

U.S. Government Wants to Double Prison Sentences for Hackers - bproper
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/there_are_no_lulz_in_prison_us_gov_seeks_longer_pr.php

======
bugsy
I can tell you what happens if you call the FBI to report your site being
hacked by criminal syndicates.

Nothing. The FBI has no interest at all in investigating these crimes.

Unless apparently it is from a group criticizing the government. As we see in
the article, that's the real crime. Not hacking a site, but the motivation. If
it's to steal and commit financial fraud, the government couldn't care less.
But if it's because you want to out lies and crimes told by government, then
you are going to prison for a long time.

Make no mistake. This is not about the hacking itself at all.

~~~
getsat
There was an article a few months ago that showed the FBI spends most of its
resources going after copyright infringers. Maybe you could claim some of your
intellectual property was stolen next time?

~~~
nextparadigms
Really? So there's Homeland Security going after copyright infringement, now
FBI. What's next? CIA? I've seen that in Europe they are already starting to
use the Interpol for such things.

When did copyright infringement become one of the biggest crimes one could do?
It certainly seems to be on the Government's top priority list, not far below
terrorism.

~~~
shareme
Because its easy to track and prosecute...

hacker breakins, difficult to track and prosecute hence FBI pretending to do
there jobs by taking the low hanging fruit..

~~~
pavel_lishin
Not to mention, it's typically corporations with big pockets pushing for these
sorts of investigations.

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marshray
There are some famous instances of hackers being locked up, e.g., Kevin
Mitnick.

But are there any examples of hackers not being locked up long enough? Someone
who gets out after 10 years but hadn't learned their lesson and really needed
20?

~~~
politician
Unfortunately, the problem with your question is that it assumes that the
purpose of prison is rehabilitation.

~~~
calebmpeterson
As an honest and simple question: what are the possible purposes of
incarceration?

~~~
russell_h
A few come to mind (and I'm not saying I approve/disapprove of any of these):

    
    
        1. Rehabilitation
        2. Isolation (get them off the streets)
        3. Revenge
        4. Deterrence
    

Edit: is there a way to format a list on HN?

~~~
JoachimSchipper
\- Try

\- bullets

\+ and

* paragraphs (two newlines between each line).

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rdtsc
I see a real danger of people using false flag attacks to get those they don't
like in serious trouble.

They can for example use victim's computer to scan and DoS .mil domains and
download a random sampling of copyrighted material from various torrents.

~~~
Joakal
The danger is real. Also don't forget to download some child pornography [0]!

[0] [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-25-wifi-
warning.ht...](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-25-wifi-warning.htm)

------
orangecat
This goes well with the government's position that violating your employer's
acceptable use policy or a website's usage terms constitutes "hacking":
[http://volokh.com/2011/06/14/petition-for-rehearing-filed-
in...](http://volokh.com/2011/06/14/petition-for-rehearing-filed-in-united-
states-v-nosal-ninth-circuit-case-on-criminalizing-violations-of-computer-use-
policies/)

------
austinc
Did anyone else read the headline as "US Government Wants Double Precision
Sentences for Hackers"?

~~~
nhebb
if (prisoner.IncarcerationPeriodF == prison().SentenceF) prisoner.Release();

Floating point rounding errors could doom someone to a life sentence!

------
dolvlo
Why not just sentence everyone to death for any crime, no matter how small?

~~~
marshray
How could you suggest such a horrible thing? Just think of all the prison
guards that would put out of work!

~~~
pyre
They could just transition to be ushers for the public executions events.

------
smogzer
First there were witches, then there were terrorists then there were the
hackers. But as every child says those who accuse are the ones who really are.

~~~
Joakal
You sound like you were born in the 90s. It was believed that communists were
the bogeyman for a while.

