Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 50 posts

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#31

Post by rpm4321 »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #24

This sentence is everything wrong with the American justice system. I do NOT want my tax payer dollars to be spent keeping a hacker in jail along with with murderers and rapists. Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton drive around coked up and drunk and get either probation or a 1 month/1 year sentence but someone hacking a phone (who doesn't endanger anyone's life) gets 10 years???

Yes and no. I believe 10 years is obviously a bit much in this case, but if you tweak the variables a bit, this sort of thing can be tantamount to a sexual assault.

Imagine it's your sister or girlfriend involved, and the pictures are splashed across Facebook by an ex-boyfriend.

In this case, the victims are certainly less sympathetic, but the principle is basically the same.

It reminds me a bit of this Hunter Moore business: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4890088

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#32

Post by themckman »

People seem to be focusing on this 10 year number and being really upset, but I'm wondering if anyone actually read the article. The article claims he had access to 50 email accounts and plead guilty to 9 counts of various charges. A linked document mentioned something about a "28-count superseding indictment", which I won't claim to understand. However, the point is, most people here appear, to me at least, that they think it's 1 person's email that he got access to. It's a little bit more than that.

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#34

Post by DanBC »

The US spends about $52 Billion on people in prison. There are about 2.3 million people in US prisons, with nearly 5 million people on parole.

The reason isn't because the US puts more people per year into prison; the reason is that the US keeps people in prison for so long.

The incredibly high prison rate has other weird effects. People are expected to die in prison but prison guards are not trained to deal with people at end of life. Dementia in particular is difficult for anyone to deal with.

I found this article moving:

Life, With Dementia (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/health/dealing-with-dement...)

And here's another article about prison hospice:

(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1121-prison-hospice-...)

We know that prison doesn't work for most prisoners. So why do we spend so much money keeping people there? (There are some people who deserve to be in jail, and who cannot live in wider society.)

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#37

Post by wpietri »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #7
ryanac wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't he also publicly release nude photos of her and three other women? Still maybe a bit extreme on the sentence, but it wasn't just "reading e-mail".

Yes he did. There is a strange cognitive dissonance between email and regular mail. If someone broke into an apartment lobby, picked the lock on the mailboxes, took out a set of film prints [1] from the drug store, made copies of the 'private and personal' pictures contained therein and then shared them with their friends for prurient reasons, what sort of punishment is deserved there? The "virtual" nature of email m…

A few years back my physical mail was stolen and discovered in the backpack of somebody they arrested. At the USPS's request, I sent in a statement saying, yes, that was the Christmas card from my brother, and no, I didn't give it to the accused. Eventually I got a letter saying the accused was sentenced to 3 years.

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#38

Post by DanBC »

rpm4321 wrote: post #31
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #24

This sentence is everything wrong with the American justice system. I do NOT want my tax payer dollars to be spent keeping a hacker in jail along with with murderers and rapists. Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton drive around coked up and drunk and get either probation or a 1 month/1 year sentence but someone hacking a phone (who doesn't endanger anyone's life) gets 10 years???

Yes and no. I believe 10 years is obviously a bit much in this case, but if you tweak the variables a bit, this sort of thing can be tantamount to a sexual assault. Imagine it's your sister or girlfriend involved, and the pictures are splashed across Facebook by an ex-boyfriend. In this case, the victims are certainly less sympathetic, but the principle is basically the same. It reminds me a bit of this Hunter Moore…

I would be very angry. I would want the person to understand just how distressing their actions had been. I would want them to feel sorry for what they had done, and I would want them to know that this is not something that they will ever do again. I would want the person to make some kind of restitution.

Putting that person in prison achieves none of that.

Obviously, that's just my personal opinion, and I kind of understand that other people feel differently.

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#39

Post by rhizome »

rpm4321 wrote: post #31
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #24

This sentence is everything wrong with the American justice system. I do NOT want my tax payer dollars to be spent keeping a hacker in jail along with with murderers and rapists. Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton drive around coked up and drunk and get either probation or a 1 month/1 year sentence but someone hacking a phone (who doesn't endanger anyone's life) gets 10 years???

Yes and no. I believe 10 years is obviously a bit much in this case, but if you tweak the variables a bit, this sort of thing can be tantamount to a sexual assault. Imagine it's your sister or girlfriend involved, and the pictures are splashed across Facebook by an ex-boyfriend. In this case, the victims are certainly less sympathetic, but the principle is basically the same. It reminds me a bit of this Hunter Moore…

Imagine it's your sister or girlfriend involved...

If that's what justifies this degree of sentence, then I despair for our justice system (more than before). The principle you say is "basically the same," implies the standard should be "taking it personally." However, Lady Justice wears a blindfold as a symbol against just this reasoning.

Re: Man who hacked Scarlett Johansson's e-mail sentenced to 10 years

#40

Post by daeken »

javajosh wrote: post #29

The lesson here is clear: if you have money, there is no such thing as crime. If you don't have money, like this guy, then even if you plead guilty you get years in prison. HSBC can aid terrorists and launder money from drug cartels and pay a fine. Goldman Sachs knowingly sells junk to their clients, minimizing their own exposure to the financial crisis, and gets a bailout. Fuck this shit.

> Goldman Sachs knowingly sells junk to their clients, minimizing their own exposure to the financial crisis, and gets a bailout.

GS never got a bailout. They were paid by AIG using bailout money, for what they were owed, but never received a bailout by the US government at all.

Post reply on HN