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back to article Alleged Anonymous-aiding journo's brief tells jury nowt's been proven

The lawyer representing a journalist accused of aiding Anonymous hackers informed a jury on Tuesday that the prosecution "had not proven the criminal charges it filed over the incident". Matthew Keys, the journalist, was indicted on three criminal charges in 2013, alleging (PDF) that he had provided Anonymous hackers with …

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  1. LucreLout
    WTF?

    Wow...

    Just how dumb to you have to be?

    SysAdmin: Oh, our web sites all FUBAR. Better check the logs. Hmm, who's this guy?

    HR: Oh, him? He left last week.

    SysAdmin: Ok, I'll notify the feds.

    How on earth did he expect it to work out any differently? We've all had employers that screwed us over or pissed us off. Just make sure you leave at a time of your choosing and go to a better or more lucrative gig.

    9 0 Reply
    1. Mark 85
      Reply Icon

      Re: Wow...

      I'll add to your comments. When you do move, leave any grudges at the door of the old place. It's not worth the stress or resentment.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Fatman
        Reply Icon

        Re: Wow...

        <quote> When you do move, leave any grudges with your former employer at the door of the old place. It's not worth the stress or resentment.</quote>

        FTFY!!!

        HOWEVER, retain all grudges that you may have had with former supervisors in place, so that, if you DO have the opportunity to repay in kind; you can do so. There was this supervisor who cost me my job because he lied to manglement, and I didn't have any way to disprove his lies.

        Twenty years later, I was at this company, and guess WHO was looking for employment? A few words to the people in HR sealed his fate.

        Hey ElReg, where is the "Payback is a Bitch" icon?

        8 0 Reply
        1. Crazy Operations Guy
          Reply Icon

          "A few words to the people in HR sealed his fate."

          I would've given him a shining recommendation, then spent the next several years making his life a living hell but staying just on the right side of the line so as not to get in trouble with HR....

          0 0 Reply
      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge
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        Re: Wow...

        "It's not worth the stress or resentment."

        It can even be profitable. Two months after leaving my recently ex-boss decided to emigrate. So there was a 3 month freelance gig to pick up some of his stuff & a 3 month extension.

        1 0 Reply
    2. Vic
      Reply Icon

      Re: Wow...

      HR: Oh, him? He left last week.

      Your point notwithstanding, I'd also like to point out that his former employer was *also* dumb as shit.

      When an employee leaves - under *any* circumstances - you disable the account. Keep the data, but make damn sure the account can't be used to log in to anything.

      Vic.

      2 0 Reply
  2. JLV

    maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment

    Again, we have totally disproportionate potential punishments for a pretty petty crime.

    I don't condone this guy's stuff at all. But, really, give him a criminal record and a suspended sentence or 6 months to a year. As a result, his life will be way more effed up than the amount of damage he did and it won't cost the taxpayer a dime past the court costs.

    Now, if you catch someone doing major damage or especially with the intent to steal large amounts then throw the book at them. 1M$+ plus potential hauls do need hefty, 25 yr type sentencing as deterrents.

    Petty, low impact, vandalism does not. Just like it doesn't in the real world. That should be on the books rather than at judge and prosecutor's whims.

    1 0 Reply
    1. LucreLout
      Reply Icon

      Re: maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment

      Again, we have totally disproportionate potential punishments for a pretty petty crime.

      And that, is because they fear us. (us & we is computer professionals generally, I'm no hacker and don't condone malicious intrusion)

      They know they cannot understand that which we do. That we can reach out from half a world away and do them significant harm (see Sony for details). They cannot harm us at anything like a comparable time and distance. They have no way to find us if we're patient, and clever (public wifi, virtual machines, and a ready supply of cheap network cards from China would give them a serious headache).

      Computer crimes are punished to be a deterrant to others, because without that deterrant, they're dead in the water whenever someone somewhere gets curious about their computers.

      They can't comprehend that the person they have sat a bland row of desks in the middle of a cheap office, who is tasked to deliver their InfoSec, is one the most important people in their enterprise, not the manager and middle managers above them: those people are irrelevant. They don't want to comprehend that, because it places at risk the whole networker talky job hierarchy in which they sit.

      3 0 Reply

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