My Hacker Hero
January 12, 2004
Adrian Lamo, dubbed the Homeless Hacker for his penchant for moving from house to house to avoid capture, has cut a deal with the Feds. Lamo admits to one felony count (for accessing the New York Times poorly guarded computers) and faces 6-12 months in prison. This guy is smart, white-hat hacks into networks to expose security flaws, and then lets the company know about it. I think it’s bunk that he’s getting nailed for doing what the companies should be doing themselves. Just exposes our tech-illiterate justice system for what it is. For more info, check out the Wired News story. Good luck Adrian.
January 12th, 2004 at 6:16 pm
Poor security is not an invitation; his actions were just as illegal and malicious as if the security had been better.
If he were really a “white hat” hacker, he’d be working as a security consultant and he’d get himself hired first. As it is, he’s just an ass with too much time on his hands.
I don’t think this exposes our justice as tech-illerate at all. I’m not seeing that it’s *not*; there’s ample evidence out there that our justice system is pretty clueless when it comes to technology. However, I’d like to think that as a society that we haven’t fallen so far that we think electronic breaking and entering is “okay” just because it’s easy.
January 12th, 2004 at 7:18 pm
OK, we can agree to disagree. That’s what this comments section is all about. I do suggest, however, that my readers do some reading on Lamo and his past to get a clear picture of his activities and intent. I’ve been following him for years, and believe in his white-hat persona.