You're seriously going to argue that even though he had to take deliberate steps to impersonate other people he wasn't accessing information "without authorization"? That's what this boils down to at the end of the day, he tricked AT&T's web servers into thinking he was an AT&T customer, and in so doing obtained access to information about that customer. Then he wrote a script to automate the process and repeated it ~140,000 times.

I really don't understand why people defend this kid's actions. The Federal prosecution was bullshit, this should have been charged at the State level, but to claim that he's completely innocent when he went out of his way to obtain access to information he knew he had no right to access? That's absurd.

It's not a public facing web page when you have to impersonate someone else in order to access it.

After weev modified his user-agent to pass his browser off as an iPad, then wrote a script to throw millions of different ICC-ID codes at AT&T's servers, thereby tricking them into thinking that he was the AT&T customers whose e-mails were exposed.

AT&T's "security" measures were woefully inadequate, but that doesn't change the fact that calculated and deliberate actions were required to obtain access to information that Mr. Auernheimer and Mr. Spitler knew they had no right to access. They both had the guilty mind (mens rea) required under our legal tradition to sustain a criminal conviction, breaking both the letter and the spirit of the law.

He still could have been charged under CFAA, without the felony enhancement (or without it through some other requirement), or any one of a number of state-level computer trespass laws. My home state (New York) has a felony computer trespass law that would apply to the exact same crime committed within our jurisdiction, and Arkansas (weev's home state) has a similar statute.

As a general rule of thumb the law is less concerned about the specific security measures bypassed and more concerned with whether or not you knew you were entitled to access the information (the record here is clear that he knew he was not) but still took deliberate measures to obtain said access.

He deserved to go to jail. Read the body of evidence against him. This wasn't a simple exposure of a security flaw in AT&T's website. He took deliberate actions to maximize the collection of information, bypassed security measures to obtain said information (that the security measures were woefully inadequate is beside the point, deliberate actions were required to bypass them), and discussed ways to use the obtained information for personal profit with his co-conspirator.

None of that is to suggest that I agree with dragging him halfway across the country, or even with the Feds getting involved in the first place. His home state (Arkansas) has a computer trespass statute that would have been sufficient to prosecute him under, or the Feds could have at least tried him in his own district. I suspect that the former is what may happen now, since double jeopardy won't apply to a State level prosecution, and if it shakes out fairly he'll get credit for the time served in Federal prison without additional jail/prison time being imposed. First time offender and a non-violent crime after all...

Ok.. That's one fictional character who followed the scripted instructions to pretend to be interested.

For the right money, I could fake it too.

Ya, but you need a balloon the size of the universe, made out of fire, with infinite elasticity, and be able to place the observer at a position where they can't observe the boundary between the balloon and nothingness.

There's some really good math that goes with it, which is why I didn't want to just give the balloon analogy.

I worked in porn for too many years. A well dressed woman gets my attention better than "ooohhh.. nekkid". I know I'm the minority though. The rest of you, get a look when you can, and enjoy. :)

My bad. I thought he(?) was talking about Janeway.

It's no secret that 7 of 9 had a hormonal following. :)

In a fair world you would be able to. Of course, in a fair world people also wouldn't check Facebook during business hours, or read personal e-mails, answer texts/calls their personal cell phones, shop on Amazon, or gossip with their coworkers at the coffee pot/water cooler outside of designated break times.

The work-life balance tilts both ways. YMMV, but I come out significantly ahead when I compare the personal things I do on company time against the occasional phone call or e-mail I handle during the evening or on the weekend.

There are certain parts of the Starcraft community that are absolutely shitty. It's not just the people who spout BM or make pre-emptive GGs, it's the snobs on the forum/chat channels who immediately flame anyone who isn't a pro who dares to mention even the slightest something to do with strategy as being a "noob" or "you can't talk about that, you're not in the top 100 of GMs" etc. We even have that going on in a chat channel *specifically* for low level (mainly bronze) players.

I thought it was just SC2 that was that snobby, but looking around it's pretty much the same everywhere. It's in complete contrast to the community of RTCW:ET players a few years ago which was pretty polite and friendly by comparison.

Wait ... people lust after Janeway? Really?

Pretty much. We can see the same distance in any direction. There are long detailed explanations on how the universe appears to be expanding from any given point at any time. I won't even attempt to explain it, as there are plenty of people way more qualified than I am, who can say it better.

The part you're searching for is "I Kings 7:23-26". I'd quote it, but it will vary by the version of the bible the particular reader prefers.

Lawyers would never take it cell by cell. They want the large judgement and payday.