4 ms·
It wasn't just being mean. First-hand experience in my case. He and his GNAA attacked my volunteer-run open source project and did many things, including calli
by xb95 14y ago
It wasn't just being mean.
First-hand experience in my case. He and his GNAA attacked my volunteer-run open source project and did many things, including calling Child Protective Services (CPS) and making false complaints -- leading one of my volunteers and his children to have to undergo interviews with CPS to suss everything out.
They emailed one person's professors at university and made false, damaging claims. Bosses were tracked down and jobs were contacted. Parents were found and harassed. Our web site was attacked and taken offline. Our business associates were contacted and they concocted a fictitious business persona to file spurious complaints with our payment processors, leading to us being dropped from two providers.
weev was not just "being mean", he transcended that to stalking, bullying, and harassment. He caused emotional harm to my volunteers and staff and fiscal harm to my business. All in the name of "trolling".
And yes: we pursued the legal route. The FBI is just not super interested in tracking down some random dude on the Internet for harassing a small business. They were happy to talk to us and very compassionate and gave us some advice, but that was the extent of it.
- gavinlynch 14y agoThat sort of behavior is disgusting. There are questions about the CFAA, and rightfully so. But on one level, I am 100% fine with this asshole being in jail.
- cgag 14y agoIsn't that the whole problem though, that the CFAA is being used to put assholes and activists in jail? If he got arrested for fake calls to CPS or something, I could agree with it perhaps, but I'm not at all comfortable with him going to jail for bullshit reasons.
- fnordfnordfnord 14y agoI have no trouble believing that weev did those things and worse, and it is probably criminal behavior, and if so it should be punished. But that has nothing to do with what the gov't. has just done. Just as defense atty's want sympathetic defendants, prosecutors are happy to exploit the unsympathetic response that most people have to learning about weev's behavior. If we let them do it to weev, we are inviting them to do it to anyone, including yourself. The gov't has just expanded its power to jail people for what ought to never have been chargeable, and given that power to companies like AT&T. As it stands now, any company with the means to do so can use the state to jail you under similar circumstances. Even if you are a nice guy who saves stranded kittens from trees.
- nicholassmith 14y agoWell, previous behaviour has everything to do with sentencing. Seriously, they don't just look at the case and go "41 months!", they weigh everything up and go from there. The likelihood is a security researcher with a spotless past wouldn't have gone through it, prosecution would have pushed for a hard sentence of course but the final judgement takes into account everything. Basically, the prosecution wanted a harsh sentence to set precedent and weev gave them the ammo to do it.