back to article George Bush naked selfie hacker Guccifer gets his day in US court

Marcel Lehel Lazăr, 44, who as the hacker Guccifer published the email account contents of senior US political figures, has appeared for the first time in a US court. The indictment claims that between December 2012 and January 2014, Lazăr used publicly available information and guesswork to get into email accounts via …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The US is a corrupt plutocracy, with the diplomatic privileges of a liberal democracy.

    Nobody should be being extradited to the US until they improve their human rights abuse records.

  2. Long John Brass
    WTF?

    "No matter where they are in the world, those who commit crimes against U.S. citizens will be held accountable for their actions, pursued by our investigators and prosecutors and brought to justice."

    Meanwhile US "citizens" can do whatever the fuck they like as long as its not in the USofA cus it's not our jurisdiction.

  3. Nolveys
    Happy

    "No matter where they are in the world, those who commit crimes against U.S. citizens will be held accountable for their actions, pursued by our investigators and prosecutors and brought to justice."

    That's good to hear. So how long until those responsible for the rampant fraud involved in the 2007-8 mortgage collapse are brought to justice?

  4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "The indictment claims that between December 2012 and January 2014, Lazăr used publicly available information and guesswork to get into email accounts via password reset questions."

    " "Marcel Lazăr is the latest of a dozen high-level cybercriminals who have recently been extradited to face justice in the United States," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell."

    Aha.

    Makes me wonder - what cunning tricks did the other 11 high-level cybercriminals pull of?

    And what do they call someone who, you know, actually attacks and compromises systems using malware or vulnerabilities (or whatever)? Hyper-level cybercriminal?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That's not why he's high level

      He violated the privacy of high level people like Bush and Clinton. Privacy isn't for little people like you me, it is for the rich, powerful and connected elite.

      1. P. Lee

        Re: That's not why he's high level

        >He violated the privacy of high level people like Bush and Clinton.

        Worse than that, he demonstrated that Clinton was breaking the law.

        We can't have people going around pointing out that rich, educated, important friends people break the law.

        People who go around snooping on other peoples' stuff is the whole reason the government needs all these powers to, er, go around snooping on peoples' stuff.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: That's not why he's high level

          The exposure of Clinton's private email server was accidental, he didn't see that others did once he released emails that showed her private email address and people started digging.

          Use of a private email server may be questionable, but it wasn't illegal. Powell and Rice did the same in their tenure as SOS, but since they aren't running for president no one cares to find out (certainly not the republican controlled congress) if they may have sent classified documents over an unsecured system like Clinton may have done, which would be illegal.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: That's not why he's high level

        Aye, there's not a classified-material clearance holder of the last half century that would not already have been prosecuted and served time for what Clinton did. That it has devolved into an issue of whether or not she knew the rules, or whether or not she knew the contents were "TS", only proves your point.

    2. Chemical Bob
      Devil

      "And what do they call someone who, you know, actually attacks and compromises systems using malware or vulnerabilities (or whatever)? Hyper-level cybercriminal?"

      Super-Duper Doubleplus Ungood Nasty Person Meanie.

  5. FuzzyWuzzys
    Happy

    Hold on, just need to fix something here....

    "No matter where they are in the world, those who commit crimes against [STINKING RICH AND POWERFUL] U.S. citizens will be held accountable for their actions, pursued by our investigators and prosecutors and brought to justice."

    There we go.

    1. Mark 85
      Meh

      Re: Hold on, just need to fix something here....

      That's true. I note that not one of the ransomware types who generally hit the "little people" have been arrested or charged. Just the few who have got the big political or celeb types.

      Equal justice for all... meh....

  6. Potemkine Silver badge

    Don't offend the rich ones

    or you will pay a heavy price for that.

    On the contrary, if you are rich and screw everyone by evading taxes through Panama you should be OK.

  7. Lapun Mankimasta

    "Mr. Lazăr violated the privacy of his victims and thought he could hide behind the anonymity of the Internet," said US Attorney Dana Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia. unquote

    Umm, now didn't he get the memo? The one that stated there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet, and so on and so forth? The one that the NSA, the FBI, and the rest are pushing like crazy?

    Didn't think so.

  8. Ken 16 Silver badge
    Big Brother

    Why a custodial sentence?

    I don't know the case but it sounds like he didn't make any money from doing this and that no-one was harmed. I would have thought that a fine and maybe some community service teaching the elderly to use computers would be more appropriate.

    1. Graham Marsden
      Pirate

      Re: Why a custodial sentence?

      How do you say "Pour encourager les autres" in Romanian?

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Crisp

    Old-fashioned investigative work

    What? So the good old US of A didn't need to snoop on everyone's data to find the guy?

  10. g e
    Big Brother

    "No matter where they are in the world"

    Fuck Yeah.

    As the meme goes.

  11. Scott 53

    "George Bush naked selfie"

    Clickbait on El Reg now? Shame on you.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "George Bush naked selfie"

      Baiters gonna bait. You just have to master your urge to, uh, click

    2. breakfast Silver badge

      Re: "George Bush naked selfie"

      Does it count as clickbait if the concept is one that inclines one to recoil in horror?

      1. Chemical Bob

        Re: "George Bush naked selfie"

        If it makes you recoil in horror, then it should be called ickbait...

  12. Wolfclaw

    "No matter where they are in the world, those who commit crimes against U.S. citizens will be held accountable for their actions, pursued by our investigators and prosecutors and brought to justice."

    or if your a U.S spook ..

    "No matter where we are in the world, those who commit crimes on-behalf of the U.S. will not be held accountable for their actions, pursued by your investigators and prosecutors and never brought to justice."

  13. Clive Galway
    Coat

    "Guccifer is accused of is broadcasting a painted self-portrait by former President George W Bush while naked in a shower and bath"

    Naked hacking eh? He wants to watch out he doesn't drop the laptop into the water.

    1. Robert Helpmann??
      WTF?

      Naked and Frightening

      Guccifer is accused of is broadcasting a painted self-portrait by former President George W Bush while naked in a shower and bath

      That alone should warrant the death penalty.

      It's wrong! Just wrong... *sob*

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Unequality before justice

    I do not argue that he deserves some kind of punishment.

    However, I find unacceptable the fact that the USA government thinks it is right that their citizens must be treated completely differently than the citizens of other, supposedly allied countries.

    I find it disgusting that the Romanian government has accepted this unequal treatment.

    A few years ago, an employee of the US embassy in Romania was drunk when driving and he killed a Romanian man. He was smuggled out of the country to escape justice. Then the USA refused to extradite him. He was tried instead in the USA, where he was more or less acquitted despite the evidence.

    Even if we disregard the huge difference between a US citizen that kills a Romanian citizen and a Romanian citizen that only embarrasses a few US citizens, they both should have received equal treatment before law.

    Either both should have been extradited & they both should have received severe punishments, or none should have been extradited and both should have received only benign punishments.

    These are not some rare occurrences but there are probably hundreds or thousands of similar examples in various countries. And then many US citizens, who travel abroad and who are unaware about the typical behavior of their government, are very surprised when they receive no sympathy from the locals.

    1. Drakkenson

      Re: Unequality before justice

      And it also does not help that Romanian politicians are all a bunch of corrupt and sniveling bastards that can and will suck up to anyone who would be capable of giving them any advantage, like covering up the political scandal of bribery involving Microsoft, or perhaps something else that we do not know about...

      1. Mark 85

        Re: Unequality before justice

        I think that doesn't just apply to "Romanian politicians". There must be some catch-all name since the US , UK, EU, ad infinitum, etc. would apply. Might better if we could name the governments not corrupt and sniveling.

    2. Chemical Bob

      Re: Unequality before justice

      "A few years ago, an employee of the US embassy in Romania was drunk when driving and he killed a Romanian man."

      While I agree with you, using an incident involving diplomatic immunity does not bolster your argument as the US is hardly alone in abusing this hackneyed concept.

  15. JJKing
    Flame

    America: Land of the Greed and the Home of the BULLY!

    A hacker embarrasses an American politician and he is a despicable hacker scumbag. A US drone pilot squeezes the trigger on his joystick that results in a missile slaughtering an innocent wedding party, including children, and he gets a medal pinned on his chest.

    No wonder America is hated by most of the world. You are either with them or against them. Sounds like a 4 year old bully in a playground argument. Grow up America.

  16. To Mars in Man Bras!
    Pirate

    Fuck The USA!

    Basically.

  17. SimonSplat

    So... let me get this right

    If I leave my house front door open and something gets stolen then I can claim on my insurance? No, thought not. There is usually a clause such as "must take reasonable measures to secure", which if this dude *guessed* details and passwords then the true custodians of said accounts did not take such measures... I'm sure there is something about if I don't secure my wifi and someone downloads unsavoury content that me, as the wifi network owner, are likely to be cuffed for? Sigh. Shooting the messenger springs to mind.

  18. Phil Koenig

    The only people who enjoy this sort of "protection" are the elite members of the ruling class like Bush, Sarah Palin, etc.

    The rest of us can just go pound sand as far as law-enforcement is concerned, if someone guesses our lousy AOL password.

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