
A Convicted Hacker and an Internet Icon Join Forces to Thwart NSA Spying - sinak
http://www.wired.com/2014/07/dark-mail-hides-metadata-from-nsa
======
GrinningFool

        Watt once had a lucrative Wall Street career coding software 
        for real-time stock-trading systems until he wrote a packet-
        sniffing program for a long-time friend and found himself  
        embroiled in a multi-million-dollar bank card heist that 
        netted him a two-year prison term.
    

I love how puff-pieces always trivialize the things that would run counter to
their narrative. He didn't _really_ do anything wrong - he was just helping
his friend[0][1].

People do what they do, and that's cool - but let's not pretend he just
accidentally found himself tripped up in some fraud situation, oops don't know
how that happened hey look an awesome product in which trust is essential!

0\. There's a slightly more complete look here, though not focused on Watt:
[http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/sex-drugs-and-
the-b...](http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/sex-drugs-and-the-biggest-
cybercrime-of-all-time-20101111)

1\. Wired did a similar sympathetic piece last year in which they made Watt's
past seem like a minor misdeed (some wording is essentially identical to what
I quoted above): [http://www.wired.com/2013/04/stephen-watt-stalked-by-
past/](http://www.wired.com/2013/04/stephen-watt-stalked-by-past/)

~~~
Mandatum
In response to the Rolling Stone article:

    
    
        Patrick's job was to probe corporate networks for vulnerabilities to a malware attack known as a "sequel injection," which overwhelms the victim's system with meaningless commands until the system gives up and defaults to using the malicious code.
    

Sequel injection, huh? :P

~~~
girvo
That... wow. That's _exactly_ what "Sequel injection" is, basically, you
overwhelm the target with "v2.0", or the "sequel", if you will, and it just
gives up and runs that code, thus "injecting" the "sequel".

Holy crap.

~~~
Mandatum
Yeah aside from that and a small number of other gems, it's a really good
article. Read it a long time ago when it was first published, but definitely
one I can re-read for the pure enjoyment factor.

------
eliteraspberrie
Watt wasn't convicted for fraud, he was convicted for not snitching. I, for
one, trust the man's integrity, and I'll judge his code when I see it.

~~~
Mandatum

        Stephen Watt pleaded guilty to writing the sniffer code that proved key to Albert's operation but continues to insist that he never knew it was being used for illegal purposes, noting that he made no money from Albert's crimes.
    

[http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/sex-drugs-and-
the-b...](http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/sex-drugs-and-the-biggest-
cybercrime-of-all-time-20101111?page=6)

------
hackuser
Dark Mail is written by someone who was convicted of helping to steal credit
card information?!

~~~
rakoo
Who cares ? If the protocol is open and good, and we can build open source
implementations, no one cares about the life of the creator.

~~~
icantthinkofone
The question is, can you trust someone who has broken trust in the past and in
a major way?

~~~
sarciszewski
How exactly did Stephen Watt break trust? He didn't steal any credit cards, he
didn't profit from other people stealing credit cards, and he allegedly was
not aware of the purpose for that sniffer program. He's an old-school black
hat who broke into systems for the lulz, not for financial gain. (Ever heard
of ~el8?). His mistake was believing his associates shared his priorities.

Not only that, but when he was being pressured and threatened by the
government, he refused to cooperate. I think that's commendable and
demonstrates real integrity.

~~~
Mandatum
Do you really believe he didn't know what it was being used for? He
acknowledged it was using to sniff traffic, if not for credit-cards? What?
Account details?

Unless there were logs or talks of them doing it for purely
academic/educational purposes, which as we know Gonzalez isn't that "sort" of
person, it would be unacceptable to think someone of Watt's intellect wouldn't
be able to put 2-and-2 together.

He's been around the scene. He knows the scene. He's been a part of the scene.

I agree in terms of law, this all goes into a very grey and fuzzy area - if he
had a better lawyer he may have came out in a different situation. Looking at
the recent backlash for hackers, he may be looking at an apology (or even a
payout) in the future.

------
nezza-_-
Has nothing to do with the Dark Mail Alliance, right?
[http://darkmail.info/](http://darkmail.info/)

~~~
01Michael10
It is the one and same if you had read the link you provided... The Dark Mail
Alliance lists Ladar Levison as part of the team who is one of the people
mentioned in the article. The same name thing may be a giveaway also...

------
saraid216
I feel like we need to start a new meme of "they thwart spies!" along the
lines of "they fight crime!"

