back to article Man charged in nude celebrity hacking case

A Florida man hacked into the email accounts of actresses Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis, and as many as 50 other celebrities and made off with nude photos, movie scripts, and other personal information, federal prosecutors said. Christopher Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Florida, obtained personal information about his …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    121 years?

    I think this guy is a dick, don't get me wrong, but 121 years?

    Holy shit!

    How many years did the cell phone hackers in the UK get again?

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Devil

      A bit harsh for improving their PR ratings

      That's a bit harsh for feeding the celebrity culture and keeping said selebs in the spotlight.

    2. BenR

      I suspect a number probably worked out from looking at the maximum sentence for each charge perhaps? As in, he's actually being charged with 50 counts of breaking the same law, each of which carries a min/max sentence?

      121 years from 50 victims = 29 months per individual charge (assuming each victim equates to one charge on the charge sheet)?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Using Google is now a 121 year prison sentence. LOLOLOL

      Rape, murder, meh, 25 years?

    4. Tom 13

      You have to remember that's 121 years under the American penal code time system.

      So until the case gets fully appealed, possibly all the way to SCOTUS, time off for good behavior, and time served before the final sentence is handed down, it might work out to 3 years of real time.

    5. ps2os2
      IT Angle

      Number of Years

      Prosecutors in the US like to trot out the numbers like 121 as a bargaining chip.

      Even if convicted he will probably do less than 5 and more like 2 or 3 years.

      The big numbers is pure bluff and is rarely if ever charged (and received). Its a scare tactic to the defendant so that they will plead to a lesser charge. Although it really comes down if its a federal case and the crime involved. There (depending on the crime) are mandatory sentencing numbers. Even then its up to the judge (in most case but not always). Of course if the judge is up for election and he wants to appear law and order type he will hand out the stiffest sentences he can possibly allowed to.

      Its a flaw in the US system that some judges have to run for election. and have to prove they are "tough on crime" (usually in Texas or Arizona & Oklahoma) You know the type of states that can't wait to execute the criminals like the governor of texas who is proud that he sent over 160 men to death.

  2. Dazed and Confused

    Are people really this stupid?

    If there was likely to be a ready market for nude photos of you, would you really keep them on an online account?

    1. frank ly

      If there was a ready market for nude photos of me.......

      .... I'd be selling them to the highest bidder. (It's not going to happen though.)

    2. Jimbo 6
      Paris Hilton

      Re : Are people really this stupid?

      Have you just arrived from Mars, or is that a rhetorical question ?

      "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. "

      (George Carlin)

      Paris, cos at least she's made a career out of her mental deficiencies.

    3. Tom 13
      Facepalm

      While I do agree with you

      you also have to keep in mind that Hollywood types seem to be the sort who complain about the average person busting the curve on their IQ tests.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ABC

    J.A. = Jennifer Aniston. mmm

    D.F. = Dakota Fanning. hmmm..

    B.P. = Brad Pitt.

    ...

    L.S. = Lisa Simpson?

    L.B. = Lloyd Bridges? umm...

    B.G.= Bob Geldoff? get out of jail free.*

    *Seeing sir Bob in the buff, or on the job, would be punishment enough.

  4. Zygote
    Gimp

    121 Years...?...

    ... Oh America, you so crazy...

  5. Franklin
    FAIL

    There's an important lesson in this, folks.

    Hack thousands of Web sites, stuff them full of redirectors to faux-"Canadian" pharmacy pages and/or virus and malware droppers; get away scott-free, if you ever even get investigated at all.

    Take some naked pictures from the email accounts of some famous movie stars, face more than a century in prison.

    Oy.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    pictures or it didn't happen!

    The post is required, and must contain letters.

    1. Richard 120
      Thumb Up

      you beat me to it.

      I bet that was the first reaction of the judge.

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Happy

      RE: pictures or it didn't happen!

      Pics, please! Obviously, just so I can gauge the seriousness of the crime.

      Of course, that would also make for an interesting defence tactic - request that all the pics allegedly lifted have to be displayed in court, and then request a trial with public gallery - how many of the stars would be keen to have their smut pics aired in a public court?

  7. Microphage

    Personal information on the Internet?

    Once it's stored on some server then iyou give up your rights to this personal information. Read the EULA you clicked on when you created the account.

  8. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Facepalm

    Not again!

    How many more these daft stories are we going to see before the great'n'glorious, finally stop being stupid and saving pictures of themselves in the buff, in their email accounts?!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Quite a lot would be my guess

      Since they live for publicity, contrived or otherwise.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WTF

    121 years............ The good ol' USA........... the inmates have taken over the asylum............

    Although, the UK is rapidly catching up, with our judges who are so far out of touch with reality it's not even funny any more.

    1. sheep++;
      Stop

      121 Years in England means...

      ...You must serve a minimum of 3. Disgusting peedo got a "life" sentence but was told he had to serve the 3 minimum. British justice is shite.

  10. Andy Farley

    This man is a true hero.

    Information wants to be free. Scarlett's knockers WANT to be free. And I want to help liberate them.

    Free the Johansson two! And this guy. God bless him.

  11. mark 63 Silver badge
    Joke

    121 years in federal prison?

    is that a Pound-me-in-the-Ass prison?

    ouch!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rapidshare links please.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That reminds me, I wonder how Gary McKinnon is getting on?

  14. Bassey
    WTF?

    What laws?

    What laws did this guy actually break? He used publicly available information to reset someone's password. How is that hacking?

    As mentioned above, if people are so unbelieveably stupid that they;

    A) use their mothers maiden name as the answer to "What is your mother's maiden name"

    B) Take nude pictures of themselves

    C) Keep said pictures on a web-mail account

    Then they just deserve a little pain to remind them not to be so stupid. It isn't as if any actual harm has been done. Nobody got hurt. No property was stolen.

    If I left my front door wide open and someone walked in and took photocopies of my documents the police would shrug and tell me I was lucky they didn't do worse and hand me a leaflet telling me how to secure my home properly.

    1. Ross R

      Whatever the US equivalent of the Computer Misuse Act is.

      Yes, there is some fail on the part of the celebs.

      Yes, there is some fail on the part of the e-mail providers.

      Yes, 121 years seems excessive.

      An easy to commit crime, is still a crime though. Or are you saying that if you drop your car keys outside your house, your car is fair game?

      1. Bassey

        Re: Ross R

        "Or are you saying that if you drop your car keys outside your house, your car is fair game?"

        Absolutely not. But he didn't steal anything. In this case, as I made VERY clear in my example, a better analogy would be "If I drop my car keys outside my house, is it okay for someone to open my car and take a copy of the photo I left on the front seat and then replace the photo?". Nothing was stolen so the "taking my car" analogy is misleading and emotive. The "Victims" have lost nothing. No posessions were stolen. No posessions were damaged. No harm was caused other than to their ego and some embarassment.

  15. Maryland, USA
    Happy

    in his defense...

    Er, where can I contribute to his defense fund?

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Facepalm

      RE: in his defense...

      Try "iamamuppet.com".

  16. DragonKin37
    Thumb Down

    121 years is just BS

    This guy wont last 121 days in a jail cell. Plus the guy who hacked Nailin Palin's account got less. This guy is just a scapegoat for the angry hollywood elete that dont think about their internet security.

    Sad

  17. Dazed and Confused

    121 years for this

    And Michael Jackson's "Doctor" is facing possibly 4 years for a murder wrap.

    So trying to pinch pictures of celebs is 30 times more serious than killing them?

    1. Tom 13

      I think if MJ's doctor had killed 50 celebrities

      he'd probably be up for more than 121 years.

      ...

      Of course, there might be a contingent that would like to pin a medal on his chest too.

  18. Fatty Eglon
    Mushroom

    56 years for parping loudly on American Airlines jet

    Heaven forbid that I should parp (fart, trump, squeeze the cheese, guff ...the choice is yours) on an American flight to New York!!?

    Pistol beating and a gazillion years in the nick (jail)!!

    Thinking of it ...where's my Anusol?

  19. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Pretty smart really

    Yesterdays ;actress-model-whatever' gets some tasteful 'art-shots' splashed around the web and her name on every news and web outlet, while at the same time being 'the victim' .

    Were Prentiss and McCabe involved?

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Give him a break...

    He's only 35 years old. He can't possibly be expected to act like an adult at such a young age. Cut the guy some slack and sentence him to 75 years with no early out under any circumstances. A sentence of 121 years seems cruel and excessive when 75 years will get the point across.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      dyu think

      he'll have a nude pic of scajo on his cell wall?

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