Story: Only bad guys benefit from bad law

Posted by: Anonymous (Friday 7 October 2005, 6:16 PM)

I'm sorry but I 100% disagree with this article. This gentleman is a professional information security consultant and thusly he has a skillset and knowledge level that would disallow him to feign ignorance for the crime committed. Why would the pen testing community be in an uproar? Professional testers know better than to go out and attempt to crack websites out of curiousity? They use their skills to break into systems only after signing lengthy contractual stipulations that allow them to do without repercussion... The simple fact is that the person tried to gain unauthorized access into a system through the directory traversal exploit (how old is that btw...) If I felt that ZDNet were selling my personal information without my permission does that mean I have the right to attempt to break into their network to see? The answer is no. The community has been screaming for stricter laws/punishments and now we are seeing them. (Also lets not forget that this professional initially lied to police regarding his activities!) All-in-all I feel sorry for him, but he got caught and punished for what was a really stupid, but still illegal thing to do.