Castaway hacker guilty of sedating children's hospital computers

It's a bit further of a sail to Cuba from Canada than from Florida.

'Isn't there a possibility of crossing the land border with Canada'

It used to be piss easy to cross over at Detroit (outbound to Windsor). But now IDK..... Has any Reg'er crossed recently?

picked up by Steamboat Willie?

Re: Protected computer?

Ditto.

By "damaged" I had assumed physical damage. Committed over the interwebs.

He didn't "damage" anything.

The law is an ass.

Re: Protected computer?

First, IANAL. But I've read enough law to be confident to answer this one. It's formal language of US law. For instance, "Person" refers to an entity that can engage in contracts and/or be held accountable for crimes. In this case, "protected" means that they are the subject being protected by the statute in question. You have have heard the term "protected class" from time to time. The precise meaning of that term depends on the statute in question.

Re: classic hackivists

I agree: IANAL but IAAD, and there is a lot of weirdness out there, and this case does not seem clear cut either way. You have to approach patients with these conditions with an open but sceptical mind.

"I've seen things you people would not believe" e.g. a Paralympian confined to a wheelchair but who has no neurological deficit.

While there are still some strange conditions in medicine that we cannot diagnose, I see a lot more patients for whom it more convenient and/ or acceptable to assign a medical diagnosis on a set of unlikely and vague symptoms, and causes harm in that:

a) the correct treatment is not given for the condition the patient does have.

b) it can prevent an alternative (correct) diagnosis being made.

This is complicated in this case when the patient is a child, and often the parent-child relationship is dysfunctional - almost a 'folie-a-deux'.

These change over time - in the past 'neurosthenia' was in vogue but current favourites are Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalitis and Lyme disease. (EDS and Lyme are real conditions but with inconsitent diagnosis criteria, complicating the picture, and making untangling the mess very difficult).

If you are wondering why I am an AC, any doctor practicing in this area will tell you that these patients have plenty of time on their hands and despite their totally incapacitating symptoms, they seem to react very energetically to any suggestion that their symptoms do not have a pathological/ organic basis. If you don't believe me, see Sir Simon Wessely's papers on this. There's a guy who has earned his K the hard way!