
12-year-old boy admits to hacking police and government sites for Anonymous - rake
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/26/12-year-old-canadian-boy-admits-to-hacking-police-and-government-sites-for-anonymous/
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jcutrell
I think the end of the argument is a bit short-sighted.

[edit: not "argument" \- "article"]

If your child has potentially powerful skill with computers, you should not
simply make sure they aren't DDoS'ing and staying in chat rooms.

You should be spending time, resources, or another kind of energy giving them
problems to solve and challenges to approach with their talents. Don't just
avoid court - give your child space to be who they are.

Teach them about whitehat. Help them creatively wield their strengths. Don't
be selfish - be a parent.

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Justsignedup
Dude, if my child did this, I would pat him on the back, and go to court and
ask a question: "Is it not insanely embarrassing that our GOVERNMENT which is
theoretically supposed to keep secure is able to be hacked by my 12 year old
son. This is not his fault, it is yours. Now imagine a 30 year old version of
my son in North Korea who have real political objectives"

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walshemj
Wonder if there was an older member "helping" its common practice in the UK
for gangs to get under age kids to act as couriers and to hold naughty stuff
as if they get caught the penalties are minimal compared to a >18 year old
woudl get

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sliverstorm
I doubt it's impossible, but kids can be plenty technologically adept. I can
believe that a 12-year-old could act as a script kiddie or conduct moderate
attacks.

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lignuist
> A more detailed report will be handed over next month when the boy is
> sentenced, according to the Toronto Sun.

Are they talking about prison? That would be barbaric.

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sillysaurus2
It's always seemed odd that all kids get a free pass just because they're
kids. I knew what I was doing at 12. I guess it makes sense; age is often used
as a (bad) proxy for maturity.

That said, prison time for anyone, adults or children, for computer-related
crimes is barbaric. But I doubt that's on the table here.

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hfern
As a kid, you have a distorted view of reality and your prefrontal cortex is
not fully developed. That is to say your morals, planning, and judgement is
not fully developed. This was part of SCOTUS [outlawing capital punishment for
minors]([http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/jn.aspx](http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/jn.aspx)).

The Prefrontal cortex is key to what we'd consider a person's personality. The
seminal case of this would be [Phineas
Gage]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage)),
who had his prefrontal cortex (along with most of his frontal lobe) destroyed.
Despite a hole in his head, he miraculously survived. Without his prefrontal
cortex, he was no longer inhibited by judgement, shame, or morals. He didn't
ignore it, he just simply didn't feel it. A man went from being honest and
upstanding to constantly thieving and telling lies.

Since the pre frontal cortex does not fully mature until around the age of 25,
I would argue the 13 years this child does, in fact, not know the full extent
of what he did.

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glenra
By that logic, we shouldn't hold 24-year-olds responsible for their actions
either, right?

Anyway, what makes you think having a "fully developed" prefrontal cortex
means one DOES "know the full extent" of one's actions? And what makes you
think full development means one knows this _better_ than 50% or 75%
development? Heck, for all we know, moral responsibility might even _peak_ at
15 and decline from there with further development!

Is there some sort of test that shows how much people have, as you claim, "a
distorted view of reality" as they age?

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eliteraspberrie
Who is the Chief Information Officer of the Montreal police and how are they
justifying their salary?

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minussohn
IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER is enough, to be considered as a hacker.

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DevUps
Quick, somebody post this on reddit.

