back to article Obama Twitter hacker avoids jail

A French hacker has avoided jail after he was convicted of breaking into the Twittier accounts of US presdent Barack Obama and other public figures and celebrities. Francois Cousteix (AKA Hacker-Croll), 23, received a five-month suspended sentence after a court in the central French region of Clermont-Ferrand accepted that he …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    okay then,

    and this is different to Gary McKinnon how?

    1. Apocalypse Later

      The difference...

      ...is that between hacking sensitive government computers or twittering celebs.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Paris Hilton

        Are you referring to.....

        those tightly-secured and highly sensitive government computers...the ones that don't even need to use passwords ?

        Well Paris, coz she is always open for business...

    2. Witty username
      FAIL

      erm

      Goverment network > Lilly allen whinging about the music industry.

      apply common sense please!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Good.

    Note the difference between this guy, and the dude who "hacked" Palin's email. That guy got serious jail time because he hacked an account which shouldn't even have been used for official purposes!!!

    AC because I don't want the Palincopters to nick me...

    1. Quxy
      Boffin

      Less egg on face here

      Well, David Kernell's sentencing hearing isn't until 24th September, so he hasn't technically "got serious jail time" yet. But, yeah, since he's expected to get 15 to 21 months, your point stands. Not surprisingly, since the "damage" caused by this sort of prank is political embarrassment, the penalty is commensurate with how much embarrassment it caused.

    2. Pablo

      Not quite...

      Actually we still don't know how much (if any) jail time "that dude" will get. Sentencing is set for September 24th.

    3. Apocalypse Later

      That guy...

      ...committed his crime in the USA, not France. The laws and penalties in different countries are different. The the crimes were also different, though I don't know all the details. In the Palin case, the miscreant posted Palin's private emails on public areas of the net. He did not guess the password, but changed it, locking Palin out of her own account. His intent was obviously not to warn her or anyone else of poor security, but to embarrass and inconvenience her. He was charged with identity theft as well as hacking her email account. She was, at the time, a state governor, not just a media celebrity, so the privacy of her communications was a matter of more import, as was the possible theft of her identity.

      Actually, I don't see where there is any comparison between the two cases.

      1. gimbal
        Megaphone

        @Apocalypse Later : Thanks for clarifying that

        It's easy to get emotional when the courts step in to apply laws and/or develop precedents about such "technical things" as one would give something of a care about.

        Nice clarification, then - actual knowledge prevails over emotional jerking of knees, it would seem.

  3. Graham Marsden
    Grenade

    Of course...

    ... had it been the UK, he'd have been extradited for Threatening US National Security and be facing 50 years in Maximum Security...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The French aren't known for their excellent judgment

    The French aren't exactly known for their excellent judgment... I KNEW hacking was illegal but I just wanted to warn people of the security risk. Right. I have some ocean front property in AZ and I know the ocean water will return any day now.

  5. ratfox
    Thumb Up

    Lucky guy

    If he had been in US he would have been convicted for high treason, I assume...

  6. pj3090
    Black Helicopters

    Just saw on Fox news

    Turns out Obama's password was "JokesOnThemImAnIndonesianMuslim!"

  7. Grumpy as I want to be
    Flame

    @DarkNerd

    I did not think that there was anyone still shilling for the idiot child. Good to see that appealing to the lowest common denominator factor is still in effect. Allow me to discuss some items -

    The idiot did willingly, knowingly and with malice seek to infiltrate systems that he knew were designated for and used by official functionaries of a foreign nation.

    He read and ignored the warnings about the consequences of his actions and when caught admitted his crime.gainst a national system for his own personal gratification or ?curiosity?.

    Do not do the crime if you do not want to chance doing time

    Are we done with this yet? Okay, good then.

    1. Steve Roper
      Thumb Down

      @ Grumpy

      I see the El Reg readership has so far unanimously voted you an idiot.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    try bluffing

    Something like - my brother's a hedge fund manager, let me off or your economy gets it.

  9. James Woods

    in an upside down world

    this would make sense.

    however if you walk out of a grocery store with a pack of gum you didn't pay for and they catch you, your going to get into trouble.

    most stores won't let you pay for the merchandise after you are caught since you probably have stolen before and gotten away.

    there is no difference here, who knows how many other accounts this person has tried to break into or perhaps did break into. the excuse of testing security doesn't fly, this isn't 'ethical hacking'.

    twitter nor the obama administration consulted this person to test the security of these accounts as far as I know.

    there is no comparison to this in regards to the palin email case since that was politically motivated being the 'hacker' was the son of a democrat either in office or a democrat strategist, don't quite remember exactly.

    however since obama is an illegal alien born in kenya that admittedly never even used twitter when the account was listed as his and verified I could care less.

  10. Sureo
    Coffee/keyboard

    Wot?

    Anyone that hacks twitter should be given a medal.

    1. Chaosechoz
      Alert

      @Sureco

      Amen to that.

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