Thursday, October 08, 2015
Journalist in CA convicted of "hacking" under same law used against Aaron Swartz; may not have been tech-savvy enough
So is it possible for an ordinary person or journalist
to be wrongfully convicted of or framed for hacking?
There may be a parable in the narrative of Matthew
Keys, former producer at KTXL Fox 40 in Sacramento. It’s covered in an Ars
Technica story by Cyrus Farivar Oct. 7, here.
He was charged and convicted after supposedly handing
over credentials to a content management system for Tribune Media, which led to
members of Anonymous making changes to a Los Angeles Times story.
But Keys denies the government account, saying that he
had not registered his IRC handle, so the hack was done by someone else.
So is this a case of a journalist not technically
savvy enough to stay out of trouble, or of someone a convenient political
target for the government?
Keys was convicted under the same statute used against
Aaron Swarts, and prosecutors want five years in prison. Theoretically he could get 25 years. And despite public sympathy for Swartz, with
Obama administration has been urging longer sentences under the law.
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