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Kevin Mitnick Speaks
Signal 11
writes "Kevin grants a rare interview with Forbes Reporter
Adam L. Penenberg and blames the media frenzy surrounding
the now infamous hacker squarely on John Markoff of the
New York Times. More info about Kevin Mitnick.
"
...but not for the reason many others are. I see Kevin as having paid MUCH greater a price that he ever should have been required to.
By holding him in such a blatantly illegal fashion for so long, they have hurt themselves worse than Mitnick ever could have. Now there are 100s (or more) of crackers out there that are just waiting to have their day. Mitnick has become a martyr in the classical sense, inciting others to anger and hatred towards our "moral guardians".
I get sick of hearing about it because for some reason, killing someone is less of a crime than knowing technology and using it in a way the government doesn't like. It makes me ill to know what kind of state we are in
Ultimately, I believe the government has done exactly what has set out to do. It probably knew that it didn't have a real hard case, but it pressed on. Why? This simple reason:
----Forbes: What do you plan to do when you get out of prison?
Mitnick: "I don't know, but once I get out of here and get on with the rest of my life, I'll never intentionally violate the law."
----True Purpose? Crush. Utterly and completely crush and break Mitnick. And by crushing him, discourage others. Read the alt.2600 website some time. There are other stories, equally, if not more frightening of crackers getting caught and having their civil liberties violated. Stories of Secret Service witnesses making incredible claims of terrorism because a cracker had a war dialer--and thus this proves he's out to destroy the fabric of society.
FUD, plain and simple. But FUD with a clear purpose. And it works.
I don't advocate cracking. But I understand some of the reasons people do it. It is against the law, so there will be a penalty. However, many of these accused crackers aren't even getting due process. And that is wrong.
"Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs."
"Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin
Mitnik broke the law and stole credit card numbers and other things from computer systems. He is a criminal, not a hero. Why must people let politics turn criminals into heroes and ignore the law? Cases in point: Jack Kavorkian and Bill Clinton. Here's a thought: let's start enforcing the law equally in this country and leave politics out of the process. A radical idea, I know...
-Eric
Yes, Mitnick waived his right to a speedy trial.
Basically, as I understand it, very shortly after being arrested, the government told him that he could either:
1. Go to trial right now, which would not give him and his lawyer(s) time to prepare their defense
or
2. Waive his right, and go to trial at the government's convenience (currently something like four years, without a hint of a trial)
By a million-to-one coincidence, the government was fully prepared to go to court against Mitnick from the minute they arrested him. Pretty funny, eh?
Although what he did was illegal, and he ought to be punished for it, the government really has screwed him royally. My feelings: TRY KEVIN.
And the prohibition on using computers and telecom equipment is outrageous. You can't do _crap_ without using something nowadays. I really can't puzzle out why the government seems to crack down so hard on hackers, as opposed to, say, murderers.
Anyone up for pooling their money for buying an island and forming the country of Linuxania? (or Wrestlemania, I like that....)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
The media enjoys a qualified privilege in defamation cases. Basically this means that they're protected wether or not the information is true, as long as they published without malice or reckless disregard as to the validity of what they publish. Both of these are very hard to show in court.
This combined with the fact that Mitnick is a criminal with previous convictions makes his case laughable.
As I look at the part about Mitnick's punishment--being forbidden to touch a computer, cell phone, or cordless phone--I'm reminded of an Asimov short story I read once, in one of his anthologies. I forget the title--maybe someone here will know it--but the way it went was that a fellow had been convicted of some sort of computer crimes and, in punishment, had been given a phobia of computers which prevented him from touching them at all. In the end, he decided to appeal it, preferring time in jail to being so restricted.
The premise of the story was that this was cruel and unusual punishment--not because of having been given the phobia, but because the world had become a place where not being able to use computers of any kind was a crippling handicap. Though we might not have reached that point by the time Asimov wrote that story, I think we're a whole lot closer now, and Asimov knew that day was coming.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I don't claim to know everything about this, but from this article it looks like it would be equivalent to some attention-starved reporter publishing on the front page of The Times that the guy who stole your wallet actually ripped off your head, as well as the heads of all witnesses, and made a necklace of of it and tried to sell it on Ebay. Sure, graffiti artists should be punished, but we should be abusing rapists and murderers, not them.
Mitnick's defense has repeatedly asked and been granted additional time to work on the defense. mitnick would have been long done with the trial by now if he had wanted to. He might even have been a free man (albeit with a recent conviction).
Ummm...the people who don't like it when "crackers" call themselves "hackers" aren't going to like it that Kevin Mitnick (a "cracker") called himself a "hacker". Very good - you can reason from the general to the specific. Do you have a point?
I think the point (well, mine, at least) is that he is NOT being denied the right to a speedy trial. He has waived that right. You can argue that it's injust or not right, but you can't reasonably argue that the govt has not given him the opportunity for a trail.
You know, for DECADES computer scientists created software without a computer. For example, they would write the code on paper, they would punch cards, and they would hand their cards to an operator who would feed it into the machine. Mitnick could, I'm sure, come up with something like this. If he can't physically touch a computer, he can have a typist work for him. If he can't have a job working within 50 feet of a computer, he can have a typist at the other end of a speakerphone, with a high-reolution closed-circuit TV trained on the screen the typist is working at. If he can't be employed to work on computers, he can be a janitor (wink, wink, nudge nudge). If he's really worth what some people here think he is, I think an employer would gladly go to the extra effort to hire him. I personally doubt that he's worth much today as a computer professional. His skills were state of the art when he was arrested but are badly out-of-date now.
This is common for someone who is considered a flight risk, which can happen anytime someone violates parole or misses a court appearance. My best friend in high school skipped bail on a traffic ticket and was later picked up (he was caught speeding again). He was not allowed to post bond and was held in jail until someone could down and paid the fine.