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Man who unlocked 1.9M AT&T phones sentenced to 12 years in prison
- sixsunsets 5y agoThe guys sounds like a social engineering genius. Perhaps AT&T should have employed him to protect their systems, instead of punishing him.
- kaminar 5y agoAT&T sucks as a company, and this guy did a lot of people a favor. The invented $201M was of course, provided by AT&T.
- vlovich123 5y agoAny chance at&t can be fined for the fraud they commit on a regular business (like keeping phones locked that have been bought outright).
- Meph504 5y agoIf your phone is paid for, and your are out of contract, an you are in the US, your carrier must allow you to unlock your phone in regards to carrier locks. This is a requirement from the CTIA Consumer Code for Wireless Service that all major providers in the US are a signature. see : https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-unlocking-faqs https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-unlocking-fa... Will they make it hard, probably, but at the end of the day, they will comply. They will not unlock Bootloaders and there are no laws to require them to, and the FCC doesn't have authority over this element of phones.
- threshold 5y agoAT&T are shady AF. They’re in NO position to be claiming fraud. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/11/att-pay-60-million-resolve-ftc-allegations-it-misled-consumers https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/11/att-p...
- smelendez 5y agoThe indictment at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/press-release/file/1191031/download https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/press-release/file/1191031... mentions that they worked with brick and mortar stores that do phone unlocking. I wonder how many of these were stolen phones? Otherwise, it seems like a big number of customers just walking away from their bills.
- Zachsa999 5y agoWe live in a capitalist dystopian hellscape.
- dcgudeman 5y agoThat’s your takeaway from this article?
- NotPractical 5y agoThat's my takeaway as well. What's yours?
- dcgudeman 5y agoAn individual committed a sophisticated crime against a business by recruiting employees of that business. He did so at great cost to that business, while knowing it was a crime, to enrich himself. He got caught and prosecuted. How do you get "capitalist dystopian hellscape" from that?
- unstatedAnswers 5y agoDisagreement with the premise of the law and/or judgement, on the basis of being overwhelmingly unfair to those without capital. And this case is just part of a trend.
- dcgudeman 5y agounfair in what way? There is no mention that the people getting out of paying their contracts were poor in the article. Even if they were, what should be done about it? Should people creating smart phones not be compensated for the work that they do? Or the employees of companies involved with delivering telecom services? What is "fair" in your mind? Engineers, manufacturers and customer service people being paid below market rate to deliver premium products like smartphones to people without capital? What's wrong with people purchasing devices in their price range? There are smartphones on the market unlocked for $60.
- dzhiurgis 5y agoWait what? Did he sold 1.9M unlocks online or he just unlocked everyones phones as part if a robin hood hack?
- NotPractical 5y ago> At Fahd's sentencing hearing, Judge Robert S. Lasnik said he committed a "terrible cybercrime over an extended period" Does anyone else picture the old, wrinkly, bribed, tech-illiterate judge who probably made this decision in their head while they read this?
- 0xdeadb00f 5y agoDisgraceful. This makes me irrationally mad.