back to article Hezbollah sting bust sees first phone-unlock DMCA conviction

A Philadelphia federal court has accepted a guilty plea from one Mohamad Majed, who admitted breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in unlocking thousands of phones for resale. The phones were locked to TracFone, a virtual operator in the US which specialises in pre-paid connections and heavily-subsidised handsets. …

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  1. Neal 5

    Good to hear the American view for once

    on what constitutes a terrorist organisation. Just like American political forces, Hezbollah operate in exactly the same way, they also heavily involved in political and social activities, not just bombing the shite out of some random stranger in a foreign country. The only difference I can see, is that one side are radical die hard right wing religious crackpots and the other are radical die hard non christian religious militants.

    Reminds me of a joke. The difference between a woman with PMT (U.S.A) and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist.

  2. John G Imrie
    WTF?

    Let me get this straight

    Trillions of dollars are being spent on 'The War on Terror' and this guy gets caught because his neighbour is suspicious of a carpet delivery?

    See Icon for appropriate response.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    ot: US spurned Gary McKinnon plea from Gordon Brown

    This *is* interesting. At least it shows that Gordo made the effort. It also shows the true nature of the 'special relationship` ..

    WikiLeaks cables: US spurned Gary McKinnon plea from Gordon Brown

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/wikileaks-cables-gary-mckinnon-gordon-brown

  4. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Stop

    So...

    The guy who pled guilty is the fall guy who takes one for the "team" and thereby protects the larger organisation. In return he receives the promise of glory for his selflessness (read martyrdom) and a promise of paradise in the next life?

    What a funny little set of beliefs.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "What a funny little set of beliefs."

      Sums up religion in general.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Hezbollah? Terrorist?

    Terrorists only in the USA & Canada.

    Rest of the world sees doesn't perceive them in the same way - except the UK which says the 'military wing' is terrorist.

    So what was this carpet smuggler/used phone salesman funding - bombs or medicine?

    1. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
      Thumb Down

      @ Hezbollah? Terrorist?

      "Rest of the world sees doesn't perceive them in the same way"

      Apart from the Israelis. But they are Gods chosen people right so they get whatever they want, by whatever methods they seem are appropriate - without having to answer to anyone because everyone is supposed to feel sorry for or agree with them.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

        Not forgetting that if you disagree with Israel over anything you're immediately labelled an anti-Semite.

      2. asdf
        Joke

        oh great another antisemite

        You probably the type that tells the joke about big noses because air is free don't you.? Oh wait thats somebody else. NM.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        Terrorists...

        One doesn't have to be God-chosen to tell that guys who hide rocket launchers under their beds and shoot missiles from refugee camps on civilian targets are terrorists

        Now give me my talit

    2. david wilson

      @AC

      >>"So what was this carpet smuggler/used phone salesman funding - bombs or medicine?"

      It doesn't necessarily matter if he was funding it in a way that was against the law - they'd be able to get him either way.

    3. Robert Hill

      IRA

      Of course, the USA's definition of terrorism managed to miss the ONE organization that looks an awful lot like Hezzbollah - the IRA. One part political, one part terrorists...but somehow it was just dandy for the IRA to do the bulk of their fundraising in the US for decades with no bother at all from the US government.

  6. asdf
    FAIL

    why did the idiot plead guilty?

    The only way they would ever charge someone with DMCA violation is if they plead guilty (can't appeal in that case). Everyone knows the DMCA is largely unconstitutional and even with our current right wing Supreme Court nobody would dare chance bringing this big biz lucrative joke of a law before an actual court for scrutiny.

  7. Sandra Greer
    Grenade

    Nasty organisation, however you look at it

    Exists for the main purpose of wiping out Israel. A puppet of Iran mostly. The rest of the Moslem world is Sunni, generally, except for half of Iraq.

    Wikipedia article:

    Hezbollah[1] (Arabic: حزب الله‎ ḥizbu-illāh(i),[2] literally "Party of God") is a Shi'a paramilitary group and political party based in Lebanon.[3][4][5] It is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds,[3] and is supported by Iran and Syria. Multiple countries, including Sunni Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan,[6] have condemned actions by Hezbollah. The United States, United Kingdom, Egypt,[7] Israel, Australia, and Canada regard Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, in whole or in part.[8]

    Hezbollah first emerged in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, during the Lebanese civil war.[3][9] Its leaders were inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, and its forces were trained and organized by a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards.[10] Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its four main goals as "Israel's final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its final obliteration," ending "any imperialist power in Lebanon," submission of the Phalangists to "just rule" and bringing them to trial for their crimes, and giving the people the chance to choose "with full freedom the system of government they want," while we not hide our commitment to the rule of Islam."[11][12][13] Hezbollah leaders have also made numerous statements calling for the destruction of Israel, which they refer to as a "Zionist entity... built on lands wrested from their owners."[12][13]

  8. Justin 15

    PLED guilty

    It should be noted that this guy pled guilty, it did not go to trial where he could have argued that unlocking a phone does not breach the DMCA as recently affirmed by the Library of Congress.

    1. david wilson

      @Justin 15

      >>"It should be noted that this guy pled guilty, it did not go to trial where he could have argued that unlocking a phone does not breach the DMCA as recently affirmed by the Library of Congress."

      The article said that unlocking for personal use after expiry of a subsidised period was exempted from the act.

      That sounds like a fairly specific exemption, and does seem to square with things written elsewhere saying that the 2009 iteration of the exemption specifically applied to used phones, not new ones, so seems to have been designed to allow individual users to switch carriers after a while, but also to not allow people to buy bulk subsidised phones and then unlock them for resale.

      He could have argued his case in court, but maybe he didn't think he'd be likely to win.

  9. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    Hezbollah must be shaking in their boots

    What a wuss of a charge - hacking phones and breaching Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

    The phones were legally acquired and legally sold on, not like they were like Blue Boxes - which Apple's Jobs made when he was younger - so there was no telecommunications fraud.

    Pity we didn't hear about the price differential between the cost of the telephones and the price of the 'heavily subsidised' units.

    Perhaps if had made one phone call from each handset he could have claimed they had all been used for personal purposes.

    Could Cellco's use this against subscribes who jailbreak their 'subsidised' handsets?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @Sandra Greer

    yes, really nasty organisation.

    reading further down the wiki article you cite:

    Hezbollah currently operates at least four hospitals, twelve clinics, twelve schools and two agricultural centres that provide farmers with technical assistance and training. "

    The b*st*rds, have they no shame?

  11. DailyP
    Thumb Up

    Good, send him away

    To my knowledge tracfone has extremely cheap handsets. To boot, their plans are cheap too. It stands to reason that for them to keep it so cheap, and thereby allowing my family mobile communication, that there aren't people taking the mickey out of the system. Surely there's a really good reason the phones are locked in the first place.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/thumb_up_32.png

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