts or my companies private computing infrastructure because national security. That there is some special group of privileged people who are above the law, above morality, above redress is the very definition of a totalitarian regime .

      Thanks to Snowden, we discovered Law Enforcement in the US were cheating via "Parallel construction" of court cases. Ever since then, many of their toys and tactics have been coming into question.

      The reason this guy is being extradited isn't because he hacked some celebrities and the aristocracy wants revenge. It's because he compromised the accounts of a high ranking government official which can lead to compromising peace at the worst and at best cause trust and jobs to be lost. The spin here is also outrageous; they add in that celebrities line to get the bleeding hearts to follow suit on the retardation.

    16. Re: This site is so biased now! by danbert8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It depends. If Powell and Rice were also sending classified information using private email, then yes, they should also go to jail. If they used personal email for non-classified correspondence then they violated retention policy, not the law.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    17. Re:This site is so biased now! by MachineShedFred · · Score: 2

      Unless he comes to the US, and cuts a deal in order to testify as to what he found on Clinton's email server while hacking it, e.g. testify that he saw classified documents that weren't there.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    18. Re:This site is so biased now! by MachineShedFred · · Score: 2

      you forgot:
      7. Did she knowingly direct employees of the US Department of State to forward classified information through the private email server?

      Which also sounds like 'yes', but I'm waiting to hear something other than rumor and innuendo before making a final decision.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    19. Re: This site is so biased now! by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. She already confirmed she did nothing wrong.

      This is Guccifer's problem. If he would just come out and confirm that he did nothing wrong in a press conference then it would all go away.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    20. Re:This site is so biased now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I work with classified shit everyday. And as much as you may want her to not be guilty as sin....she is. if I did just 1% of what she did I'd be in prison already without any chance of ever getting out. She thinks she can do whatever she wants and not be held accountable to the law like the rest of us. That isn't the way this system is suppose to work, there isn't one set of laws for the "important" people and one for the commoners, it's one set for all of us and I REALLY hope she goes to prison for life over this not because I hate democrats but because a message needs to be sent to ALL the people in upper government that they WILL be held to the fire for shit like this.

  2. General Alexander to be extradited next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    No?

  3. just remember... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    you are free to hack and extort from the little people, just don't mess with the people running the show or they will burn you alive. he would have been safer and richer if he just proliferated ransomware.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  4. Shame on Romania by manu0601 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Shame on Romania for extradition of one of their own nationals. He should have been prosecuted in his home country.

    1. Re:Shame on Romania by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I have been to prison, I have ben in most other countries.

      You are wrong, prison in the US is nasty, just one step above death. Life in other countries is as good or better than life in the US.

  5. I'm sure he will get 1 year like Palin's hacker by trout007 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course she didn't have anything illegal in her emails.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    1. Re:I'm sure he will get 1 year like Palin's hacker by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      Hillary is not tech-savvy enough to hack. Her emails revealed she had trouble working her desktop email client, preferring her Blackberry to process emails.

      Democrats sure like their Blackberries. I'm surprised they didn't try to bail out that company like they did GM :-)

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:I'm sure he will get 1 year like Palin's hacker by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I gather it's the same situation you see at any organisation. The IT department sets up elaborate security systems - multi-factor authentication, resources that can only be accessed from physically secured locations, the works. But all that security greatly annoys the users, so they go behind IT's back and start using their personal email address instead. Because it works, and is more convenient.

  6. Not on US Soil by BlueCoder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have a problem with them prosecuting a person in another country. Does that mean I am subject to foreign laws? This is all bullshit.

    If you have a server then it's up to you to secure it. Your failure; then arrest yourself. Otherwise don't connect the server to the outside world.

    And as general policy there should be no hacking laws. All traffic over a computer network is speech.

    If I hook a bomb up to a computer and put it on the internet and someone hacks it who is responsible for the damage? Answer: The idiot that hooked the bomb up to the internet.

    1. Re:Not on US Soil by MrDoh! · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This might just be due diligence by the FBI to get everything lined up before going after Hillary. And/or they're after the emails she's scrubbed if this guy has copies.

      --
      Waiting for an amusing sig.
    2. Re:Not on US Soil by KGIII · · Score: 3, Informative

      The powers that be view it like this...

      The hardware was on US soil. The alleged crime took place at that physical point. The crime is on US soil.

      'Snot my fault but that's their reasoning. It makes sense, at least at first blush it does. People should lock their doors but it's still a crime to enter an unlocked home in my jurisdiction.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    3. Re:Not on US Soil by aevan · · Score: 2

      Which is amusing when it comes to things like "Yes, your servers are in another nation, but you are American/do business in America, therefore we demand to see what's on your servers.'

      Pretty much distills to: "whatever view favours us"

    4. Re:Not on US Soil by N1AK · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you have a server then it's up to you to secure it. Your failure; then arrest yourself. Otherwise don't connect the server to the outside world.

      This is fucking idiotic logic. I suppose if you have a wallet and get mugged you should be prosecuted for not securing it. Got tail ended by a drunk driver, your prosecuted for causing an accident by not getting out of the way.

    5. Re:Not on US Soil by naughtynaughty · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, you are subject to the laws of other countries

      Attacking my computer isn't free speech. You want to speak, get a cardboard sign and march around my neighborhood with it and say whatever you want. Don't pretend that breaking into my computer and stealing my email is you freely speaking.

      You sound like a burglar blaming his victims for not having better locks on their doors.

  7. Premature accusation by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Informative

    improper use of a private email account

    That has NOT been proven in a court of law yet. Many experts say the laws at the time were poorly written such as to make prosecution very difficult.

    Bad judgement, yes. Illegal? Subjective.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Premature accusation by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 2

      Who is saying that? The law is very clear, classified information is not allowed on personal email servers. Period.

  8. FBI says they operate internationally. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The FBI operates outside the USA.

  9. Off to the Land of the Free... by Marquis231 · · Score: 2

    ...never to be seen again. I'm sure they have places worse than ADX Florence specially reserved for people that embarrass the top brass.

  10. He's here to make a deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To avoid the most severe penalties he will deliver up those emails that Hillary conveniently deleted. That way the NSA doesn't have to burn any political bridges by coughing them up. We know he has some of them since he published screenshots of some classified emails that never quite made it to the FBI. Sucks to be caught between two government agencies trying not to look bad...

  11. Any bets he gets more time in jail than Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    She is holding Top Secret documents in an unsafe location. She was sending Top Secret documents across open networks.
    He found out about it.
    She has a team of top lawyers and the POTUS in her pocket.
    He gets jail, she continues running for office.

  12. Hillary extradition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can we extradite Hillary to Benghazi for prosecution to?