

Opinion: Hacking vs. rape: Which is a crime more deserving of jail time? - cramerica
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/opinion-hacking-vs-rape-which-crime-more-deserving-jail-time

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cramerica
I think the Weev sentencing has major implications for not only white hat
hackers (although it hits them pretty hard), but anyone using the internet.
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and the courts interpretation are to
blame. CFAA was written in 1984 and it's so vague that it's can turn anyone
working in security and potentially _anyone_ on the internet into a criminal
with one click.

The courts are saying here that unauthorized access to a computer occurs
whenever the computer owner says so, _and the Department of Justice has
enforced this point of view_. __Someone can violate the law even where there
is no notice and where no password was hacked. __All that is required is that
a person, corporate or natural, subsequently says you don’t belong. This is an
incredibly dangerous ruling that can criminalize trivial things like google
searches.

People should be _mad_ about this, but I fear most do not understand this
ruling or the law enough to make sense of it.

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washedup
This makes the justice system seem totally fucked. Yes, they are different
cases, but they are intimately tied together. The justice system is punishing
the same people that want to expose heinous crimes. It is punishing the same
people that want to expose heinous and systematic crimes. No wonder they feel
threatened.

There is no doubt in my mind that we are increasingly seeing the frictions of
a power shift between governmental bodies and the collective action of
individuals on the internet. I imagine that it will only get worse before it
gets better. We need to protect the freedom of the internet, because at this
point it is the only real weapon we have against (at worst) organized
corruption and (at best) an inefficient government.

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Millennium
Apples-to-oranges comparison. Convicted rapists don't get nearly enough jail
time as it is (then again, I'm one of those people who believes that rape
should carry the death penalty). But this doesn't have any bearing on what
amount of jail time, if any, computer criminals deserve.

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cramerica
It's just comparing two cases that reached a verdict in the same day, sure the
cases are different, but the results are very telling. It is a worse offense
to access a website without the owners permission than it is to rape someone
if you're under 18.

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Millennium
In this case, I think the "if you're under 18" thing is something of a red
herring. I agree that they should have been tried as adults, but I don't know
how much that would actually have changed the outcome. The minimum sentences
set by the judge are, sad to say, actually comparable to what many adults
convicted of rape eventually serve.

