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40 years in prison is way out of proportion, guilty or not. Are there black hats in the US currently serving this kind of sentences?
But if he wrote the trojan and if a lot of people had their life turned upside down (identity theft and credit report issues aren't fun) I don't see why he shouldn't go to jail, for quite a while.
It seems to me that the broader issue is one where HN readers individually writing their senators would have an impact for the time invested. 1) Legislators do not have the time to come to this situation with insight into how the cybersecurity community works. There are simply too many fields of human endeavour and people have to specialize to get things done. 2) This is not an issue like Abortion or the 2nd amendmen…
What exactly do you want members of the US Congress to do? Pass a bill declaring him innocent? The quick change in tone in the post is telling, by the way -- it goes from being skeptical that he was involved in a crime at all, to quibbling that not much money was stolen anyway, and if you're going to prosecute over such a tiny thing you should do it in a different country than the one where it was stolen.
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EDIT: Note the parent used to claim that $2000 for Malware isn't worth going to Jail for 40 years because its only $2000.
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If I sell someone Anthrax for $1, my punishment should be based on the $1 amount?
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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/41-months-weev-underst...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What exactly do you want members of the US Congress to do? Pass a bill declaring him innocent? The quick change in tone in the post is telling, by the way -- it goes from being skeptical that he was involved in a crime at all, to quibbling that not much money was stolen anyway, and if you're going to prosecute over such a tiny thing you should do it in a different country than the one where it was stolen.
Even if that country was North Korea and the crime was punishable by execution? 40 years in prison is extreme for $2000. They might as well execute him. And yes, I compared the US to North Korea, but when it comes to cyber security laws they really aren't that much different. The punishments are way out of proportion to the crimes. You'd be better of killing someone than hacking them.
Thus he is not facing 40 years for a $2000 sale only. Some of the arguments of his defenders are so ridiculous they defy belief.
40 years in prison is way out of proportion, guilty or not. Are there black hats in the US currently serving this kind of sentences?