I know a little about this situation, but not the legal
proceedings. Aaron downloaded JSTOR documents (bulk
scrape) over the wireless network, and was blocked
by the sysadmins (rate ban).
So he spoofed his MAC address, and the cat and mouse game continued. When wireless was throttled (and the ban/spoof game reduced the rate of download to something too slow),
Aaron then accessed a data closet and plugged a cable into a switch, leaving his notebook in the switch room with
a USB drive.
The admins traced the JSTOR downloads to the switch port,
and installed a video camera to see who was accessing
their switch.
Aaron would access the closet to retrieve his USB drive full of downloaded files, saw the camera, and on
return visits he hid his face with a bike helmet. (He could see through the air slats on the helmet.)
These facts, called "atmospherics" by some, really
changed my mind about the case. Prosecutors call
this "intent" to gain unauthorized access to a network
(the cisco switch and data closet, after repeated
attempts to ban access).
I've also heard the prosecution was aggressive, and
read this everywhere, mostly focusing on Ortiz as a
person and her judgement (which worries me, since
I don't know if we'd use the same 'aggressive'
adjective for a male prosecutor). I think 'zealous'
is the word lawyers use generally for being tough.
I don't know enough about computer crime to
judge, but if this guy behaved this way on my network, I
would call the police, frankly. A few events evading
a ban? Ok fine. Account jigger and email or
in-person discussion to get them to stop.
Accessing a data closet to keep it up, and installing a cable to my switch, and installing gear?
And then wearing a mask to get the hard drives? Wow.
In my mind, all I can think of is: "he knows it's wrong".
So I think Aaron should have answered for this.
What degree of prosecution would be non-"aggressive"?
(And isn't the whole thing like an auction where the state
starts high and pleas down?)
I think Aaron really just lost perspective (about
access. Suicide is a whole other thing).
It's very sad, how it ended in Aaron's death, but for me,
I just can't put that blood on Ortiz.
So he spoofed his MAC address, and the cat and mouse game continued. When wireless was throttled (and the ban/spoof game reduced the rate of download to something too slow), Aaron then accessed a data closet and plugged a cable into a switch, leaving his notebook in the switch room with a USB drive.
The admins traced the JSTOR downloads to the switch port, and installed a video camera to see who was accessing their switch.
Aaron would access the closet to retrieve his USB drive full of downloaded files, saw the camera, and on return visits he hid his face with a bike helmet. (He could see through the air slats on the helmet.)
These facts, called "atmospherics" by some, really changed my mind about the case. Prosecutors call this "intent" to gain unauthorized access to a network (the cisco switch and data closet, after repeated attempts to ban access).
I've also heard the prosecution was aggressive, and read this everywhere, mostly focusing on Ortiz as a person and her judgement (which worries me, since I don't know if we'd use the same 'aggressive' adjective for a male prosecutor). I think 'zealous' is the word lawyers use generally for being tough.
I don't know enough about computer crime to judge, but if this guy behaved this way on my network, I would call the police, frankly. A few events evading a ban? Ok fine. Account jigger and email or in-person discussion to get them to stop. Accessing a data closet to keep it up, and installing a cable to my switch, and installing gear? And then wearing a mask to get the hard drives? Wow. In my mind, all I can think of is: "he knows it's wrong".
So I think Aaron should have answered for this. What degree of prosecution would be non-"aggressive"? (And isn't the whole thing like an auction where the state starts high and pleas down?)
I think Aaron really just lost perspective (about access. Suicide is a whole other thing).
It's very sad, how it ended in Aaron's death, but for me, I just can't put that blood on Ortiz.