[Fat, ugly teen] Sentenced for Releasing Computer Worm

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OK. So, I'm a computer programmer and maybe I side with this kid too much. But I just don't think these lawyers really understand the severity (or, rather, lack thereof) of this kid's actions.

"...that crippled 48,000 computers in 2003"

is this a lot? this kid didn't manually go out and screw up these computers. The whole intent of his program was to propagate itself across the Internet. (we / they)'re lucky it didn't affect millions of computers.

"He had faced up to 10 years in prison ..."

So ... murder, these days, gets you ... what? ... 5-10 years? a COMPUTER VIRUS gets you 10!?! Apparently, the loss of life is bad, but the loss of data files, well, that's just intolerable. WTF!?!?!?!?!

"(The Internet) has created a dark hole, a dungeon if you will, for people who have mental illnesses or people who are lonely," U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said.

Has this judge ever used a computer? Does she know what the Internet is? She talks about it like it is some physical place.

"Excuse me. Could you direct me to the Internet?"
"The Internet? Yes, your honor. It's a couple of miles south of Mordor in Middle Earth."
"Is that before or after the Land of Oz?"
"Before, your honor. It's between Morder and Oz."
"Oh. Thank you very much."
"Yes your honor."

"...saying his neglectful parents were to blame for the psychological troubles that led to his actions ..."

Holy Cow! Talk about criminal! This judge needs to be locked up for that statement. It really should be a crime ... a felony ... to use such ridiculous, irresponsible language. "It's not my fault, the devil made me do it." So, if his mommy didn't breast feed him equally from the right one and the left one then that's a license to get a machine gun and mow down a shopping mall?

"Hey, you created me, I didn't create some loser alter ego to make myself feel better, take some responsibility."
- Tyler Durden

"... against a Microsoft Windows update Web site as well as personal computers. ... crippled networks worldwide."

Ok. I am a Microsoft bigot. In my humble opinion, they are the top software company in the world for a very simple reason; they make the best software in the world. I get soooo tired of listening to MS bashers gripe about it. 99% of them can have their gripes boiled down to the simple fact that they do not understand how to use the software appropriately. The other 1% are just hippies that want look "cool", "rebellious", or "intellectual" by preferring inferior software. They're the same kind of people that shun elements of popular culture simply because it is part of popular culture, not for any valid reason. Go feed a starving whale and STFU. Or better yet QUIT USING IT!!! If it sucks so bad SWITCH! When you say that to them, what do they say? "Well ... " they whine, "None of my programs work on other software." OK!!! If MS is bad, then that's still better than one that doesn't work at all.

... anyway, I digress. Back on topic. Who deserves most of the blame here? The kid deserves blame because he wrote the virus. But these lawyers do not understand how ridiculously simple it is to write them to an operating system so replete with security vulnerabilities. Microsoft deserves some of the blame for that. But, really, the users deserve some blame. If memory serves, Microsoft released a fix to this vulnerability months before this kid released the virus. In fact, wasn't the kid inspired to write the virus by reading about the fix?

So, the analogy goes something like this: I just bought a house (Windows) in a rough part of town (the Internet). I bought this house from a shmoe (Microsoft) who never put locks on any of his doors. the police (hackers, anti-virus companies) come by and tell me that my house is not safe without locks on the doors. The fact that they stopped at my house sort-of telegraphs to the rest of the neighborhood that I don't have locks. The shmoe offers to come back and put locks on all my doors for free. I decline the offer. A few days later a fat, lazy punk kid comes by and takes all my crap. The kid broke the law. The shmoe was a retard for not putting locks on the doors. But I am the biggest moron for not fixing the problem.

I guess I can extend that analogy and say that I am not going to jail if the kid steals my stuff. But, then, should I get a complete check from my insurance company if I didn't make a reasonable effort to secure my house?