i have just read the slashdot story http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/01/30/0432257.shtml
and the *hackers* side of the story http://illmob.org/

Im no expert on US law, but doesnt this whole think stink of entrapment ???

In one part of this story, someone contacts this hacker, and asks for MS source code (for money)
the hacker replys saying he no-longer has it, but ts already everywhere on the internet on p2p irc etc etc.

the guy then replys saying that he will pay the hacker to download it for him, and mail it.

he does... and then is later arrested.

This hacker was convicted NT because he downloaded the source code (he was'nt the person who leaked it)

This hacker was convicted because the police contacted hi, and begged him to comit the crime of seeling it.

he would never have sold it if the investicators didnt hastle him into doing it right ???

There is no doubt that he did commit a crime, but serving 2 years for agreeing to take $60 for what was already in wide circulation on the internet....

isnt this all a little harsh ?

Lets put this into perspective... Drunk drivers get a fine, and are sentenced to a few AA meeting.

LOL, Holly damn...

Well ... this guy didn't nothing ilegal , the real guilty was the policemen who attracted this guy to download the file and redirect it to them. But this case seems a little odd because ... Who the hell fell in a kind of situation like that ?
If i was in the guy skin i think that something was rong, because the source code was already in the internet, what was the point to ask someone to download it and redirect him to the buyers ? Its a bad tell story . Maybe the is really stupid. But in the other hand this law enforcement people can't , because its protect by laws , estimulate people to steale, kill, hack only to bust someone.. Very Bad Story, really really .. cheers m8s

that is complete bull****, this guy should not get two f***ing years because some agent made him download illegal s***. as was already said thats entrapment (it is not right for a cop to speed behind you and make you speed, then pull you over - thats illegal [although its legal for them to sit at bottom of hills ] )

i do agree that he did something wrong...but two years is out of the question...at most probation or a fine...not jail time c'mon. as marretas said drunk drivers get fines when they could have killed someon.

little while ago i had to go to one of those points reduction classes because i had gotten two tickets in a row - totalling to 12 points, and there was a guy in there who had to come to this class because he had been stopped for drunk driving for the second time - the first of which he had actually gotten into an accident and hurt someone - and he needed this class to keep his liscense (the guy had only gotten a large fine for the first offense - bull**** right there) and now he was getting away with it again with just another slap on the wrist...

(little off topic i guess...) but my point is that this guy should not get two years in prison over downloading a file...if a drunk driver can get away with murder why should he be put in jail for a petty crime!

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p.s. isnt it illegal or sumtin to be found guilty because of your previous records...cant they only use that as a lee way sorta thing (where its more of a possiblity that he did it because hes done it before) ?

wow, now that's some really uncool stuff.. stuff like that reeks..

I guess the hacker was not all that very intellegent - or else really needed the cash bad.. I mean like, if someone were to contact me and ask me to download say an MP3 and then send it to them via e-mail, I'd be pretty curious about it right. Downloading directly from the internet - or from your e-mail host would both account to downloading from the internet onto one's personal computer right. So, anyone asking another person to download something - and then e-mail it to them, would just be better off (in terms of time and energy spent) to download the file/s themselves.

So, I guess the lesson learnt - for the world in general, is that, should someone ask you to do something that vaguely sounds illegal, don't do it. And if the person really really wants you to, write them an e-mail - or point out how easily any sort of material is available through P2P, IRC..

The thing about the government is that, whereever it is, transversing countries and borders, the mentality is very low (as in scraping at the bottom of the barrel). Most perple may join the government with good intentions, but those get really easily wiped off the slate. Actually persuing a person to actively participate in a crime is as low as it gets. The cops should get down to - first curbing physical violence, then to booking people at the top end of the organized crime scenario, then get down to tackling corruption, in administration and politics and finally enforce goodwill law when all the more important (bad) stuff has been sorted out.

Shouldn't the FBI be more focused on tracking down terrorists and other *real* criminals, instead of making this file-trader guy's life miserable for two years?

Really ... anybody else who gets caught with files just has to pay fines out the butt. Just because this guy's been in trouble before doesn't mean that he deserves a harsher penalty than a lot of super-bad people get for much worse things.

I hate the government sometimes. I really do.

wow, this is new, but Microsoft must of funded this so that FBI will catch their crooks before catching more dangerous ones

xboxrulz