I almost hate seeing Kevin get Slashdotted, because it always inspires the same boring commentary.
The stories are a small part of the book. They are there to make it interesting. The bulk of the work is the writing up of how the attack could have been mitigated, which is what Kevin and William Simon will do.
Your comments about the profit margin are way off base. He's asking for one story of a hack from about 10-20 people, not their life story. It's not like when Markoff made over a million dollars telling a story (Takedown) loosely based on Kevin.
Good points everyone. The reason Kevin hasn't sued Markoff, is because of this little thing called a statute of limitations. Markoff libeled Kevin while he was a fugitive. Usually the statute of limitations to file a libel suit is a year. Kevin was a fugitive for three. Markoff knew exactly what he was doing and took advantage of the situation. He could have sued once captured, but there were more pressing matters with lawyers at the time. He did settle out of court with Miramax on the defamation of character issue with the Takedown movie, which was based on Markoff's book.
I guess you're talking counts, and not convictions. You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm not arguing that. There is no evidence that Kevin possessed said credit cards, rather it was something reported by the media.
However, your statement that you don't know if it is true or not, nor are you sure there was evidence, so he probably did it, is ludicrous. This is in complete contrast with the rules on how our justice system decides who is guilty or innocent. In America, we are supposed be to be innocent of a crime, until proven guilty. He was treated unfairly, because people who think like you were in charge of deciding how harshly he should be punished, and if he was entitled to these rights granted by our Constitution or not. Understand that many of the things that Kevin has been credited with, were fabricated by the media.
The bottom line here, is that whatever Kevin had or did not have access to, he didn't use it for any personal gain, nor did he distribute it. Many others have acquired this type of information, have done massive damage and ruined people's lives with it, and done less time than Kevin. That makes his punishment hardly seem appropriate. Even for the charges that Kevin was convicted for, there was no evidence to substantiate the monetary damages claimed by the government, and none of the victim corporations declared those losses, as required by law, in their SEC report filings.
My position has never been one stating that Kevin was innocent of the crimes he committed, rather that the price he paid seemed extravagant, considering the harm inflicted and his motive of intent.
I see you're really keeping up with the story there, man. That's why he wrote the book and has started his own consulting company.
Re:Will someone please call Kevin and tell him...
on
Kevin Free
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· Score: 1
Kevin has been made aware that he has been/.-ed.
Re:Free Kevin first..
on
Kevin Free
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· Score: 3, Informative
The problem with Kevin's story is that a lot of it is based on myth created by John Markoff and other reporters, and not fact. The statement that you made is completely false, and Kevin was never indicted nor convicted of stealing any credit cards. I refer you to a story on my site. Please pay particular attention to #3.
Then doesn't that fact make it hard for you to comment. Kevin never stole any identity of a living person, and never stole anyone's credit cards. He worked the entire three years he was fugitive as a system adminstrator for various companies. The reason that many people felt Kevin was punished too severely for his crimes, is because he never profited from his crimes. The government was just looking for someone to use as an example to deter other would-be hackers.
I agree that running doesn't help your plight any, but if you look at other similar crimes committed by others, you will see that others served the same amount of time, and they ran AND profited from their hacking. So, how was Kevin's punishment just?
Slashdot Mirror
I almost hate seeing Kevin get Slashdotted, because it always inspires the same boring commentary. The stories are a small part of the book. They are there to make it interesting. The bulk of the work is the writing up of how the attack could have been mitigated, which is what Kevin and William Simon will do. Your comments about the profit margin are way off base. He's asking for one story of a hack from about 10-20 people, not their life story. It's not like when Markoff made over a million dollars telling a story (Takedown) loosely based on Kevin.
Good points everyone. The reason Kevin hasn't sued Markoff, is because of this little thing called a statute of limitations. Markoff libeled Kevin while he was a fugitive. Usually the statute of limitations to file a libel suit is a year. Kevin was a fugitive for three. Markoff knew exactly what he was doing and took advantage of the situation. He could have sued once captured, but there were more pressing matters with lawyers at the time. He did settle out of court with Miramax on the defamation of character issue with the Takedown movie, which was based on Markoff's book.
I guess you're talking counts, and not convictions. You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm not arguing that. There is no evidence that Kevin possessed said credit cards, rather it was something reported by the media.
However, your statement that you don't know if it is true or not, nor are you sure there was evidence, so he probably did it, is ludicrous. This is in complete contrast with the rules on how our justice system decides who is guilty or innocent. In America, we are supposed be to be innocent of a crime, until proven guilty. He was treated unfairly, because people who think like you were in charge of deciding how harshly he should be punished, and if he was entitled to these rights granted by our Constitution or not. Understand that many of the things that Kevin has been credited with, were fabricated by the media.
The bottom line here, is that whatever Kevin had or did not have access to, he didn't use it for any personal gain, nor did he distribute it. Many others have acquired this type of information, have done massive damage and ruined people's lives with it, and done less time than Kevin. That makes his punishment hardly seem appropriate. Even for the charges that Kevin was convicted for, there was no evidence to substantiate the monetary damages claimed by the government, and none of the victim corporations declared those losses, as required by law, in their SEC report filings.
My position has never been one stating that Kevin was innocent of the crimes he committed, rather that the price he paid seemed extravagant, considering the harm inflicted and his motive of intent.
Who's full of shit? http://www.freekevin.com/indictment.html
He's allowed to use computers...since January 2002. He just isn't allowed to access the Internet until January 21, 2003.
I see you're really keeping up with the story there, man. That's why he wrote the book and has started his own consulting company.
Kevin has been made aware that he has been /.-ed.
The problem with Kevin's story is that a lot of it is based on myth created by John Markoff and other reporters, and not fact. The statement that you made is completely false, and Kevin was never indicted nor convicted of stealing any credit cards. I refer you to a story on my site. Please pay particular attention to #3.
Then doesn't that fact make it hard for you to comment. Kevin never stole any identity of a living person, and never stole anyone's credit cards. He worked the entire three years he was fugitive as a system adminstrator for various companies. The reason that many people felt Kevin was punished too severely for his crimes, is because he never profited from his crimes. The government was just looking for someone to use as an example to deter other would-be hackers. I agree that running doesn't help your plight any, but if you look at other similar crimes committed by others, you will see that others served the same amount of time, and they ran AND profited from their hacking. So, how was Kevin's punishment just?