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FYI, if you've committed any form of cybercrime in the previous 3 years (edit: the statute of limitations is 5 years for most federal computer crimes, as pointe
by downandout 9y ago
FYI, if you've committed any form of cybercrime in the previous 3 years (edit: the statute of limitations is 5 years for most federal computer crimes, as pointed out below), you should avoid such conferences in the US for exactly this reason. You probably aren't as smart as you think, and there may be a sealed arrest warrant for you.
The FBI waits for these kinds of conferences to do exactly what they did here. Another Las Vegas DEF CON victim was Dmitry Sklyarov [1]. They won't bother with all of the problems associated with international arrest warrants and extradition if they know you're coming to them.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Elcom_Ltd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Elcom_Ltd.
- wonderwonder 9y agoIt's actually 5 years and potentially more depending on the specifics. Relevant information begins on the bottom of page 126/213 or 120 using the numbers printed on the pdf. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-ccips/legacy/2015/01/14/ccmanual.pdf https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-ccips/l...
- downandout 9y agoI stand corrected. It is three years for many federal crimes, but since the CFAA has no specific statute of limitations, you are correct that crimes prosecuted under it use the default number, which is 5 years. On a side note, if you are an international person visiting the US, you do not want to be arrested for a federal crime in Las Vegas...if you think you may be arrested, visit somewhere else. There is no automatic right to bail in the federal system, and the District Court in Las Vegas is notorious for ruling that most non-US defendants are flight risks. That means, at a minimum, you will go through a month-long transfer process (that goes through Oklahoma, regardless of your destination) to get to wherever your federal warrant was actually issued before you are likely to be granted bail.
- vkou 9y agoThis is good advice, but if you think you may be arrested, you should not visit at all.
- downandout 9y agoProbably even better advice :) .
- nojvek 9y agoOr may be DEFCON should stop hosting their conference in the US. It used to be a game “Spot the Fed”, now the jokes on them “Spot the hacker” . Because DEFCON is a fishing ground for Feds.
- tajen 9y agoShouldn't we all avoid US conferences? Half the people have some day done something which in a generic way is "against US interests" (from a false name on Facebook to competing against a US corp to starting a petition or a secure app). I personally don't go to US conferences or visit US customers, simply because of TSA (same for Japan and China; Europe has a better track record). If you have a choice, it's not really giving the world a service to choose the USA land to organize a conf, as it will exclude many, many people.
- hueving 9y agoCompeting against a US corporation is not a crime and neither is a False name on Facebook.
- randallsquared 9y agoUsing a false name on facebook is against their ToS, is it not? There was a story within the last week about how violating ToS is arguably a felony in the US.
- icebraining 9y agoThe story was actually from 2013, but yeah, the DOJ tries to pass that theory. Fortunately the Ninth and Fourth Circuits have already shown they won't play ball, but there are other courts.
- tajen 9y ago...do they care? Is there a correlation between committing crimes and, for example, being on the no-fly-list? The TSA doesn't wait for a crime to interrogate you, send you back, download or bug your phone, and I'll eat my hat if they never planted child pornography on someone's phone to accuse them of a crime. If a CIA/NSA clerk once flagged you as a "person of interest" (and 3rd degree phone relationship with a criminal is enough), they'll find a good reason to accuse you.
- switch007 9y agoThis is really flippant, but you could just generalise to "avoid the US."
- yuvadam 9y agoNot flippant at all. The US is becoming a dangerous place to visit.
- tannhauser23 9y agoOr you could not make and sell malware, no matter where you are in the world.
- switch007 9y agoHas he been convicted?
- willstrafach 9y agoNot at all. These are allegations. The indictment itself states this clearly.
- am1988 9y ago> FYI, if you've committed any form of cybercrime According to the US definition of cybercrime. So you could be totally innocent in your country, and have done nothing directly in the US.
- wongarsu 9y agoAnd according to the US definition of cybercrime, we are probably all guilty of something.
- Fiahil 9y agoWouldn't it be better for everyone if US infosec conferences were hosted in Canada ?
- JabavuAdams 9y agoWhy do you believe that Canada offers better legal protections? I'm Canadian, but I have no idea what the situation is here.