Man Sent to Prison Over a Screensaver

FreeMcOwen ^ | 11/28/2001 | Bowman et. al.

[Poohbah]

It "solves math problems."

Like, "How do I break out the encryption on this Secure HTTP session and get someone's credit card number?"

[Spiff]

This is the equivalent of emptying the hole punchers and using the resulting tiny round circles of paper as confetti without permission.

Yes, the paper still belongs to the company but it is worthless and would have been discarded. Much like the wasted cycles during idle time on a desktop computer - they're equally worthless and would have been discarded otherwise.

As for the security risk - same thing. A corporate spy MAY have been able to piece something together from the punched paper holes that would have been an indicator or actual data after sifting through jillions of them. But the ACTUAL and PRACTICAL security risk is miniscule and not worth mentioning.

Obviously, there's something wrong with the people who prosecuted this guy.

And what about the "wasted cycles" of computer time as well as work time of everyone who reads and posts to Free Republic from work? Hmmmmmm?

Get real.

[mbynack]

Do you even think before you type? What backdoor? They were unused computer resources and yes he should have asked first but do you think the punishment fits the crime?

Distributed computing software allows an outside user to access your computer and use it. Not all of the people who use this technology are who they say they are and not all of them are honest. Some of the more sophisticated hackers use this process to break encryption systems used to safeguard credit card information.

Based on the information in the articles I would say that the school may have gone overboard on the punishment and there may have been more to his dismissal than what is mentioned in the article.

[mbynack]

I'm playing Devil's Advocate here. To a company this is the same thing as an employee allowing outsiders to use the company's office during the weekend when it wouldn't be used anyway.

If the users of the computer were legitimate, the school probably didn't even know that they were in the system. It does leave security vulnerabilities that hackers can use to access the system and the computing time can be used for illegal purposes.

[Crispy]

He stole resources (cpu-time). Theft is theft no matter what. It's the same as stealing a pack of chewing gum.

[spycatcher]

I know. I'm just joking, since they like to think Atlanta has made it such a progressive state. They need to act their new class.

[Crispy]

I should mention though, that I think the punishment is a bit stiff. I agree that at most, he should have been fired.

[Z-28]

Why is it OK for me to copy music from my FM radio onto cassette tapes, and from TV to VHS tapes, but not OK for me to do the same and copy music from the internet by burning it on to CDRoms?

Go figure...

[lelio]

What's also amazing is that DeKalb took 18 MONTHS to investigate this. What kind of geniuses are there at this school's CS dept?
Wait I can answer that: probably ones that have better things to do that look up this crap. I'm sure it came down from the head of the school.

[concerned about politics]

$815,000 to go to the school, I suppose?
Students = Money, no matter how they're used.
They're like meat on an assembly line. Move 'em in, cut them up, move 'em out.
They got to use this guy one more time before he escaped out the door.

[Still Thinking]

I have it on good authority that, in addition to his heinous and ongoing theft of unused CPU cycles, McOwen repeatedly and habitually used a gaseous mixture he found on school premises to maintain his physical well being. The mixture, primarily composed of nitrogen and oxygen, is the property of the school district, and, although he returned the gas substantially undamaged, his use was not explicitly permitted. He is therefore liable to numerous additional criminal counts as well as civil action.

[Arkinsaw]

Ain't no way Georgia ranks below Arkansaw. No way atall.

This from an Okie. LOL.

[Macaw]

You're playing the part of a moron. I'm sorry all of you are. I'm now 100% in favor of abolishing citizen juries. Who wants justice to be dealt out by a bunch of half-wits? By your illogic, jay walkers should get the death penalty.

[M. Thatcher]

You're playing the part of a moron. I'm sorry all of you are. I'm now 100% in favor of abolishing citizen juries.

You need to step away from the computer, take a walk, look at the stars, get a grip.

Being seized of the sudden opinion that everyone else is a moron is nature's way of saying, "Maybe it's you."

[exmoor]

My peas have turned to _ _ _ _ !

[Z-28]

I ran SETI for years. I tried Distributed Net but it was too complicated to set up and I gave up.

Where's the crime? It's idle CPU time anyway. I've also used up a few hundred company pencils.

[Ima Lurker]

Whatever made you think that? Ya'll aint alivin' hear in Jawja 'ere ya? :)

[dinodino]

He doesn't own the equipment, and thus doesn't own the cycles. He had no right to use distributed.net.

[dinodino]

Your paper punch analogy is incorrect...maybe if you add that he duct-taped over the door lock to allow easy entry for the hole collectors. I don't know the details of the distributed.net client, but I do know that it's possible to open up a machine to various exploits by installing insecure software.

[usconservative]

From the company's standpoint, this would be the same as employees giving away office supplies or computers because they were underused.

Right *and* by running Seti@Home, the user opened up a back door INTO the company's network. It isn't as if this is a normal screensaver, it isn't. It contacts other systems looking for data to "crunch" while nothing else is going on. Because it must contact other systems occasionally over the 'net, tcp/ip ports are left open, and those ports can be used by HACKERS if they're clever enough, to get INSIDE the company's network.

They had every right to fire the guy if for nothing else, probably breaching the computer security policy.