Austin's Lesbo BBQ

Hello everyone. I'm back....again. You may have been wondering what happened to me in the past week...or not, maybe you have more important things to do with your life than wonder where "that blogger" went...

Anyway....I was out being a good lil' citizen serving my civic duty as a juror. I STILL can't figure out how the hell, by the age of 26, I have served on two juries...while most people that I've talked to have been called maybe once...I don't know...stupid computers.

So, I was selected to be on the jury. The trial started on Monday and ended on Friday night after 4 1/2 hours of deliberation.

Let's just start out this way....all official and stuff...I was on the jury that decided the fate of the United States vs. Christopher Phillips....the infamous "UT Hacker." He was charged with breaking into UT's massive database and stealing 45,000 social security numbers....and, also, while he was at it, crashed UT's system three times. The U.S. government charged that he stole these numbers because he intended to defraud all of these people.

Before I even get too into the whole thing...I put "UT Hacker" in quotes for a reason. This is the name the media gave him without knowing the details of the story. Hacker? Well....not really. If you consider "hacking" finding your way into something that the largest university in the country left open with the idea that "obscurity is security" (and THIS is an actual testimonial quote)...than sure, he's a hacker. I, on the other hand, consider a "hacker" somebody that puts serious effort into breaking into a system that others have put serious effort into securing. UT, admittingly, did little to to secure anything.

So....I spent four days on this trial. And, for four days, I had to keep my mouth shut about my opinions...that is, until deliberation. He was indicted on four counts of violating federal criminal law...I wish the interweb gave me more detail about the actual federal laws...because the crazy government wouldn't let me take my notes out of the courthouse...so, we'll just have to go on my recollection...and, of course, my VIEWS on the whole situation...

First off, one of the parts of the U.S. prosecutor's first charge is that he executed a program that caused damage to a computer system that he did not have authorized access to...and by accessing this system, he "recklessly disregarded" any perceived risk that this program may cause to the system.

In my opinion, I don't think that he had any idea of any "risks" therefore he couldn't have "recklessly disregarded" these risks. Although, I do agree that he did run a program on a site that he did not have authorized access to.

Basically, the way I see it, this charge says that he knew what he was doing to a site that he wasn't supposed to be on...and, therefore he knew that his program may (or may not) cause the system to crash. Honestly...I don't think he knew that his program could do this. Sure...I agree that his program caused the UT server to crash...but did he know that his program might do this? I don't think so. And...the evidence that the prosecution brought to trial to try to prove this didn't prove it to me...but, apparently, it convinced at least 9 of the other jurors. I fought it...and I feel like I fought it hard...at least one of those 4 1/2 hours can be contributed to this... But, in the end, he lost. Everyone else felt like he had an idea of what his program was capable of...and he was found guilty of this charge. Damnit...I backed down...but, I still don't believe it.

The second charge basically said that his intentions for stealing these 45,000 social security numbers was to defraud people...and how!

Nice try, U.S. prosecution. Let's take a look at some of the evidence here: he already had 8,000 social security numbers and names (by the way...he had done this before, but UT failed to notice it a year before), a genealogical database (public information), a handful of credit card numbers...and PLENTY of opportunities to conceal his identity and defraud lots'o people scot-free.........BUT....chose not to use them? But wait. You're telling me he INTENDED to defraud the WHOLE time?.....and to add to this, when he was finally raided by the Secret Service, they searched his apartment, seized his computer...and then left him at his home with the pleasant advice of "maybe you should get a lawyer...and, by the way, don't go anywhere." They didn't even arrest him until 8 months later. This tells me that they were REALLY concerned with him being a large scale identity thief.

Yeah. Go government. I'm not buying it. But, apparently, you did a decent enough job...the jury was split half/half...But, I don't think this had anything to do with the witnesses and evidence presented. Personally, I think this had more to do with the demographics of the jury. I think that about half the jury is just plain scared shitless of the idea of a 19-year old possessing their personal information and "hacking" into their computers...Who really knows what his intentions were for obtaining this information...I believe what he said...he liked to write programs. He was going to write programs to merge data. That's it.

Is he a gigantor identity thief that merely just "got caught?" If we're looking at the facts...I don't know...if we're looking at the facts, NOBODY knows....but, if we're going on testimony and evidence, there was ABSOLUTLY nothing there that even slightly proved that he was going to do anything else besides write programs and continue on with his computer science nerdliness...

The fourth charge (the 2nd and 3rd were combined) was that he illegally posessed more than 15 government identifiers. This was pretty cut and dry...he did.

Here's my personal conclusion on the whole trial: He was a UT computer science student that found an easy outlet for practicing his basic, tiny-ass programs on...it was a GIANT embarrassments to UT that they even had a web page that allowed him to exploit the University's master database. He shouldn't have run his program on this site. He shouldn't have stolen 45,000 social security numbers because it was easy. He probably should've realized that social security numbers were SPECIAL. He should've been kicked out of UT, post-haste...So, he wanted a large amount of data for a personal programming project...but, federal identity theft criminal? Hardly.

I DO realize that UT spent a lot of money informing everyone who was affected by the "security breach" of the dangers of their personal information being out there....but, that's a matter for the civil courts...not the federal criminal courts. You'd better believe he owes some big bucks...

What I think it comes down to is....he did it because he could. I can't even count the number of things that I did because I could when I was 19...and this trial made me realize that I was lucky. I was lucky that the federal government didn't find me and attempt to make an example out of me for the rest of the 19 year olds who might have devious thoughts...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers the "crime lab" that was constructed at the dorm my sophomore year of college...fake id's...growing organic psychedelics with more than a conscious intent to sell them for profit...federal criminal? Yikes. I also intended to disturb people in the cafeteria with the sleazy noise that the jello cubes made when you shook them in their soufflés cups...