308 DEAR HACKER

308 DEAR HACKER

Dear 2600: Those of us at the Chicago area 2600 meeting have reached an un-

derstanding: Kevin Mitnick is guilty, throw his ass in jail. While he may not be treated fairly, he is still a criminal. He got caught doing something illegal, albeit a white collar crime. If it was homicide, or grand theft auto, should you still “Free Kevin” because he isn’t being treated fairly? How “ fair” should someone be treated if they have: 1. violated parole. 2. resisted arrest. and 3. committed crime after crime, never wising up enough to stop breaking the law? Kevin Mitnick must really enjoy jail, seeing as he keeps doing things to get more time. While the conditions of his release may not be so nice, he might have thought about that when he was committing 25 counts of computer and wire fraud. While I agree, you should not be in prison for three years without trial, they have a reason not to grant him bail. Bottom line: Kevin Mitnick is a felon who ran from the law, and he is getting what he asked for. If you commit a crime, you do it with the knowledge that there is a harsh penalty for it.

D-Recz

Let’s make one thing clear. You’re entitled to whatever stupid opinion you come up with but you’re not entitled to go around saying it represents an entire group of people. We organize the meetings and we don’t even do that! Our meetings are comprised of different people with all kinds of backgrounds who hold all kinds of opinions. The one thing we all have in common is the desire to share information in an open environment.

With that out of the way, take a good look at what you’re saying. You’ve already saved us the time and trouble of a trial by finding Kevin guilty. Great. Now you wish to pass sentence. So how much time do you want Kevin to be imprisoned for? Four years apparently isn’t enough for you. So what will it be, ten years? Twenty? Life? You seem to equate the rather trivial charges against Kevin (and they are trivial when you consider how worthless the information he was accused of possess- ing really is and how no damage was caused except for some bruised egos) with real crimes that deserve real penalties. His violation of supervised release was extremely debatable and/or minor yet he received a 14-month sentence on that charge alone. That time has long since been served as has the time sentenced for possessing cellular MINs back in 1995 (eight additional months). (Agreeing to

OUR BIGGEST FANS

plead to these charges was the only way he could be sent back to his home state of California and by the time he finally got sentenced he had already served the sentence.) So we have incredibly long sentences for rather minor violations. He was never charged with, as you say, resisting arrest. As for “committing crime after crime,” that is a very misleading and simplistic way of looking at it. When you’re a fugitive, every day you remain free is a crime. What you view as a crime wave was simply one person trying to stay free and managing to do it by leading a relatively honest life, working real jobs, not stealing when he certainly could have, and sim- ply trying to satisfy his curiosity about technology he was told he wasn’t allowed to know about. You seem to believe that every crime should carry not a penalty, but a “harsh” penalty. Every instance of red boxing, every instance of computer hacking. Maybe even every jaywalker. But what is the point? Do you somehow profit from all of the new prisons that are being built? Have you stopped to think where this attitude will get us in another ten years?

Dear 2600:

I came to www.2600.com and enjoyed looking at all of the hacked pages that you have listed, for I, myself, am a hacker. But upon going into your hacked page, International Church of Christ, I was quite upset at what I found. I am a believer and follower of God and when I saw what you did to the page, I was angered deeply. In no way do you have the right to do such a thing to a group of religious people trying to make the world a better place. I have a riddle for you. See if you or your “little hackers” can figure it out: There once was a man, or woman at that... who decided stupidly to do himself a little hack. And what he hacked was something of good nature... and what happened to the man is that he was put at low stature. There was after this, a certain web page forged by the tedious mind of a certain webmaster and, upon doing so, formed himself so much rage put upon a hurtin pastor. Now... who is the webmaster, and what is the web page that the Riddler is referring to? Oh, and send your comments, if you’re a real man, to my email address.

Riddler