Student Faces 38 Years In Prison For Hacking Grades 645
the brown guy writes "An 18-year-old high school student named Omar Kahn is charged with 69 felonies for hacking into a school computer and modifying his grades, among other things. He changed his C, D and F grades to As, and changed 12 other students grades as well. By installing a remote access program on the school's server, Kahn was able to also change his AP scores and distribute test answer keys, and could be looking at a lengthy prison term. Not surprisingly, his parents (who have only recently immigrated to America) have decided not to post the $50,000 bail and Kahn is in jail awaiting trial."
A better list of charges (Score:5, Informative)
Here is the list of charges against Khan
34 felony counts of altering public record
11 felony counts of stealing and secreting public records
7 felony counts of illegal computer access and fraud
6 felony counts of burglary
4 felony counts of identity theft
3 felony counts of altering book of records
2 felony counts of receiving stolen property
1 felony count of conspiracy
1 felony count of attempting altering of a public record
Correction (Score:3, Informative)
Better Summary... (Score:5, Informative)
The kid is also facing burglary charges because he stole a key to the school and used it to break in several times. The first thing to remember in this case is that it's not just a simple computer crime case, and that 12 other students also had their grades changed.
Further, of course the kid faces 38 years; every one of the small crimes he committed carry a maximum penalty. If you add them all up, you get 38 years. Obviously that doesn't mean that the kid is going to serve anywhere near that amount.
Now, I'm not sitting here saying that this kid should get 38 years. Far from it. But I do think that some jail time is called for. In addition to the burglary charge and the financial hit to fix the problems he caused, he hurt a lot of students. Consider this: For every one of the 13 kids who moved into the top 10% ranking, someone who had earned their spot had to leave. That student may not have been able to get into the college of his or her choice, and - far more importantly - may have missed out on substantial scholarship money. This kid wasn't just harming his high school through the added expense to audit records and security policies, he was hurting totally innocent fellow students.
Re:Jail time, that will teach him (Score:5, Informative)
Also, he is an outright criminal. This isn't just Ferris Bueller slipping in to adjust his grades a little because he's too cool for school. Burglary, identity theft, multiple counts of fraud? Bueller? Bueller?
Re:In these post 9/11 times... (Score:5, Informative)
Whilst I'm really not a lawyer, it's worth pointing out that the legal use of the word "Conspiracy" doesn't necessarily imply that it was a Government/Anarchic/Terrorism related thing.
As ever, Wikipedia has something to say on the matter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(crime)
"In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between natural persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement."
One of the comments posted to the story: (Score:5, Informative)
He's NOT a hacker!
Jun 19, 2008 08:21
He's just lazy and stupid.
First off, this idiot goes to the same high-school as me - Tesoro High School. The guy is a total loser who just wastes his time trying to act cool and trying to "party it up" cause his family is relatively well off.
The "38 years in prison" is just a tagline. He *faces* that much time in prison because of the 69 seperate counts of felony charges, but he'll probably get a fine and probation and that's about it. (Well, that and getting blacklisted from the major schools that he had no shot of getting into.)
Secondly, since when has installing a keylogger program on a computer been considered hacking? In which case, we're all "hackers" cause we installed software on our PC. He doesn't know the first thing about programming. He asked me to fix his spyware infested computer on repeated occasions. The guy would get others to do his work for him and pay them off. He even asked people to take the SATs for him! jeez!
Lastly, he's a lazy idiot. He got caught AFTER he was denied admission to the UCs (yes, he still got rejected with his modified transcripts), when he tried to appeal the decision and have more transcripts sent out - that's when the counselor noticed the discrepency. If he had taken the time to study for the SATs instead, he'd be in by now, even with his terrible GPA.
What a ridiculous world we live in.
Amit
Re:A for effort? (Score:5, Informative)
This guy was actually at a really expensive private school, one of the best from an academic standpoint in the country.
Re:They don't know the half of it... (Score:4, Informative)
So sad, so sad. He means this WOPR [wikipedia.org]. On second thought I feel old.
Re:A for effort? (Score:2, Informative)
The penalties will likely run concurrently. Sequential time is reserved for serious felonies.
Re:Jail time, that will teach him (Score:3, Informative)
The pendulum's swung, and we have to get some sanity back into sentencing.
56 is the theoretical maximum, if all charges are upheld and if they are consecutive. Neither is likely. It's far more probable that in the end he will be convicted of only part of the 69 offenses, and that the sentences will run concurrently, in other words he'll face a few years in jail.
38 years??? Um no (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not a good hacker. (Score:5, Informative)
He didn't get caught because he bragged. Evidently, he was caught after he requested an official school transcript for a university he was applying for.
Of course, if you read the article, you'd know that.
But hey, who reads articles? This is slashdot.
Re:Jail time, that will teach him (Score:3, Informative)
But first there needs to actually be a trial. This kid will almost certainly only get probation when all is said and done.
Re:Public Schools? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, that should be funded by "state" taxes. Very little federal money funds the public education systems of various states and that money is generally earmarked for specific purposes outside education like the school lunch and breakfast programs.
When you look at the dollar amount spent on public education in any given state, the entire federal budget for education is generally a small in comparison of that. Take ohio for instance, It spends around 11-19 billion in primary and secondary education each year before any federal money is assessed. In comparison, the feds (NEA) only spent 38 billion on the same education. If that were divided by the 50 states, that's like 700 million or so per state and this isn't counting DC or outlying territories. When we look at the fact of some stated being poorer then others, needing more funding, it goes down even more. But for the majority of situations, federal funding is going to be only a small fraction of most every state's education funding.
I will agree that the school represents the government but for different reasons. These reasons are that the government has put their faith behind the results and reporting of these schools to provide legitimacy to them. The federal government has an interest in a state's credential too. When someone undermines that by purposely presenting false information or altering information certified by the state, then there is a reason to be concerned. In essence, I see changing grades as being no different then fake IDs or impersonating a police officer to defraud someone.
Re:Jail time, that will teach him (Score:4, Informative)
Hey now, lets not let "facts" and "what typically happens" run into our outrage here. Clear and level minded thinking like yours has no place in this discussion. after all, we are trying to build outrage in order to get public sympathy behind him so he will get off with a slap in the wrist.
So leave your rash and insightful comments out of this...
BTW, you probably should define the differences between concurrent and consecutive sentencing. It's possible that he could be convicted and sentenced to all 38 years of punishment and serve them all in the time of the longest charge. If the longest penalty for any given charge is 5 years, then his 38 year sentencing could be over completely in 5 years.
Gun advocate response... (Score:4, Informative)
Warning: I am NOT a lawyer. I am just a self defense advocate and gun collector who has read multiple state laws on self defense and firearm laws.
It really depends on your state and jurisdiction, even in the USA.
It varies. Today, many states have an automatic 'fear for life/SBH' for an intruder in your house. In Texas, during hours of darkness, felony theft on your property may be responded to by deadly force. If they're in your house, you may respond with deadly force at any time.
This is varied a bit in that some liberal cities within the state don't like that, and aren't particularly caring if they follow the law - you get a fair number of self defense cases that they'll push all the way to court, even knowing it doesn't have a snowball's chance. Heck, look back at texas and the incidents in one county where the police entered bars and arrested patrons for public drunkeness. No fights, no noise complaints. Premeditated raid to do this. Their stated goal was to reduce drunk driving - yet they arrested even people who had rooms in the attached hotel.
Thus, I figure anything but the most blatant act of self defense will cost over $30k, possibly quite a bit more.
In my town - somebody breaks in and I shoot them. Likely result: A pat on the back.
Texas rural - same deal
Texas, Dallas - some runaround.
Lincoln or Omaha, NE - probably a few days in jail until they find that they don't have any real evidence that it wasn't self defense.
In Chicago or DC - murder and wrongful death charges, showy trial leading to aquital. After tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of lawyers bills. Or they'll drop charges after holding me in jail for six months without bail.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am a serious advocate of self defense, concealed carry, and all. By the same token - taking a human life is serious. Therefore I don't mind if somebody who has to drop the hammer on an intruder is arrested. What I DO want is a thorough investigation followed by a quick release when it's determined to be self defense.
Re:In these post 9/11 times... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not a good hacker. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not a good hacker. (Score:5, Informative)
Let's take a look at the charges levied against the student:
34 felony counts of altering public record
11 felony counts of stealing and secreting public records
7 felony counts of illegal computer access and fraud
6 felony counts of burglary
4 felony counts of identity theft
3 felony counts of altering book of records
2 felony counts of receiving stolen property
1 felony count of conspiracy
1 felony count of attempting altering of a public record
And, as the article says, he's not just being charged with breaking in to the school's computers, he also put in a remote access program (which others could have used to do a variety of things with the school's network with). Then there's the fact that he broke into the principal's office to steal a test he did badly on. I think this individual, quite clearly, is a potential threat to other people. He sounds an awful lot like the sort of person who would do anything to get ahead; maybe in the future he could steal someone's identity to get a job or a loan. Do I necessarily think that 38 years is the amount of time he should do? No, but I don't think he'll do that much time either; he deserves to do some jail time though for his crimes.