Judge Sentences Hacker to 6 Years Without Computers

[Uber Waddles]

Dont most countries have a law against Cruel and Unusual punishments?

Wouldnt that fall under unusual punishments? You could probably make a case for cruel too, considering how much of peoples lives (especially if he goes to a standard school) revolves around computers and online research.

Just sayin...

 

[TKretts3]

Like taking away Mozart's Piano? This is more like taking away an assassin's favourite gun. Yes, they may be astoundingly talented with it, but that doesn't change the fact that he uses that gun to break the laws. That's exactly what this person did and deserves day of those six years that he gets.

It's not cruel or unusual to take away someone's means of crime. Next time he should think before he acts.

 

[Lucky Godzilla]

Dont most countries have a law against Cruel and Unusual punishments?

Wouldnt that fall under unusual punishments? You could probably make a case for cruel too, considering how much of peoples lives (especially if he goes to a standard school) revolves around computers and online research.

Just sayin...

So you're telling me it's a cruel and unusual punishment to limit a 15 year old boy's access to the internet to strictly educational material? My oh my.
Seriously though look at what he did, he got let off easy if you ask me
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/09/cosmo-the-god-who-fell-to-earth/all/

 

[WanderingFool]

Dont most countries have a law against Cruel and Unusual punishments?

Wouldnt that fall under unusual punishments? You could probably make a case for cruel too, considering how much of peoples lives (especially if he goes to a standard school) revolves around computers and online research.

Just sayin...

No, its Cruel And Unusual punishment. This is just unusual, but its not like he is being completely denied the internet. While there is a good deal of school work that reqiures internet usuage, they are allowing him, with supervision, to use it for school related activities, and also allowing him usage for personal use, so long as he has written consent and is being supervised.

I would think getting thrown into preson for a 15 year old to be significantly worse.

Also, how exactly are they going to enforce the restrictions of his internet usage?

 

[Tsaba]

Dont most countries have a law against Cruel and Unusual punishments?

Wouldnt that fall under unusual punishments? You could probably make a case for cruel too, considering how much of peoples lives (especially if he goes to a standard school) revolves around computers and online research.

Just sayin...

On the flip side this is a punishment geared towards the crime, if this is too "cruel" I guess they could lock him up for the whole 6 years and accomplish the same thing.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Wasn't it a few years ago that the Government was hiring people just like this kid to work for them?

Hm.

Yup, but then they found that people who like to interfere with and damage infrastructure for their own amusement are not the most reliable sorts.

I think he's got away lightly. DDoS attacks on commercial websites is one thing, but the guy was developing ways to gain access to people's credit cards and computers, six years without internet is very light for aiding fraud.

 

[cidbahamut]

Like taking away Mozart's Piano? This is more like taking away an assassin's favourite gun. Yes, they may be astoundingly talented with it, but that doesn't change the fact that he uses that gun to break the laws. That's exactly what this person did and deserves day of those six years that he gets.

It's not cruel or unusual to take away someone's means of crime. Next time he should think before he acts.

Get the hell off my internet.

Next we'll be hearing about how it's ok to tell someone they can't read books anymore because they learned how to create makeshift weapons in some novel they read.

 

[Rule Britannia]

Cosmo The God hacked WoodysGamertag :/

After Woody gave his opinions on this I agree with him, Cosmo got too harsh of a punishment.

 

[1337mokro]

This is cruel and unusual punishment.

No man should be without internet access.

 

[cidbahamut]

Denying someone access to the greatest repository of human knowledge in existence is deplorable, and anyone who says otherwise should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[renegade7]

Sounds like he got off easy. No prison sentence. No fines or community service either? People have been locked up for hacking with less consequences for the victims before, and for good reason.

Dont most countries have a law against Cruel and Unusual punishments?

You must've misunderstood what those are about. They generally ban punishments like torture, incarceration under inhumane conditions, revenge against family, debtor's prisons (where inmates had to pay for their upkeep), that sort of thing. Basically anything medieval.

Such laws say nothing about relevant forms of punishment, like for instance denying a convicted pedophile work at a kindergarten, or denying a convicted hacker acces to computers.

Actually it does. See, torture, debtor's prison, punishment of family, and unnecessary incarceration are cruel punishments, not particularly unusual ones. Making up a unique kind of punishment for a specific offender is what is implied by the 'unusual' part.


Besides, the kid is 15. Cut him some damn slack, they don't punish teenage drug dealers nearly that harshly. They really are wasting his talents.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Besides, the kid is 15. Cut him some damn slack, they don't punish teenage drug dealers nearly that harshly. They really are wasting his talents.

No, he doesn't deserve any slack. He's close enough to 'adult hood' that he should be held accountable as one. He knew he was breaking laws, more over, he very likely laughed about it while he was breaking them.

or would you rather he went back to swiping peoples personal information? This is no different then revoking some ones right to own a firearm after they shoot some one, so i don't see what the big deal is. The punishment hardly fits the crime though.

 

[Tiamattt]

Sounds like he got off easy. No prison sentence. No fines or community service either? People have been locked up for hacking with less consequences for the victims before, and for good reason.

Dont most countries have a law against Cruel and Unusual punishments?

You must've misunderstood what those are about. They generally ban punishments like torture, incarceration under inhumane conditions, revenge against family, debtor's prisons (where inmates had to pay for their upkeep), that sort of thing. Basically anything medieval.

Such laws say nothing about relevant forms of punishment, like for instance denying a convicted pedophile work at a kindergarten, or denying a convicted hacker acces to computers.

Actually it does. See, torture, debtor's prison, punishment of family, and unnecessary incarceration are cruel punishments, not particularly unusual ones. Making up a unique kind of punishment for a specific offender is what is implied by the 'unusual' part.


Besides, the kid is 15. Cut him some damn slack, they don't punish teenage drug dealers nearly that harshly. They really are wasting his talents.

While I'm hardly a expert on the subject I would think that the punishment for teenage drug dealers would be some jail time/juvi, which I would imagine would do a lot worse things to his talents. IMO the fact he'll never spend a minute inside a cell for his crimes plus getting to go home/school like a normal kid is getting off very lightly. As for his age I remember enough about being 15 to know that I knew what was right/wrong and that doing something wrong, especially a crime resulted in severe punishments. And if this kid was smart enough to do this crime he most certainly was smart enough to know what would happen if he got caught.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Ouch, a fate worse than death well imprisionment for some people out there.
Sure he will have alternatives like gaming, going outside and can still keep track of the development of techologies but I can assume by the time the sentences is over, his skill will be very rusty.

 

[roushutsu]

Kid or not, he knew what he was doing and got caught, so why shouldn't we expect him to be punished for it? And let's suspend reality and say he got prison time instead, I doubt they would give him heavy internet access anyway considering the nature of his crime. So wouldn't he be screwed out of internet regardless?

 

[Albino Boo]

I thought internet had turned into a human right over the years?
Apparently not

If cause havoc with a car your lose the right to drive, what's the difference?