Snow job in the Las Vegas desert. Hacker criminal lets loose at COMDEX.

World Tech Tribune.com ^

[Scott McCollum]

The fact is that Mitnick used his manipulative skills in an amoral attempt to defraud and steal from respected companies like Novell, Motorola, Nokia and Sun Microsystems for years until his capture in 1995. Mitnick has often claimed that he did nothing wrong and that the onus of the crimes was actually on the companies he stole from. For example, Mitnick firmly believes Novell’s stupid gullible employees shouldn’t have trusted him when he showed up to their offices wearing a stolen phone company technician’s uniform and asking for access to their company’s phone system. To Mitnick, the 20,000 credit card numbers Mitnick was caught with were all from stupid people that shouldn’t have trusted him.

[Scott McCollum]

All Poor Kevin wanted to do was make an honest living writing about how he defrauded tens of thousands of people to the tune of over a million dollars in damage... Poor Kevin! Why is the jackboots of the DOJ stifling Poor Kevin’s right to free speech?

[sigSEGV]

If all those accusations were true, don't you think he would have done hard time?

[eno_]

The truth is that Mitnick is no angel. He may in fact have stolen things of value. But the "millions of dollars in damage" is pure hype. Hackers should be punished like other criminals - in line with the actual damage they do. If someone steals my car AND hacks the password on the cell phone in order to fence it, he is still a car thief and should get the same penalty as a car thief, plus whatever addtional for stealing a cell phone. We don't need to turn common criminals into super-criminals just to glorify the people that catch hackers.

[Coeur de Lion]

The fact is that Mitnick used his manipulative skills in an amoral attempt to defraud and steal from respected companies like Novell, Motorola, Nokia and Sun Microsystems for years until his capture in 1995. Mitnick has often claimed that he did nothing wrong and that the onus of the crimes was actually on the companies he stole from.

That says it all except I would substitute immoral for amoral. But like such jerks he wants to place the onus on stupid people for him having accomplished his crime. Which shows he hasn't the least evidence of any moral fabric. Perhaps, he needs to reconsider that his current condition is a result of both his hubris and the fact he was stupid enough to get caught. Given that he feels it's alright to prey on others because of their evident stupidity, perhaps we shouldn't be so stupid as to justify him in that belief by being equally stupid!

[BraveMan]

Wouldn't it be poetic if someone posted Poor Kevin’s "The Art of Deception" on the web?

[Bogey780]

I think it'd be poetic if someone broke into his house and robbed him blind leaving on the wall "....and I never even gradiated!"

[dheretic]

And of course when he was doing his little social engineering tricks no one asked for ID..... Excuse me if I don't go crying and call for his lynching. His only crime was not targeting Cisco, that chicom-bitch-of-the-year recipient which sold approximately $1B worth of equipment, training, etc to the chicoms to build their great national firewall. Personally, I hope someone bankrupts corporations that place their bottom line on a higher level of importance than the rights of 1.6B people! As for you Scott, your calls for "transparency" sound like you'd love to implement something similar to what the chicoms have in place. Mitnik served his time, that's good enough for me. What he did was wrong (though I'd laugh if he did it to Cisco) and he paid the price. What do you want Scott, his execution?

[dheretic]

Of course, no one wants to see the Enron execs get life without the possibility of parole for their crimes. Those evil hackers, they're super terrorists! A part of the blame falls on those who facilitate the crime. AFAIAC, anyone that leaves critical infrastructure exposed to outside networks should get locked away for years.

[TechJunkYard]

Mitnick has a knack for destroying evidence, and his talent for social engineering is legendary. That said, most charges against him were trumped-up, but when he was captured and arraigned in Raleigh, it was for Telecomm Fraud and Computer Fraud -- both have a max penalty of 15 years. He served nearly 5 years, paid a fine and is on probation until January of next year. In September the FCC decided to renew his ham radio license. He has jobs waiting in broadcasting and consulting. Kevin really lucked out.

The big question is: can he be trusted? Lots of folks apparently think he can.

[steve-b]

Where's the beef? 'Tis a mote beside the beam -- nay, the mountain -- of the SinkEmperor's ability to collect massive speaking fees after completely evading justice for his crimes.