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Valve's response here seems exceedingly harsh. This kid went of his way to reach out to Valve and apologize for what he did, because he felt guilty. Valve's re

Valve's response here seems exceedingly harsh. This kid went of his way to reach out to Valve and apologize for what he did, because he felt guilty. Valve's response was to forward his message to the FBI and organize a sting operation. I realize he broke the law, but only because he wanted to play Half-Life 2. It was done out of love for what Valve themselves created.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
bagels 3y ago
I can't disagree more. He built malware, and distributed it to steal game keys. Then, he stole and published the hl2 source. It's a lot more than just wanting to play a game early.
- Wowfunhappy 3y ago
  He didn't intentionally publish the hl2 source. > To this day, Gembe maintains he was not the person who uploaded the source code to the internet. But there's no denying he handed it over to whoever did. [...] "The person I shared the source with assured me he would keep it to himself. He didn't." Was this dumb? Yes. I still think Valve could have been more sympathetic. My ire would be for the person who actually leaked the source publicly.
- dvzk 3y ago
  Yes. HL2 is how Axel became known to gamers, but it's nearly irrelevant. He also created the most popular open source malware framework (Agobot) in existence at the time. Millions of systems were enlisted in botnets based on variants of his work (which were usually just recompilations with IRC C&C server changes). He didn't typically talk about running a botnet, but many of the other minor project collaborators and IRC regulars did.
  - Wowfunhappy 3y ago
    Okay, well that wasn't in the article, I wasn't aware. I still find Valve's response to a person admitting guilt to be pretty harsh, given that they couldn't have known about unrelated crimes.
    - dvzk 3y ago
      Sure, to be clear, I also think Valve's response was over the top. Conspiring to extradite a foreigner, as a private corporation, is straight out of cyberpunk fiction. Axel's a very lucky person, all things considered. If he had been held liable for Agobot's staggering DDOS/theft/remediation costs many in this community might otherwise think it fair.
      - lifeline82 3y ago
        This is an habit with USA to try to extradite in a trap attempt, suspected « hackers ». This happened to Gaius, in late 90th, for impersonating US president on the hacked White House pabx. This happened to Casper/leader2 connecting to a shell of military US server after someone on IRC asked him to kee the connection alive. Back in the day cyber force of USA were fighting for budget, and having hacker arrested and judged in a very advertised way was helping them get more money for their work. Even if it means to totally disrespect internationnal procedure/law/agreement on dealing with « criminal ». Once a foreigner puts a feet on US ground, he is totally in the hand of US officials, in disregard of any official treaties and international laws. Anyone remembering this Russian guy arrested straight from plane when he landed in USA going to make a talk to defcon ?
        badocr 3y ago
        > Anyone remembering this Russian guy arrested straight from plane when he landed in USA going to make a talk to defcon ? I had to look it up, but it's Dmitry Sklyarov [1], who worked for the russian-based ElcomSoft, which was known for selling all sorts of DRM cracking programs. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Elcom_Ltd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Elcom_Ltd.
- fnordfnordfnord 3y ago
  >Then, he stole and published the hl2 source Do you disagree with the article or did you just not believe it? Because, Gembe denied publishing the source code and there was no evidence that Gembe is the one who published it.
baby 3y ago
That kid destroyed the life of many people for quite some time. Now I can agree that this is the kind of situation where what he did VS the consequences of what he did are disproportionate, which is the issue with computer/cyber crimes in general. Some kind of punishment is required here, I think Valve did the right thing, now the Justice System...
- rowanG077 3y ago
  You really can't just throw out a line like "destroyed a lot of lives" when we are talking about an essentially useless leak of a video game without further explanation.
- appleflaxen 3y ago
  What life was destroyed?
ChrisRR 3y ago
[flagged]
slim 3y ago
Gabe Newell needed to cover his ass by throwing the kid in jail

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

bagels 3y ago

I can't disagree more. He built malware, and distributed it to steal game keys. Then, he stole and published the hl2 source. It's a lot more than just wanting to play a game early.

Wowfunhappy 3y ago
He didn't intentionally publish the hl2 source. > To this day, Gembe maintains he was not the person who uploaded the source code to the internet. But there's no denying he handed it over to whoever did. [...] "The person I shared the source with assured me he would keep it to himself. He didn't." Was this dumb? Yes. I still think Valve could have been more sympathetic. My ire would be for the person who actually leaked the source publicly.
dvzk 3y ago
Yes. HL2 is how Axel became known to gamers, but it's nearly irrelevant. He also created the most popular open source malware framework (Agobot) in existence at the time. Millions of systems were enlisted in botnets based on variants of his work (which were usually just recompilations with IRC C&C server changes). He didn't typically talk about running a botnet, but many of the other minor project collaborators and IRC regulars did.
- Wowfunhappy 3y ago
  Okay, well that wasn't in the article, I wasn't aware. I still find Valve's response to a person admitting guilt to be pretty harsh, given that they couldn't have known about unrelated crimes.
  - dvzk 3y ago
    Sure, to be clear, I also think Valve's response was over the top. Conspiring to extradite a foreigner, as a private corporation, is straight out of cyberpunk fiction. Axel's a very lucky person, all things considered. If he had been held liable for Agobot's staggering DDOS/theft/remediation costs many in this community might otherwise think it fair.
    - lifeline82 3y ago
      This is an habit with USA to try to extradite in a trap attempt, suspected « hackers ». This happened to Gaius, in late 90th, for impersonating US president on the hacked White House pabx. This happened to Casper/leader2 connecting to a shell of military US server after someone on IRC asked him to kee the connection alive. Back in the day cyber force of USA were fighting for budget, and having hacker arrested and judged in a very advertised way was helping them get more money for their work. Even if it means to totally disrespect internationnal procedure/law/agreement on dealing with « criminal ». Once a foreigner puts a feet on US ground, he is totally in the hand of US officials, in disregard of any official treaties and international laws. Anyone remembering this Russian guy arrested straight from plane when he landed in USA going to make a talk to defcon ?
      - badocr 3y ago
        > Anyone remembering this Russian guy arrested straight from plane when he landed in USA going to make a talk to defcon ? I had to look it up, but it's Dmitry Sklyarov [1], who worked for the russian-based ElcomSoft, which was known for selling all sorts of DRM cracking programs. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Elcom_Ltd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Elcom_Ltd.
fnordfnordfnord 3y ago
>Then, he stole and published the hl2 source Do you disagree with the article or did you just not believe it? Because, Gembe denied publishing the source code and there was no evidence that Gembe is the one who published it.

baby 3y ago

That kid destroyed the life of many people for quite some time. Now I can agree that this is the kind of situation where what he did VS the consequences of what he did are disproportionate, which is the issue with computer/cyber crimes in general. Some kind of punishment is required here, I think Valve did the right thing, now the Justice System...

rowanG077 3y ago
You really can't just throw out a line like "destroyed a lot of lives" when we are talking about an essentially useless leak of a video game without further explanation.
appleflaxen 3y ago
What life was destroyed?

ChrisRR 3y ago

[flagged]

slim 3y ago

Gabe Newell needed to cover his ass by throwing the kid in jail