Hacker arrested for Exposing Rape Faces more Jail Time Than Convicted Rapists(hackread.com)
hackread.com
Hacker arrested for Exposing Rape Faces more Jail Time Than Convicted Rapists
http://hackread.com/hacker-arrested-for-exposing-rape-case-faces-more-jail-time-then-rapist/
8 comments
Don't these articles also compare juvenile sentences to the (impossible) maximum allowable sentence for the hacker?
Yes. I think the Steubenville football players should have been tried as adults, but they weren't, and were given the minimum allowable sentences in juvenile detention.
That said, there's a lot of things wrong with this story. The FBI shouldn't have sent a 12-man SWAT team to execute a search warrant on a hacking charge. The CFAA's "felony escalation" provision again proves itself to be at best unnecessary (since in this case you could get him for the attempted extortion). Finally, the existence of the sentencing guidelines undermines the application of judicial sentencing discretion to the special circumstances of the case. Unfortunately, the submitted article doesn't touch on any of these real issues.
That said, there's a lot of things wrong with this story. The FBI shouldn't have sent a 12-man SWAT team to execute a search warrant on a hacking charge. The CFAA's "felony escalation" provision again proves itself to be at best unnecessary (since in this case you could get him for the attempted extortion). Finally, the existence of the sentencing guidelines undermines the application of judicial sentencing discretion to the special circumstances of the case. Unfortunately, the submitted article doesn't touch on any of these real issues.
Didn't read that part... they sent a 12-man SWAT team to arrest somebody who had never been accused or even suspected of any kind of violent crime? Groan.
Worst article ever. No detail on the actual charges, just hyperbole about how the charges carry "5x" as much prison time as rape, which is simply not true. (I'm guessing that most rapists get 10-25 years. He is not facing 50-125 years. In fact, it's unclear if he's even been charged with a crime at this point.)
Note that is comparing the jail time the rapists got to the maximum jail time the hacker could get. Comparing these two things is worse than useless.
His issue here is he clearly does not have big [enough] money lawyers representing him - it's not like he is on the college hacker team receiving a helping hand for his legal troubles from his alma mater.
The US seems to have some of the craziest over-reaction sentences and has been happily exporting the insanity to legal systems around the world for quite a while. They put the gas pedal to the floor both domestically and internationally post 9/11 as, you know, some of these people are helping terrorists and stuff. Why else would a SWAT team need to go so heavy-handed on a trivial arrest like this.
As an aside, I now know more of the background from the Good Wife episode; I've been suprised how often tech stories are woven in and in surprisingly balanced detail.
The US seems to have some of the craziest over-reaction sentences and has been happily exporting the insanity to legal systems around the world for quite a while. They put the gas pedal to the floor both domestically and internationally post 9/11 as, you know, some of these people are helping terrorists and stuff. Why else would a SWAT team need to go so heavy-handed on a trivial arrest like this.
As an aside, I now know more of the background from the Good Wife episode; I've been suprised how often tech stories are woven in and in surprisingly balanced detail.
The prose was really hard to read; has it been through google translate or something?
It looks like this is blogspam. Here is the original article: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/09/hacker-faces-more-jail-time...
The amount of time "faced" is a fairly bogus metric.
Must be some pretty high profile politicians among the exposed.
The charges relate to the following:
"After the hack, a video appeared on the fan page. It showed a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, threatening to release social security numbers and other personal information of Steubenville football players unless they apologized to the rape victim by Jan. 1, 2013."
The FBI thinks that it was Lostutter, but Lostutter denies it. The charge, which is essentially hacking + extortion (vigilante justifications aside), doesn't seem wrong to me, although the alleged FBI response (12 member SWAT team in a van to execute a search warrant) is ridiculous.
Besides being incoherent, the original article suffers from comparing a potential maximum statutory sentence for an adult, with the actually administered sentences for two football players tried as juveniles.