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Mitnick Finally Receives Federal Sentence 196

Posted by Roblimo from the it-could-be-worse dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "According to ZDNet, Kevin Mitnick has finally been sentenced to 46 months less time served, and $4,125 in restitution. He's also banned from using computers for three years, which will make a total of seven since he was captured. Can't help but wonder if the guy broke a mirror." He's eligible for immediate reassignment to a halfway house, and could be out next January if he meets "good behavior" requirements. Not good, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, especially the restitution.
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Mitnick Finally Receives Federal Sentence More

Mitnick Finally Receives Federal Sentence

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  • Nah, obviously "super hacker" Kevin is going to have to create the ultimate high-level computer language:

    "Hey How's it going Kevin?"
    "Not bad, how're things with you, I'm still not allowed to say 'c***uter' or read c***uter magazines."
    %> Universe Error: Segmentation Fault - The Universe has become unstable and must be restarted.

    After all, even the government obviously thinks Kevin Mitnick is god.

    TheGeek
    http://www.geekrights.org [geekrights.org]

  • How come this guy's posts haven't been moderated down? I mean if people have an opinion on the legal aspects of this thing, all well and good, but why do I have to hear from some low-grade moron who's probably jealous just because of all the attention Kevin got?
    I mean this is such obvious trolling for Mitnick lovers.
  • IMHO, the guy was a petty theif and deserved what he got.

    NO-ONE deserves to have the Feds do a number on them.

    Bill of Rights My Hairy White Ass...

  • But it is and should be illegal for some hacker to break into a server and steal my credit card number thank you. I'll never know why people love this thief so much.

    So right you are... But keep in mind, it should also be illegal for company to keep your CC informations accesible to the outside world, and unencrypted.



    Sun Tzu must have been running Linux...
    - Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. (Sun Tzu, The art of war)

  • Ha Ha! Paying the dough is a hell of a lot more involvement than writing some stupid me too comment on some discussion board. And "support" shouldn't imply that a lot of people think he's actually innocent of the crimes. The support is because they think he's been treated badly. Sorry, you don't get money donated in your name for being treated badly.
  • Gee, is 2600 Magazine passing out little quote sheets for mindless drones to reproduce in these forums now? Mitnick broke into Motorola's computers. That's a crime. Just because Motorola misstated the damages doesn't make it not a crime. I'm sorry, but it's true.
  • Not so sure. Most modern cars are computerised. Indeed, most modern electronics is computerised, to some degree.

    Whilst I agree that the restriction probably isn't meant to include use of -embedded- computers, that is down to how the probation officer interprets the restrictions. It isn't specified directly, as far as I can tell.

    To make things more complex, some US banks apparently charge you for using teller services, rather than ATMs. If Mitnick is unlucky, whatever bank he's with could make a healthy profit out of this.

  • The man is not a political prisoner, and not being able to use a computer for 3 years does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Are they torturing him? Refusing him medical attention? No.

    Don't waste your breath getting outraged about some advanced version of a script kiddie getting punished. You want a political prisoner? Try Leonard Peltier [xoom.com] or Mumia Abu-Jamal [mumia.org]. (Another site [grinnell.edu].)

  • Since he would not of been permitted to use a computer since he was arrested way back before even Windows 95 was released. I think he can count himself luckier than most of us as he would never have had that particular OS inflicted on him, and with that sentence he might still get the tail end of Win2K though....
  • = 68 months.

    He also performed cell phone cloning and a parole violation according to the article.

    Whatever he did or didn't do, this man is a poster boy for where the legal system failed.


    I think my signature applies heavily in this case...
  • Get himself a pro-bono lawyer, and sue the government for a couple of million for cruel and unusual punishment et al.

    The thing will either last for a couple of years, or the government will settle to avoid "bad" publicity.

    He's done it, granted.
    He might be guilty as sin, but _NO ONE_ disserves to spend 53 months locked up _WAITING_ to be tried and sentenced.

    The government screwed up big time on this one, and they're trying to minimize damage right now. Expect a big settlement with NDA.



    Sun Tzu must have been running Linux...
    - Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. (Sun Tzu, The art of war)

  • He stole. He got caught.

    Go directly to jail.
    Do not pass go.
    Do not collect 200 dollars.


    eof
  • Sheesh...why don't you do a little research and find out soem FACTS before you continue to spew your "He served X years in jail while blah blah blah"...he PLEADED GUILTY to cel-phone fraud and was sentenced to 3 years for that...

    Yeah...but I'll bet the Feds forced him to confess to that..yeah..I'll bet they beat him with a rubber hose untill the poor poor victim admitted to crimes that he didn't commit... sheesh... In fact...I'll bet the police set him up the other 2-3 times he was arrested for various cracking /hacking/social engineering crimes. Poor Poor Kevin...everybody was picking on him..they deprived him of his rights..sheesh..get a clue for Christs sake

    If any of you script kiddies wanna play with this stuff then expect to be punished if you get caught.
  • so, he can't drive a car, use a vcr, or do much of anything involving electricity...
  • ...and a lot of the hoopla isn't so much about Mitnick as it is about the situation, and what it portends for the rest of us in the future...
  • Yeah. It was about some cracker who was also really good at 3-D chess (Keep in mind. Asimov. Old-school sci-fi. Therefore, 3-D chess.)

    It was a pretty cute story. They actually didn't ban him from computers, but make him feel sick whenever he looked at a computer screen.

    Ya know, I know a few people who get pretty sick whenever they play Quake. Maybe a lot of my friends are just WitnessProtectioned crackers.


  • You don't have to be violent to be a danger to society. In a world where we're rapidly moving all of our critical activities at least partially into the computer realm, we can't afford to have people like mitnick running around thinking they have free license to abuse their technological skills. I say lock him up.
  • If you don't know about the OJ trial...

    The best part of the bits I heard of the trial was when the defense pointed-out that the deaths occured at 12:19, and OJ was at such and such a place until 12:15, so couldn't have possibly made it to the crime scene in time.

    Does anyone remember the really old OJ/Rent-A-Car ads? I'm not sure of the brand, but it was some rental car company.

    It showed OJ having to park far away using the brand X rental company (or some other inconvenience) and then rushing to catch his plane. He leaped over baggage carts and rolled around old women with suitcases (and other such football moves).

    I couldn't stop laughing when I imagined the prosecution playing those old commercials and the defense crumbling.
  • I have to wonder what the wording on the prohibition from using computers is.

    In the strictist sense he could be banned from using telephones, bank machines, elevators, traffic lights, fridges, central heating, most modern cars ....

    Any computer chip with a user affected input stream could probably be covered by a not carefully worded clause in the prohibition.

    Curel and unusual punishment in the modern world.
  • A poster above brought up a good point. I mean, can he not use an ATM or a microwave? What definition of "Computer" are they using? Isn't almost everything a computer now? I mean, what if he gets a job as a Janitor and he has to use a computerized time clock system? He can't take that job? Are they specifying this somewhere, or just leaving it up in the air?

    What about Playstation and the like? Do those count as computers? How about Playstation 2, which will be more powerful than a normal computer? Hmmm? Anybody got any info on this?
  • I think my signature applies heavily in this case...
    [Reply to This | Parent]

    Ha ha. I have sigs turned off. I have no idea what you're talking about!
  • You're probably right, but even that wording would rule out things like the Playstation which allow for multiplayer gaming via networking. (I'm not sure if the Playstation fits that category, but I am aware of at least one device by Sega that does....Don't ask me, I don't play console video games).
  • testicles posting anonymously? I know your opinion is not all that popular on this site but at least stand up for your views and explain them.

    At this point in this whole trial, I don't care if he did do it or he didn't do it, the system clearly failed. No one and I mean no one should sit in prision for more than 4 years without a trial. In addition, the treatment the prosecutors in this case was less than professional. You do not spew your opinion across the media and stall and stall and stall your case.

    They basically got the media into a hacker/cracker hating frenzy to help out their case!

    Geez. How much is a plane ticket to Switzerland. I think I am tired being a US Citizen.
  • so what, he's at worst a criminal at best a guy really good at faking people out and then got caught. there's no reason to bash him personally. please.
    get a life.
    besides, doing 50+ months in jail is more than plenty for having some fun. at least they did drop the outrageous "restitution" demands. peace.
  • Actually, there is a big difference between your examples and mine. In my examples, the uses are as basic, natural, and innocent as, say, using a computer is to a hacker. A computer is generally the most common means to a perfectly legal livelihood for a hacker.

    To pick on one of your examples, a robber using a gun for his livelihood is not nearly as legal -- or as defendable. Now, you can feel free to quibble with my examples. ;)
  • Maybe 2600 can actually talk about something other than "Kevin was given a piece of stale bread in prison today. This is obvious proof that they are triyng to torture him" and talk about something interesting. Off the Hook and the magazine has been saturated with Kevin Kevin Kevin. Now Emmanuel can talk about how he got ripped off in a vending machine and think it's some government conspiracy against him. heh
  • knock knock
    who's there?
    Kevin
    Kevin who
    Kevin Mitnick you got a crack for Windows95 beta for a Commodore 128?

    check out our elite lock up kevin banner www.AntiOffline.com

  • Let's see... popular articles on /. get some 300 replies. Suppose half of those are from people who support Mitnick to some extent. That's $27.50 each to pay off his fine.

    I see NO reason why /.ers should feel eager to pay this guy's $4,000 fine. That's not that much money. Yeah, it's a bitch, but the whole point of that small a fine was so that he'd be definitely able to pay it. I'm all for making him pay it.

    If he wants me to write some letters of support, that's cool, because I disagree with the politics of the situation. It's the same thing with all the Mumia crap. It would be bonkers if we were putting forth that much effort for just one guy. It doesn't make any sense. You could use the same effort to go to McDonalds, earn your minimum wage, and give it to those 10cents-a-day places, maybe save some starving kids.

    My point is that this is a real issue because of the politics, policy-setting, and publicity of the case. Not because we feel bad for some crackers wallet. Handing him my lunch money doesn't make a difference to those 3 cute alliterative P's above.

  • Finally. (Score:1)

    by db ( 3944 )
    Good. Will I finally stop seeing these annoying "Free Kevin!" banners everywhere now?

    --
    Dave Brooks (db@amorphous.org)
    http://www.amorphous.org
  • Nope.

    Many states specifically deny criminals the right to collect proceeds from "how/why-I-did-it"types of stories.

    The idea is that no convicted criminal should be able to profit from his crime, whether monetarily, or by broadcasting his thoughtcrime.

    It's perfectly permissable for the Federal Government to broadcast it's case, though. Justifyable, maybe, but not justice.
  • I was a netcom customer when Mitnick cracked into their files. He stole my credit card info. Even if he didn't *do* anything with it, the man's still a criminal in my book. It's a shame that he didn't get a prompt trial, but the sentence was too light for his crime IMHO.
  • I completely agree. What happened to Mitnick was not "cruel and unusual". It was not right for him to be held so long without sentencing, but the restrictions on his probation are very justified. However, they say that he may not "possess or use, for any purpose":
    "1. any computer hardware equipment;
    2. any computer software programs;
    3. modems;
    4. any computer related peripheral or support equipment."

    What bothers me is that they only said "comptuer" and not "personal comptuer". This means that he shouldn't be able to "possess or use" anything with any sort of imbedded chip. That would include automobiles, watches, diswasher, watches, many types of phones, etc.
  • but was he that great of a hacker? sounded to me like he was better at manipulating people to give out the information he needed to get into systems rather than actually breaking into them...

    woohoo, linuxworld on tuesday.

  • assuming mitnick HAD elite hacker skills.

    but i wonder if he's been reading about all the stuff that's happened while he was busy waiting for his trial in jail. maybe he's seen the horrors of windows 98 in PC Magazine.
  • ...instead of $4,125.
  • What about a deliveryman who lost his liscence for driving drunk? He'll also need another livelihood until his liscence can be reinstated.

    Back to a a previous example, the embezzler may not be banned from using money but he certainly won't be able to get a job that involves handling money (that is, if it was a felony conviction, because he'll have to put it on his job application forms).
  • (Score: -1, Troll)

    :)




    =-=-=-=-=-=
  • If he can show that he has a legitimate job with computers, I'm sure his parole officer will let him (that's the terms after all). I'm sure they want to seem SOME of that $4 M. McDonald's isn't going to cut it... Hmmm...I wonder if he can sue for royalties on the movie being made about the case.
  • the courts also said he "shall not access computers... himself or through third parties"... that mean he can't order a quarter pounder at McDonalds.
  • Mitnick waived his right to a speedy trial. I would guess that you have been foloowing the case from afar or living under a rock.
  • Why do we care? The only issue is that he was forced to wait so long without trial and sentencing. THAT is bad. Other than that, who cares, he is nothing more than a simple thief. I know, he stole MY card details.
    We dont spend this much time examining the actions of someone that breaks into somebodies house, so why raise a common criminal into media stardom so they can go and earn a million selling the film rights.
    I ask you, do YOU want to reward a thief for stealing?
    Ignore the situation and it will go away.
  • Since it seems like 90% of the replies are among the lines of "Oh no! He can't own a digital watch! Where has happened to the Constitution?" I figured I'd do some research and find out the facts.

    This is an excerpt from the Petition For Writ of Ceratori [kevinmitnick.com] in this case (the Free Kevin Mitnick site [kevinmitnick.com] is citing this as "evidence" of cruel and unusual punishment):

    A. Absent prior express written approval from the Probation Officer, the Petitioner shall not possess or use, for any purpose, the following:

    1. any computer hardware equipment;

    2. any computer software programs;

    3. modems;

    4. any computer related peripheral or support equipment;

    5. portable laptop computer, 'personal information assistants,' and derivatives;

    6. cellular telephones;

    7. televisions or other instruments of communication equipped with on-line, internet, world-wide web or other computer network access;

    8. any other electronic equipment, presently available or new technology that becomes available, that can be converted to or has as its function the ability to act as a computer system or to access a computer system, computer network or telecommunications network (except defendant may possess a 'land line' telephone);

    B. The defendant shall not be employed in or perform services for any entity engaged in the computer, computer software, or telecommunications business and shall not be employed in any capacity wherein he has access to computers or computer related equipment or software;

    C. The defendant shall not access computers, computer networks or other forms of wireless communications himself or through third parties;

    D. The defendant shall not acts as a consultant or advisor to individuals or groups engaged in any computer related activity;

    E. The defendant shall not acquire or possess any computer codes (including computer passwords), cellular phone access codes or other access devices that enable the defendant to use, acquire, exchange or alter information in a computer or telecommunications database system;

    F. The defendant shall not use any data encryption device, program or technique for computers;

    G. The defendant shall not alter or possess any altered telephone, telephone equipment or any other communications related equipment.

    Jay (=
  • It was funny man, it doesn't matter what language it was written in. And maybe the guy wanted all his code on one line.

    P.S. I may not program in Basic any more, but I started with it 15 years ago; old languages deserve respect!
  • Uh, since when do you lose your rights when you break the law? You lose your privilages as a free citizen, but not your rights.
  • I'd bet he could get three or four times that as an advance on a book, if he's even remotely capable of putting words on paper. Then go for the movie deal.

    Then Slashdot and Freshmeat could post articles about it, with links to the Amazon record for them, and can get free books and stuff! And pretend that's not what they're doing! Oh wait, this isn't the X10 thing. ;)

    J/K about the X10 thing... and no this isn't flaimbait, although I bet I get thwacked for it and lose a point or two.

    Anyway, at least the scriptkiddies will have to come up with something more creative than "Free Kevin!" to stick on web pages. Maybe hack in links to X10.com!

    I'd certainly buy his book...
  • and get the proceeds? I'd buy his book. I won't see the movie. He may put quill to paper and come out allright after all. -Bobzibub
  • You insult every hacker that ever lived on the face of the earth. You try to lower all hackers to the level of a mere cracker.

    Sure, a car thief might call himself a mechanic, and some [idiot] reporter[s] might call him one, but that doesn't make him one.

    It's really irritating when your reputation as part of a group gets defaced because someone calls himself "one of" you.
    --------
    "I already have all the latest software."
  • According to this article [aviary-mag.com] Mitnick has been using a "government-approved" laptop, which he dual boots in Windows95 and Redhat Linux.
  • I am sick to death of hearing about this guy. What has he done for any of us? As a community or as individuals? Post everything you can think of, it's still a short list. The only reason his story has struck a chord with some people is that it looks like the little guy against the man, and that makes Americans go crazy.. we love that stuff. But the little guy is supposed to have some kind of virtue, and Kevin, whatever else you might say, hasn't shown any of that to the public. Interestingly absent from all discussion of his case is the word 'innocent'. He broke the laws of his country and he got caught. He is being punished for it. It takes more than that to be a hero, or so I would like to hope. The best thing you can say is that he was denied his constitutionally guaranteed speedy trial. But this just reflects poorly on our justice system, and doesn't do much for my impression of this crackerjack. The man is sick, yes, he is in a crummy position, yes, he was not granted a heaping constituional helping, perhaps... but a hero he is not. There are real heros, and there are Kevin Mitnicks, and I hope even the 2600 crowd knows the difference, despite the attention his story has drawn.

    --
  • 1)Learn a different language. Respect for basic here can only be expressed in negative numbers.
    2)Want to get rid of that "mushed onto one line" look? You can either change your mode to something other than "HTML Formatted" (If you log in you can even change your default) or you can add <BR> at the end of your lines.
  • I don't know how many of you read KevinMitnick.Com [kevinmitnick.com], but most of this material will come from there.

    1. Let us presume that he has done everything convicted of. This is now a safe assumption solely because he has now been (however unjustly) convicted. Under the terms of his release, he will not be able to (and this is the defense's list): "[A]ctivities in which the Petitioner is prohibited from engaging are:
    -sending a letter a Senator via e-mail or using a word processor;
    -playing a video arcade game;
    -calling his family on a cellular telephone;
    -working as a computer printer repairman;
    -writing any type of computer software program (even using merely a pen and paper)
    -accessing a public library's computerized card catalog."

    2. Regardless of how you feel about the trial, surely it must strike you as rather odd that he was not allowed to review the evidence against him. (see the bottom of here [kevinmitnick.com]) This is something all of us are allowed to do, as he should have been. Mind you, printing all this out and him reading it would be impossible, simply because most of the data is in a format that is best (or only) accessible on a computer. Even printing it would have taken weeks of valuable time.

    3. Again, since he was convicted of all this bad-ass stealing from major companies, to the tune of multi-multi-million dollars, why was this loss not reported to shareholders? I happen to own both Sun and Motorola stock, and even did so at the time of the "crime," and my annual reports listed nothing of the sort. Sun even made a nice tidy profit from that year, with no major losses or charges. Motorola made an average profit and took a charge for the forming of their (sinking badly) Iridium group.

    So, any satisfactory answers to these questions?

  • Kevin got kicked out of LA Pierce College more than once. Once while he suspended he got caught backing up the microVax in our lab to his tape. Kevin was compulsive about his cracking. He needed help to control his impulsive behavior back in the early 1980's has never got the help he needed. Prison probably did little to cure his compulsions. Since Kevin can use a computer he can just watch over our shoulders and ask us lots of questions until his punishment time is up. At DefCon last month, a panel of Feds spoke to the audience in the main hall. They seemed to admit that Mitnick was being made an example of by the Federal Govt. The civilian in charge of securing the US Army's IT infrastructure pleaded with the crowd to "not hack us until after this Y2K thing is over with." Will Kevin Mitnick be able to resist his urges to crack into other peoples computers? I think everyone should be allowed to break into there own computers. Cheers, gbs
  • >He can't use computers or cellular phones "without the permission of his probation officer."

    His PO does not HAVE to give him permission.

    >The "can't drive a car" comment, and its ilk, are just BS.

    If they REALLY want to make an example of him, driving a car that has a computer in it, or using a radio with a digital tuner could constitute a violation of his parole and get him put back in the pokey.

    Never underestimate the power of an asshole cop.

    LK
  • Me, personally, if I was subjected to the same situation, I'd probably plead guilty in an instant. Pride is nice, but when you've been jerked around with for YEARS by the Fed. Gov., do you really want to prolong it when you are reasonably sure that a guilty plea will get you out of their greedy little paws in a few months?

    Maybe he could have won a trial, but he'd be an idiot to have tried.

    The amount of restitution is completely arbitrary. The judge neither likes Mitnick nor has any idea what she's talking about regarding computers.

    It's hard to say what he's barred from using exactly, but one would imagine that it wouldn't be enforced too strictly (ATMs, microwaves, etc.) although the Gov. certainly could if it wanted to (which may be the case).

    --Andrew Grossman
    grossdog@dartmouth.edu
  • >Many states specifically deny criminals the right to collect proceeds from "how/why-I-did-it"types of stories.

    I do not know if any of those states deny the ability to profit to relatives. IE, Kevin's grandmother should be able to rake in a fair bit of cash with her "I helped raise a Hacker" story. With Kevin taking a fair bit of the profits for helping her write the screenplay.

    LK
  • Actually nobody has the right to happiness. We have the right to the pursuit of happiness. If my ideaof happiness is getting rich and I pursue that end by playing the lottery then that is my right.

    LK
  • As I understand it, he's unable to tell his story for money, while Tsumatso Shimomura (no way in hell that's spelled right) and John Markoff are getting rich off of Takedown the book, and the soon to be released movie.

    Maybe that's why they worked so hard to catch him.

    Free Kevin [freekevin.com]

  • but I would have to think that Kevin wouldn't be able to do much damage nowadays, seeing that he has been pretty much under a rock for the past seven or so years, so he's probably pretty behind the times tech-wise. He's got a lot of catching up to do.
  • i would have to say: 1. kevin is very blessed 2. he had a very good fucking lawyer 3. it was his birthday present for realla To watch the goveren come to some semblest of having sense is amazing. mind you this poor man has spent a long time locked up for them to figure out how to save face for having exactly "Not Much on Him", and wait for all the HYPE to die and him to be forgotten. (NOT!) and that is the true shame of it all. it could happen to any of us....... PEACE...
  • ummmm, what more needs to be said than that he was denied his constitutional rights??!! That is the point after all; it has nothing to do with his supposed "virtue" -- the point is simply that he, like many other Americans behind bars, got a raw deal in a country with a constitution that is supposed to prevent such things.
  • Ummmm Kevin didn't steal your number. he copied a file full of numbers that netcom had left online -- the same file had been traded around IRC for about a year before Mitnick supposedly "stole" it. He, like many other hackers at the time, had a copy of the file; there was never any proof he was the one who "stole" it.

    Finally what did he put you through anyway; did he ever actually use your credit card # to buy anything?

    Didn't think so.

  • You know, all those cracked sites saying "FREE KEVIN" may have helped the prosecution win. We all know the U.S.'s policy about terrorists: nobody pushes us around.

    The gov't/justice system may have responded to these "acts of terrorism" by making an example of Mitnick.
    --------
    "I already have all the latest software."
  • Oh yeah? Did your stock go down as a result? Did Motorola even report the loss of "millions and millions of dollars" to you and the rest of their stockholders, as the SEC ?

    Didn't think so.

  • First off wasn't Tamagotchi Shomimura some type of security expert of some sort? It seems to be the case if he actually went and tracked him down. If he was such a "securityspert" why didn't he secure his boxen?


    Entrapment I say. Kevin was a nobody who couldn't code in basic.

  • The "no computers" provision is just stupid. Computers are in everything these days. When money launderers are given probation, I don't hear about them not being allowed to use cash for 3 years. People who write bomb threats aren't barred from using pen and paper.

    Also, I think some people need their heads readjusted, judging by some of the comments here. He is not a danger to society - he is not a violent criminal. Violent criminals deserve to be shut away for life, not petty thieves. If i met Mitnick in the street, I would not be afraid in the slightest, since he has not shown a tendancy to harm anyone.

    Also, the court decided on $4000 restitution. I guess we can see what the court thought of Sun, et al's, $80 million+ claims.
  • yay, no more Free Mitnick weefles.
    Good that it is getting resolved at last.
  • Linux may suck, but ol' kevin certainly won't be able to decide for himself for a few more years...

    -Chris
  • Hands off that egg timer! You're under arrest!
    I think you can figure out how to email me ;)
  • Finally someone can do something about that damn LinuxPPC box besides talk talk talk -- Eh? Whazzat? He can't use a computer for 3 years?

    Oh. Nevermind.
  • Now what good can come from banning a hacker from using a computer? Surely that is an unconstitutional violation of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments!

    It seems sort of like banning prostitutes from having sex or embezzelers from owning or using money. I guess when they do that I'll believe again in "equal protection under the law".
  • He could write it, and place it on the Net. Give a copy to the Guttenburg Project. In the text, he could ask for donations. If someone were to mail hime money out of the goodness of thier heart for a story they read for free, then it would be a gift, and not an earning, right?
  • as soon as his sentence is up, couldn't he just leave the country and immediately get his PC back?
  • Do you think anyone will send him a free PC after the 3 years? That would be great publicity...
  • I've been reading news items on this guy for a while, and I still don't know what he's charged with/done.

    -Billy
  • But if Motorola did have losses, and didn't report them to the SEC or to thier stockholders, then Motorola IS committing a crime.

    I don't even own any fuckin' stock and I know this!
  • The woes of not learning how to touch-type...
  • Where the fuck do you think he's been these past 4 years? Hiding out with DB Cooper? No, he was in jail with no trial and no bail.

    LK
  • Are you stupid or something? "He stole my creditcard number but did nothing with it" What if your brother(or somethig) took your wallet, gave it back to you and told you that you should keep a better eye on it. Whould you insist on having him thrown in jail?
    LINUX stands for: Linux Inux Nux Ux X
  • OJ wasn't declared innocent.
    There was just simply not enough evidence to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (or at least the jurors thought so)
    There is a reason why the verdict is Not Guilty as opposed to innocent.
    $.02
  • I know this is a joke, but actually he dual boots Red Hat and Windows 95. I don't know about you, but I would hate to try and go through 9.75 Gigs of information in Windows 95 in 6 months. And to have the next few years of your life depend on it? It would give a whole new hate to the BSOD.

    I wonder if Red Hat will use this as part of their advertising campaign (a la Analyzer)? I wonder if the competition will use this ("Kevin Mitnick uses Red Hat, and he's in jail! Choose Debian!"). Thank god the Linux community isn't this competitive.

    A look at Kevin's life [aviary-mag.com]
    Free Kevin [freekevin.com]

  • Don't know what due process is do you AC? Hint...5th amendment...mitnick had it, he pled guilty.

  • Actually he dual boots Red Hat and Windows 95.


    http://aviary-mag.com/New s/Mitnick_Life/mitnick_life.html [aviary-mag.com]

  • Guilty or not, no man should deserve to go through what he has to go through.

    Yeah, five years is just soooooo damn long, even if the criminals are guilty. Let's empty the jails now!

    If he had been trialed fairly in front of a jury of his peers (and, does such a thing exist for Mitnick? Where are you going to find 12 hackers to judge him?

    Oh gawd. You really think that's what a jury of one's peers means? I guess you think there should've been 12 football players on the O.J. jury, ya dumb dunce.

    Even when he is a free man, we must not forget what had happened.

    Yes! You're finally catching on! See Kevin break the law. See Kevin go to jail. See Kevin's ass get raped on a regular basis. Now if everyone would not forget that, and would prefer that the same thing doesn't happen to them, maybe they won't break the law in the future. If they haven't gotten the message yet, I'm not going to be crying any tears when they become some convict's bitch.

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • It's really irritating when your reputation as part of a group gets defaced because someone calls himself "one of" you.


    This wouldn't really be a problem if people judged others on other basis than what groups they are a part of.

  • An intresting thought... With everything getting computerised and worse.. going onto the Internet even if they were careful to spell out the computer had to be able to talk to other computers a 7-11 self serve slurppe machine set up to automaticly order more surp when it gets low over the Internet could get him in truble and he wouldn't even know he was accessing a computer.
    He has been out of the loop for so long he may have accessed many networked computers and never even known he came near a computer at all.
    Would a remote controll qualify as the kind of computer that could get him in truble?
    What about a portable MP3 player?
    If a friend let him watch a move vea real video. over the net would that be a violation...
    It is something to think about

  • Ha ha (Score:1)

    by Zico ( 14255 )

    I bet the law's not the only one that's fucked Kevin for a good long time. If he's looking for a job but is unable to use a computer, perhaps he should consider the exhilarating world of male prostitution. After all, he's spent five years behind bars, so he probably gives better blow jobs than Monica Lewinsky.

    Fry Kevin.

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • Mitnik was doing things that are against the law. He wasn't just "hacking" for knowledge and whatnot. He was doing things that are blatantly illegal. He deserves to serve jail time. Granted, he should have had a trial and probably should have been granted bail, but maybe even that isn't such a good idea because he was on the run from federal agents for about 2 years. So yeah, maybe banning him from using computers *is* a good idea.
  • Poulsen is the precedent.

    Poulsen has indicated that his parole officer told him that the cash registers at Mcdonalds are computers, and he can't use them. Poulsen has indicated several times that the PO is the final word on something like that.

    Kevin Mitnick has indicated that he has been specifically banned from using celular or even cordless phones.
  • At the rate things are going, AOL will be shipping free unsolicited computers randomly...
  • Sounds like they sentenced him to being Amish, and could get out as early as January 2000. As the recent Wired article on the ice storms in Canada pointed out, the Amish aren't particularly worried about Y2K, so the timing could be a blessing in disguise.

  • .....look at what happened to Bernie S.



    http://www.2600.com/law/bernie.html

  • There is a halfway house for computer thieves? Martha Stewart's house?
  • He can't use computers or cellular phones "without the permission of his probation officer."

    The "can't drive a car" comment, and its ilk, are just BS.
  • Identity is a crutch for people too lazy to weigh ideas on their own merits.

    Conversely, anonymity is a crutch for those too lazy/insecure/paranoid to defend their ideas when debated.

    Which isn't to say there's never a case where paranoia is justified... and add "too lazy to login" for slashdot.

  • So you think the court would be alright if he sat down and started writing "security" software then? With the prevalent level of paranoia in cases like, this, I don't think so.

    I find the whole thing a little ridiculous, after all, Mitnick was 90% con man, 10% hacker...
  • I did say that he should have had a speedy trial, did I not?

    Yes, I believe in constitutional rights, such as the pursuit of happiness. I believe this right is infringed on when I have to worry about people stealing credit card numbers or cracking their way into one of my computers. Of course people should have these rights.

    Whether or not it was technically a crime when he committed it, that doesn't make it right. Stealing information with malicious intent. Yeah, let's applaud that. While we're at it, let's go ahead and exploit every other goddamn loophole in our intricate system of laws. Hey, since it's not *technically* illegal, it must be okay, right?

  • The gov't/justice system may have responded to these "acts of terrorism" by making an example of Mitnick.

    There's no doubt he was made an example of, as a warning to other US hackers. Governments everywhere are shit-scared at the erosion of their control over technology. This is their warning to us - don't fuck with us or we'll intern you without trial. Don't stand out or we'll hammer you down.

    This whole Mitnick thing has shown up the so-called "Land of the Free" as being a complete sham. I think it's fucking hilarious that, in a country where kids are killing one another in the streets with Uzi's, a guy who caused no discernible harm to anyone is locked up for four years and denied bail until he agrees to plead guilty.

    D.

    ..is for Dangerous.

  • C'mon, knock off the semantic games already. Sheesh, people, he's not barred from using every single thing that can remotely fall under the definition of a computer or having a computer inside of it. Let's have a little realism, please.

    He used a computer to commit his crimes, so it doesn't seem surprising that he's not going to be able to use one for a while. People who write bomb threats are often forbidden from writing any kinds of letters to authorities, threatening or not, and pen and paper have other important uses than writing mail. I can buy the argument that barring him only from networked computers would have been sufficient, but I'm not sympathetic since it was his own decision to plead guilty instead of taking his case to a jury.

    As far as I'm concerned, people who break into other people's property are plenty of an annoyance to society to send them to jail for a while, both to get them to knock it off and to dissuade other people from doing the same. And I'm definitely for throwing people away for a larger amount of time if they don't get the message and instead become repeat offenders, like Mitnick.

    If I met him in the street, I'd probably just laugh at him. Other than that, as long as he's paid his debt to society, I'm willing to give him a fair shake. If he screws up again, I hope he gets more time, though.

    As for the $4K restitution, your argument doesn't really hold up -- read the article again. First, the government was only seeking $1.5 million. Second, the judge believed that "the damages were much larger" (whether she means much larger than the $4K or much larger than the $1.5M, I can't tell), but she knew that he wouldn't be able to pay that much.

    In her ruling, she said, "I want something that he can be ordered to pay, no matter what, because I'll know he has the ability to pay. I want to make a restitution order that is much, much larger. But I can't be sure he can pay it, and any non-payment is going to be a violation of the terms of his release." (Emphasis mine.)

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • First of all I would like to say that i think that Kevin Mitnick is a criminal and should be punished for his actions.

    However, as a principle, nobody should have to wait 53 months for their trial no matter the circumstances.

    This happens in a country that prides itself with being the land of freedom. When are you going to snap out of it?
  • what crime did Mitnick commit?

    I believe that he broke into computer systems that he was not authorized to use. That consitutes a crime. Specific to Mitnick's actions, who was hurt and in what way?

    Regardless of whether he did any actual damage to the systems intentionally, the fact that he broke in meant that the sysadmin of the system had to put in a bunch of time to fix it up.

    The standard procedure with most breakins is to reinstall the system from scratch and add all the vendor patches/fixes that are applicable. Not only does this take up the sysadmin's time but it prevents anyone from using the system while its being repaired.

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