You have state of the art security system in your house, yet the kids is able to come in and steal. Do you want to know how he did it and channelize his skills to better your security system, or be naive and let him go to jail? Next time you'll have a dozen people breaking into your house. Punishment is not the solution always.
Australian Teen Who Hacked into Apple's Servers Multiple Times Avoids Jail
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Not at all. There's a right non-criminal way. Some passer-by notices your lock on the door is broken. The person calls you or writes a letter to you telling you have a problem. Perhaps the person can test breaking into their own house or with your permission (like Facebook provides a method to generate test accounts for this purpose). Not a crime.
If the person sees the door lock is broken, and breaks in, that is a crime.
mw360
macrumors 68020
I thought he broke into their homes, stole their antiques and ruined their lives? Or at least something exactly equivalent.
fairuz
macrumors 68020
I wouldn't say he did anything malicious with the data. The laws around computers are pretty screwy because it's so hard to categorize this stuff, plus laws and lawmakers are old. Glad he wasn't jailed for it.
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If he had done malicious stuff, different story. People call Aaron Swartz unfairly punished even though he spammed JSTOR with requests even after being told to stop, using hacked MIT computers no less, and yes he deserved jail (but maybe not 35 years). Sadly he also killed himself. Which I wouldn't wish on him, but burglars, maybe.
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The proper analogy is: He snuck into my house just to show that he could. And also did it while I wasn't home, so I didn't get freaked out or anything, plus he took off his shoes at the door.
If he had done malicious stuff, different story. People call Aaron Swartz unfairly punished even though he spammed JSTOR with requests even after being told to stop, using hacked MIT computers no less, and yes he deserved jail (but maybe not 35 years). Sadly he also killed himself. Which I wouldn't wish on him, but burglars, maybe.
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Stella
macrumors G3
The states has the highest jail ratio in the world. Has throwing people in jail worked? Nope.
Throwing people in jail for minor crimes is often counter productive, not to mention, expensive. In this case, he didn't misuse the data he downloaded, no one was harmed. Jail worthy? Probably not.
Australia has taken a more sensible approach by not jailing him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
Throwing people in jail for minor crimes is often counter productive, not to mention, expensive. In this case, he didn't misuse the data he downloaded, no one was harmed. Jail worthy? Probably not.
Australia has taken a more sensible approach by not jailing him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
My opinion only (and you're welcome to disagree which I expect many of you will): We have to move past viewing hacking as clever people beating "the man." Computing and interconnection is the backbone of commerce and society now. There are countries that engage in cyber-warfare. Many have wrote their biggest fear is not an atomic bomb starting WWIII, it's a 14 year old that causes a dam to flood or blowing up a power station. I'm not implying intent. a 14 year old obtaining mom's keys to the car isn't intending on hurting or damaging anything when they go for a joy ride.
It's reasonable to say the kid (if you can refer to a 16 year old a kid) knew he was doing something wrong.
I'm not making any claim what the punishment should be. At the same time in my view, it should involve some penalty.
It's reasonable to say the kid (if you can refer to a 16 year old a kid) knew he was doing something wrong.
I'm not making any claim what the punishment should be. At the same time in my view, it should involve some penalty.
I take your point but if you think that someone who has the ability to commit that crime, will not do it again or something similar when placed in a position of responsibility at Apple you’d be mistaken.
WatchFromAfar
Suspended
Perhaps Apple ("We care about security") should not have been so easy to hack?
Ishayu
macrumors regular
This feels like a case of "Wow, you totally ****ed me up in such an impressive way I'm not even mad" to me.
Good on Apple. Get this guy to help you improve your cybersecurity - he's exactly what you need. Yes, he was hacking you, but he didn't leak anything and wasn't causing any problems. It seems to have been entirely curiosity that drove him.
Good on Apple. Get this guy to help you improve your cybersecurity - he's exactly what you need. Yes, he was hacking you, but he didn't leak anything and wasn't causing any problems. It seems to have been entirely curiosity that drove him.
ActionableMango
macrumors G3
In my mind I picture a crack team of computer forensics experts working for the Australian Federal Computer Crime Division getting hold of the computer. They know the accused is an experienced hacker talented enough to successfully invade one of the most well known and richest companies in the world. They prepare their very best tools and methods for cracking into the laptop to retrieve evidence...
...and it's just sitting right there in a folder called "hacky hack hack".
G5isAlive
Contributor
Well, its not like he turned a new leaf and went straight. Apple first discovered the hack, then blocked it... and then took its time bringing the matter to court. My guess is if Apple had not discovered and blocked it, the 'kid' would have kept going... so he got lucky. Not smart.
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I don't get your logic, tons of crimes get committed that do not involve harm to me (or you), and yet we don't say 'so what, let the person go. It doesn't involve me'