Teen Sentenced for Unleashing Blaster Worm

[LiviaOlivia]

The New York Times
January 28, 2005
Teen Sentenced for Unleashing Blaster Worm
By REUTERS

Filed at 4:56 p.m. ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A federal judge sentenced a teenager to a year and half of prison on Friday for releasing a variant of the Blaster worm that was used to attack more than 48,000 computers.

Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where he was also ordered to perform community service, pay restitution and be placed under supervision for three years following the sentence.

"If you use the Internet to harm people, it will be investigated and you will be punished," Jeff Sullivan, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle, told reporters.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman, however, did not give the Minnesota teen the maximum 37-month sentence, saying Parson wrote malicious software and used it to attack other computers partly because of neglectful upbringing and supervision.

~snip~

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-tech-blaster-sentencing.html

[Zenlitened]

1. Too lenient. I'd want more jail time for a mugger who jumped me...

.. I don't view malicious hacking any differently.

[Mystified]

11. No doubt

Now if they would only arrest & sentence some of those f**king spyware makers too!!!!

[twaddler01]

2. i second that Zenlitened

:bounce:


* Oops, posted new subject...

[Mark D]

3. Hackers are a real PITA.

Good riddance.

[illflem]

4. If he really has to pay restitution

he'll be rightfully doing so for the rest of his life. I'm sure his worm cost millions.

[KareBear]

5. Meh. Use a real operating system or else *shrug* (nt)

[VegasWolf]

7. Yeah, use something like Mac or Linux that is so unpopular that nobody

uses it.

[kostya]

8. I don't like Microsoft, however, it's not their OS that's really at fault,

it's just that it's so ubiquitous that it makes an easy target. If there were that many copies of Linux and OS X running around they'd be virus vectors as well. - K

[Solon]

15. Microsoft doesn't have a lock on the server market...

Linux and other Unix based system dominates, yet they are not routinely hacked or have virus/spyware problems, I wonder why.

[Redstone]

6. "neglectful upbringing and supervision"-???

So that's an excuse for all the damage the little bastard did to honest working people's computers?

What horseshit. He shoud have gotten at least five years.

As should spammers.

No mercy for these vermin.

Redstone

Disclaimer: This stuff doesn't affect me because I have Macs and REALLY strong spam filters. But for what they've done to other people, the virus writers and spammers CANNOT pay enough.

[Spangle]

12. Why don't other kids get that kind of break????

This kids parents was so neglectful that they bought him a computer. The other kids.... well.. their parents couldn't afford one for themselfs.. much less their kid.

[oasis]

9. A disgraced convict. He can apply at Fox News after his release.

[dsc]

10. I find it simply amazing

that Federal Courts routinely hand out decades long sentences for drug use that is most assuredly personal but this person who caused millions in damages gets a year and a half. Just amazing.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. And MS bears no responsibility for putting out an OS that is susceptible

to any and every bug that goes around. How cool is that??

[Solon]

14. They washed their hands of responsibility years ago...

read their EULA to get the true picture.