Kiwi telecom inks contract with convicted hacker New Zealand's No. 2 telecommunications company has hired a 16-year-old botnet herder less than 12 months after he pleaded guilty to six computer hacking and fraud charges following an international investigation. Owen Thor Walker could have received up to five years for his offenses. Now, he has received a contract to provide …
What's he gonna do for the rest of his life? Twoc cars? Hack cash dispensers?
There's this concept of *rehabilitation*. Anyway, the judge rightly thought that making work for a few geeks wasn't up there with violent crime, and gave him the lowest penalty available (conviction and discharge) that would stop the 'merkins from extraditing him. (Double jeopardy and that).
He is 19, not 16. He was 16 when he started creating botnets... 3 years ago. Funny thing, time.
I don't see what the problem is. Hire a thief to catch a thief is one of the oldest sayings around. Bear in mind that akill has Apserger's, which may have affected his ability to interpret right and wrong (or at least the impact of his actions on other people). Giving him work in this domain may be all that he needs to keep him away from the dark side. Even the police have talked about giving him a job.
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