back to article Fake student hacker avoids jail over ID theft scam

A computer hacker who posed as a student and used key-logging software to break into the email accounts of genuine students has been ordered to pay £21,000 in compensation and ordered to complete a 200-hour community service order. Daniel Woo, 23, a Bulgarian resident in London, avoided going to jail but received an eight- …

COMMENTS

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  1. tony trolle
    Grenade

    WTF ?

    NO jail time.

    bet the people who lost money are really happy with that.

    In America he would spend 3 months in jail just waiting for a trial.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Probably a good thing then,

      that he lives in a country which values freedom unless you are found to be guilty.

      1. Platelet
        Black Helicopters

        are you sure?

        I thought he lived in Britain?

      2. Adam West

        He doesnt...

        He lives in the UK.

    2. kain preacher

      Bail

      We have this thing called bail in America. You put up some money or property to ensure that you will show up to court . As long as he was tried in state court, he would of gotten a similar sentence in the US provided this was first time offense.

      1. Dave Gregory
        Thumb Down

        Bail

        Yes and we have a system called remand, in which - if your crime is heinous enough - the legal authorities don't just let you wander about doing stuff.

        Bail being set for *any and every* crime tends to look like the same old trick of letting rich fuckers buy their way out of jail.

        In this case, he would not have been remanded. He would have been bailed. But try not to patronise us poor old benighted brits too hard, eh?

        1. kain preacher

          @Dave Gregory

          You know I thought it was obvious who that comment was aimed at. Unless every one in your country thinks this way .

          "In America he would spend 3 months in jail just waiting for a trial."

          But since only one person said some thing that silly I thought it was obvious that comment was not towards every that posted .

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Homer Simpson would be proud.

    "Woo, who admitted to hacking..."

    Woo-who!!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Who? woo?

      Woo, who admitted to hacking.

      Woo hoo too you too.

  3. Dean_
    FAIL

    Misused password cracking software?

    Surely it's sole purpose is to crack passwords? You can't really misuse it..

    1. chr0m4t1c

      Well

      The author says in the documentation that he wrote the software to help out legitimate users do legitimate stuff, like recover passwords for accounts they own or test the security of systems they are responsible for.

      I'd say that excludes Mr Woo's activities, hence "misuse".

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @WTF

    Or indeed deportation back to his own country?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eh?

    The offence took place in 2006.

    Has it taken 4 years to come to trial, if not why is this news?

  6. pompurin
    Grenade

    Thank the EU

    If you deport him, he could be back sooner than you know it.

    When the UK's labour restrictions against Bulgaria and Romania expire in 2013 we'll be seeing a lot more of his ilk around.

  7. Adam 38
    Alert

    Disgraceful Court System

    4 years to reach a verdict? WTF.

  8. stig69

    Meanwhile, back in the real world of delays...

    Read the story again. He was a foriegn student. He was found to be hacking other foreign students' email accounts. So they have to trace these people down. Then they have to look through their banks accounts. Then the case opens up. They connect him to another university. So now, that's two loads of CCTV footage to scan through. And a whole heap of probably and primarily international accounts...

    I requested my bank account records a few years ago. I needed a specific period. It took me 3 attempts to get the required information and then I had to turn to the ombudsman. All in all it took about 10 months to get the info I needed...

  9. kain preacher

    @Disgraceful Court System

    Is there maximum wait time for trial in the UK ? Or can they put the trial off indefinitely.

  10. Kwac
    FAIL

    @ stig69

    After reading the article again, plus the linked police report, nowhere does it say that he was targeting foreign students' email accounts.

    It DOES say that he was Bulgarian but not, as you state, a student.

  11. Tom Chiverton 1
    Joke

    Never mind that

    Never mind all that, when is Joshua gonna call him back and demand he carry on playing the game of Global Thermonuclear War ?

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