So Sabu, captain of the Lulzboat turned out to be an FBI informant. I didn’t really see that one coming – I thought they’d just fizzled out – but at the same time I didn’t exactly fall off my chair with shock.
What I will say though is this: if you have managed to draw the ire of the FBI and you know they are hunting you down, don’t log into your IRC without using a proxy, son, because that’s just stupid (and apparently how he was caught).
My main concern with all this, though, is the extradition of the kids who were involved to the USA, or the attempt at least.
Now I’m no 1337 haxx0r and normally I find the activities of hacking collectives by turns amusing and annoyingly juvenile. I also find the reaction of the general media normally quite shrieking and hysterical. However, occasionally these small groups of hackers do either have a point, or actually dig up something interesting, important and worthwhile. Nevertheless, if you play with fire, you’re quite likely to get burned, particularly if you take off your protective clothing (metaphor stretched to breaking point).
What gets me is the zealotry with which law enforcement agencies pursue these kids – and they generally speaking are kids. Particularly the FBI, it seems, wants to make an example of them, and that kind of attitude is something I am never comfortable with. In fact, it’s the whole reason I’m so uneasy about our extradition treaty with the US – well, that and the awful state of their prison system.
So what’s my point? I guess it’s that the law should be about justice, not about ‘making an example’ of people – least of all nerdy teenagers and people with autism. Beyond that, ‘remember to use a proxy, you moron’.
Antisocial Media 