Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
The Courts Government Security Worms News

Teen Sentenced for Releasing Variant of Blaster Worm 438

Posted by michael from the netloon dept.
ScentCone writes "Minnesota teen Jeffrey Lee Parsons got a year and half for releasing a Blaster variant. The lightweight sentence was due, said the judge, to the parents' neglect. Quoting the judge: 'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.' Which means most slashdotters basically have a get out of jail free card."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Teen Sentenced for Releasing Variant of Blaster Worm More

Teen Sentenced for Releasing Variant of Blaster Worm

Comments Filter:

  • Not true (Score:5, Funny)

    by ActionJesus ( 803475 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:22PM (#11509896)
    I resent this sterotype that I "lock myself in my room and create my own reality".

    Im playing World of Warcraft: surely thats Blizzards trademarked reality?

    • Re:Not true (Score:5, Insightful)

      by packeteer ( 566398 ) <packeteer@@@subdimension...com> on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:25PM (#11509923)
      No Kidding...

      I used to read slashdot a lot. I have over 1000 posts, Karma bonus, I have had articles submitted. But i NEVER read slashdot anymore. Its not becuase i dont enjoy it. Its becuasei play WoW all the time im on my computer. Why am i here typing this up right now then if i never read slashdot. Well becuase there is a que to connect the the server. Well time to go check to see if i can go back to my reality.

    • Re:Not true (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Seumas ( 6865 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:37PM (#11510044)
      'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.'

      Yeah, there's all of those unhealthy millionaires like Douglas Adams, Stephen King, the Wachowski brothers, Stan Lee, locking themselves into a room alone to create their own realities. How evil!

      • Re:Not true (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Quoting the judge: 'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality

        Well, that's how I do my best work. Unfortunately, the real world around me is pretty grim, and when I can get to my little house and work on my computers, then I have something that is my own. I'm sure the Judge in this case was just trying to say something important about writing viruses, but there are those of us who do decent law-abiding coding work, and create something worthwhile under those circumstan

  • Goin Up Da River (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:22PM (#11509899) Homepage Journal
    Ha! A year and a half, by the time he's out of the jug it'll all be different (except luddites who are still using the same version of Windows they bought over 18 months back) and he won't even be able to recognize the world anymore.

    Maybe Their Charity, the Lord Protector, will assign him to tranlate old MS-DOS textbooks.

    18 months in a Minnesota prison may only seem like 2000 years. Maybe his cellmate will be like that guy from Fargo...

    • Re:Goin Up Da River (Score:5, Funny)

      by Frank T. Lofaro Jr. ( 142215 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:40PM (#11510062) Homepage
      18 months sucks from a loss of life perspective, but you won't be totally obsolete when you get out.

      1. The Web will still not even have even half the sites HTML 4 compliant, XHTML compliant sites will still be less than 10% at best.
      2. Java will still be slow, cumbersome and buggy. Most Java programs will still abort with exceptions (what good is exception handling if you just crash) much of the time.
      3. GNOME will still be siphoning mindshare from KDE. (the license wars are over, join forces with KDE already!)
      4. Software will still be bloated.
      5. CPUs will just be faster versions of the ones today, but never fast enough.
      6. Apple will still be expensive, Apple users will still be elitist.
      7. There will still be plenty of lawsuits going on.
      8. Same with patents.
      9. IPv6 still won't be available to most of the Internet.
      10. People will still worship XML and web services, but not actually have a use for them.
      11. There will still be many sites which only work in IE.
      12. There will still be many sites that need Active X.
      13. Same for windows only plugins.

      Mid 2006 will be a lot like today.

    • its MINNESOTA (Score:4, Funny)

      by deft ( 253558 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:49PM (#11510131) Homepage
      "18 months in a Minnesota prison may only seem like 2000 years."

      Yet oddly enough 18 months in a Minnesota prison will seen alot like 18 months in Minnesota.
    • I find it interesting that this world view of the "Big Man on Campus" (tm), usually named Ted, Biff, or some other similar monosyllable, is now the acceptable world in social integration, and justice. I am glad the judge is saving us from such social misfits as Albert Einstein, and Bill Gates. now where did I put my stone knives and bearskins....

  • Getting out free.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by jedimasta ( 854265 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:23PM (#11509905) Homepage
    Don't forget MMORPG players, masturbation addicts and D&D fans...

  • Prison (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:23PM (#11509907)
    He going to have an interesting "first date"

  • Does that mean (Score:3, Funny)

    by cy_a253 ( 713262 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:24PM (#11509914)
    ...his first girlfriend experience will not work out as planned?

  • Community Chest? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MorboNixon ( 130386 ) * on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:25PM (#11509929)
    'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.' Which means most slashdotters basically have a get out of jail free card."

    Don't you mean a "locked yourself into jail already" card?
    • > > It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.' Which means most slashdotters basically have a get out of jail free card."
      >
      >Don't you mean a "locked yourself into jail already" card?

      Yeah, but if SVCHOST.EXE could run chrooted, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?

  • I think if a child commits some kind of crime that requires a trial that there needs to be some consequence for the parents. I can't understand squirting out some kids and then letting them run rampant and not having any responsibility for a minor's actions. The excuses for bad parenting need to stop or they need to stop being bad parents.
    • I think if a child commits some kind of crime that requires a trial that there needs to be some consequence for the parents. I can't understand squirting out some kids and then letting them run rampant and not having any responsibility for a minor's actions. The excuses for bad parenting need to stop or they need to stop being bad parents.

      He was 18, therefore legally an adult. He was quite old enough to understand what he was doing.

      Of course, MS and friends are going to gloat over this. They fi

    • Re:Parents need more legal liability (Score:5, Insightful)

      by EnronHaliburton2004 ( 815366 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:43PM (#11510087) Homepage Journal
      I can't understand squirting out some kids and then letting them run rampant and not having any responsibility for a minor's actions.

      First off, he's 17, and is an adult in most ways that count. At 17, he can't really hide behind the shield of your parents. He should be held responsible for most or all of his actions.

      Secondly, I doubt his parents would realize he was making a virus even if they were looking. As far as they probably knew, he was programming, learning computers. He didn't get busted for drugs or playing with guns, which means his parents were doing something right.

      Obviously they weren't perfect parents, but no parents are perfect.

      • Re:Parents need more legal liability (Score:5, Interesting)

        by loucura! ( 247834 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:53PM (#11510152)
        I doubt his parents would realize he was making a virus even if they were looking.

        He used a hex editor to change the name of the virus and put his "handle" in. That's it. He didn't write a variant of the blaster worm, he changed a couple strings in a binary.
        • But then he released the varient and 40000 computers were infected by his varient, right?

          18 months does seem extreme for his actions, but from what I read it seems it was the miniumum term allowed.

          • Re:Parents need more legal liability (Score:5, Insightful)

            by gfody ( 514448 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:14PM (#11510681)
            what exactly did he do to "release it to 40,000 computers".. it's a worm. he modified the copy that infected his machine and it went on doing what it does. Had he not done that 40,000 computers would still have been infected just not with his modified version.

            He probably took too much credit for it thinking he wasn't going to get caught. If he had a better lawyer he probably could've walked clean
        • He didn't write a variant of the blaster worm, he changed a couple strings in a binary.

          And then, he let it loose. Deliberately, and obviously aware that he wasn't helping matters. If he found a gun at a crime scene, loaded it wiht a different brand of ammo (just as a learning experience, see!), and then started shooting, he's not off the hook for being a jackass. His upbringing sure didn't help - be he's obviously not stupid.
    • I can't agree with that. People are individuals. They should only be punished for wrongs they individualy commit

  • kidding (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:26PM (#11509934) Homepage Journal
    Why didn't his parents get some time in the klink, if they're contributory in their neglect? And why does "try a child as an adult" make any sense at all? He was 17 when committed the crimes - the "child" treatment acknowledges that children have a chance to learn from their corrections *differently* than adults, for whom it's usually too late to form their social attitudes. Children can be educated, while adults usually must be intimidated with punishment. Kids don't get "mercy" because we're "nice"; they get different treatment because it works better on them, with less cost and risk to us. Meanwhile, the adults at Microsoft, who wrote the malware that his Blaster exploited, have learned that Microsoft profits from security holes, and we'll never see the end of them.
    • Pechman said she was sentencing him at the low end of the range because although he was 18 at the time of the attack, his maturity level was much younger than that.
      They took into account his maturity level, and he was an adult.
      I don't know about you, but even at 13 I knew what a virus would do and also the implications of the damage it could do. Younger than that I would have known what I was doing was wrong, though I may not have been able to fully comprehend exactly how much damage could have been done

      • Re:kidding (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Doc Ruby ( 173196 )
        It's actually more complicated. American justice sensibly splits into trials of "guilty" or not, and sentencing. Your distinction makes some sense in the "guilty" part, though even an 11 year old knows stealing is wrong, but they won't be tried as an adult for shoplifting. But the real distinction makes the most sense in sentencing. That's where the court decides what to do about it. And deciding what to do about a kid's bad behavior can include education, while incarceration destroys most chances of social

  • But it is ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:26PM (#11509942)
    'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.'

    But it is healthy to lock YOU in a cell to create your new reality!

  • Partly the parents' fault? (Score:5, Funny)

    by CTO1 ( 850830 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:26PM (#11509944)
    What were they supposed to do?

    "Jeffrey Lee! Stop writing malicious code and get a life!"

    "And take out the trash!"

  • Well I try! (Score:5, Funny)

    by cybersaga ( 451046 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:26PM (#11509945) Homepage
    I try to lock myself in a room with my computer, but my wife keeps getting in.

  • 18 months in jail != out of jail (Score:5, Interesting)

    by realdpk ( 116490 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:27PM (#11509948) Homepage Journal
    When did Slashdot math change it so 18 months in jail is like getting no jail at all?

    "He will still have to pay restitution to Microsoft and to people whose commuters were affected in an amount to be determined at a hearing set for Feb. 10."

    "The judge imposed three years of supervised release following his prison term, during which Parson can only use computers for business and education - not video games or file-sharing or hacking."

    Come on. He's not getting off easy. He didn't do anything irrepairable, why would more jail time change things?

    • Re:18 months in jail != out of jail (Score:5, Insightful)

      by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:40PM (#11510066) Journal
      I think 18 months is more time than he deserves, he was stupid yes, but when this young, giving them years to life in prison does nothing but makes citizens fund his imprisonment, and create a useless person that can't give back to society.

      If we looked at this at the cost of putting someone in jail for nonviolent crimes, and had him on probation doing community service, community service would win out. He could serve his time while going to school, much better for everyone.

      We are not only trying to punish them, but also rehabilitate them. Which by all accounts, using the death penalty as an example, criminals will do criminal activity no matter what the punishment.

      Our legal system is broke, and people are paying for it. The cost of law enforcement vs prison is really out of balance. Of course, Texas has turned prison into a money making business, which should show how absurd the whole thing is.

      Kids still do stupid stuff, and writing viruses seem to be something kids do. Same as smoking pot, nothing is going to change if we put everyone in prison, other than making a prison state.

      Non-violent criminals should be treated different, and then circumstances taken into account. Stealing excluded.

      • A useless person? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by ebyrob ( 165903 )
        Like Kevin Mitnick?

        Yes, his crimes were a bit more on the border and less damaging, but he was in jail longer, convicted older, and still seems to have gotten on with his life pretty well. I'd hardly call the guy useless.

        I figure this kid has at least as good a chance of turning out a normal guy as Mitnick. (Though only time will tell if he has the moxie for it)
      • I doubt that, if he is kept in school, and learns some structure from being incarcerated, and comprehends right from wrong (releasing a virus into the wilds of the internet is not that innocent). What you describe is generally what occurs if you put them in a hole and forget about them for the length of their sentance.

        While I concur that the legal remedy for crimes is generally pretty screwed up, in this case, I do not think they will make a useless person out of this.
      • Non-violent criminals should be treated different, and then circumstances taken into account. Stealing excluded.

        How many man hours of very expensive IT productivity went into cleaning up the mess he deliberately caused? How is that, in meaningful terms, not as bad as "stealing?"
      • Non-violent criminals should be treated different, and then circumstances taken into account. Stealing excluded.

        Where's the borderline for stealing? Physically taking goods from someone else? From a store? Hacking someone's bank account and draining it? What makes it stealing? The fact that it takes money or items away from someone else? If that's the case, a worm could be some of the worst stealing possible. You have the potential to cost people thousands, even millions, of dollars. Is it only st
  • I guess he's taking Martha Stewart (Mar7ha S73war7) to the pr0m.
  • Can we mod this whole article -1, Flamebait?
  • You know, the thing that really pisses me off is the fact that whenever companies start using a technology, they make everything that the scientists and engineers who don't work for them illegal. In the meantime, they release products (like MS Windows) that are totally insecure. I don't advocate releasing viruses--especially script kiddies--but it seems like more an more things are going to be illegal to give businesses a tool to punish those who reveal the flaws in their shitty products. Soon Nmap will
    • You know, the thing that really pisses me off is the fact that whenever companies start using a technology, they make everything that the scientists and engineers who don't work for them illegal. In the meantime, they release products (like MS Windows) that are totally insecure

      What??? So if I buy a lock that does not work, and you decide you want to "educate" me, you can break in my house? Is that right? What if I don't want to lock my door, is that my fault? What are you saying about human nature?

      We ne

      • Re:Microsoft's Culpability (Score:4, Insightful)

        by MP2030 ( 854347 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:55PM (#11510897)
        Read the parent before flaming off into oblivion. He's not advocating script kiddies. He's railing against the fact that it is illegal to even POINT OUT that security holes exist.

        Let's say for example that you experience some persistent bug in your web server software, that is triggered whenever a user hits your site and does not have IE or Netscape/Mo'. This bug causes the server to crash whenever it reads the line that would contain the alternate browser's id... for whatever reason it cannot handle the 'malformatted' line that says 'browser=Opera'.

        Gee, that's a pretty frickin' annoying bug. Now, normally when you buy a defective product, you can sound off on it, and give a bad review of the product for example.

        Not so with BigIP's software. Sure, you can write a non-flattering review about how their server software crashes. But, just mentioning that carries very little weight. Prospective buyers, even if they SEE your review, are comparing your personal review with against the massive onslaught of the company's marketing machine. The marketing machine is going to say that the server software has records for uptime, and is fully compliant with all standards, and works with all sorts of end user tech, etc.. How is the end user to know you just aren't some jerk who didn't know what he was doing and is now pissed off because he misconfigured his web server?

        The answer is, you post the conditions of how the software misbehaves and you dispell the notion that you simply incompetent. People will be able to see that the 'malformatted' line of code is actually something that could plausibly be sent to the server, and that the server will crash as a result. NOW... you've got something. Now your words have some force behind them as it is provable that your bad review of the software is not just spite, it points out legitimate flaws in the software.

        HOWEVER.... posting this information can now get you into all kinds of trouble. The company that produces the web server product can now look at it in a couple of ways... one, how much will it cost us to fix the problem (Soft. Eng.s cost money, you know), and two, how much will it cost us to silence the problem (Lawyers aint free either). If one is cheaper than two, the problem gets fixed. If two is cheaper than one, the site owner gets a letter telling them to remove infringing materials from their site, that they are culpable for any hacking that occurs as a result, and that they are liable for any damages resulting from the offending review.

        And that, to me, is the problem. Rather than fix the security holes, companies try to silence people who point them out. The theory is that by making exploitive information go away, they can make the problem go away. This is the "weak lock" theory. However, the problem DOES NOT go away simply because it is more difficult to find the flaw in the lock. The flaw still exists and dedicated theives will still find it. The weak lock with the widely known flaw will be exploited by the casual thief. The weak lock with not-so-widely known flaw will be exploited by the professional thief. This does not make the lock any better at protecting you against theft by those equipped to take advantage of it. Studies of whether or not casual, script kiddie type hackers do more damage picking a thousand locks than a few dedicated hackers using the picks on several dozen machines, and then using those machines to commit further crimes is another topic entirely. (My bet is on the dedicated types doing more. Reinstalling windows across 2000 machines is time consuming. Having a few hundred machines to run identify theft out of, is incredibly damaging.)

        By using the weak lock theory, BigIP can market software as a strong lock when in fact it is a weak lock. They are free to state this and anyone who disagrees is written off / sued. Whenever it is against the law to hurt a company's revenue, by making truthful statements... well, I don't want to complete that thought, as it leads to all sorts of horrific ramifications.
  • 'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.'

    Instant thought (which I'm sure you've all had too!): Isn't that what all creative artists (writers, painters, programmers etc.) actually do?

    Plus I guess we can assume that the punishment of locking him away in a room is also not healthy?

    • So flows the poster's thoughts... "It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality" ... "[but] isn't that what all creative artists (writers, painters, programmers etc.) actually do?"

      Yes, that is exactly what all creative artists do. But creative artists generally have lousy lives, especially the brilliant (=misunderstood) ones. Oh, sure, we may love the fruits of their labour (Ulysses, The Potato Farmers, Linux) but it is pretty rare to actually want to live their lives..
  • "Which means most slashdotters basically have a get out of jail free card."

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
    <head>
    <voice id="Homer Simpson">
    WooHoo!
    </voice>
    <voice id="Mr. Burns">
    Excellent!
    </voice>
    <voice id="Ralph Wiggum">
    I think I broke my wookie.
    </voice>
    </head>

  • You knew (Score:5, Funny)

    by tacokill ( 531275 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:31PM (#11509991)
    You knew this was coming as soon as you saw his picture...

    Behold [com.com] the comparison. [about.com]

  • Parents? (Score:3, Funny)

    by jspoon ( 585173 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:32PM (#11509997)
    I should have known they'd be good for something. Too bad I had them killed all those years ago.

  • It doesn't seem fair to me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by parrillada ( 264680 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:36PM (#11510040)
    Kids do stupid things. I know I did my fair share of stupid things when I was younger. Now I consider myself a highly moral, good standing citizen of society, with great future prospects. But if I had been put in jail for one of the silly things I did when I was younger, my life today would probably be a disaster, and to society's detriment.
    • But you, like probably most people reading this, were smart/lucky enough not to get caught. This kid/young adult wasn't. The 'stupid stuff' you (and I and everyone else) did wasn't big enough to affect tens of thousands of people.

      If, at the age of 17, you had your hands on this virus code....would you have released it into the wild? With your name on it? Not a chance.

  • Now that would be interesting... (Score:3, Funny)

    by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:38PM (#11510054) Homepage Journal
    ...if he got sentenced for violating the copyright of the original myDoom...

  • "Light Weight?!?!?" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by barfy ( 256323 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:38PM (#11510056)
    18 months, a lifetime felony label, and having to recompense Microsoft.

    You really think this is worth wasting a productive life over?!?

    I guess the reason that I got rejected for this story is that I thought the sentance was oppressive, and this submitter felt it was lightweight. Get out of jail free card?? How about felony speech?!

    Surely, there was some ground that both got the point home to him well before prison. Were they worried about Anarchy breaking out all over?

    • Would be still be ineligible to vote and would he still get a ten year sentence if he ever possessed a gun (18 USC 922(g) and 18 USC 924) or would those laws be considered to not apply since he was under 18?

      I don't see how he could be denied the right to vote, since when he committed his act he didn't HAVE the right to vote. How can you lose what you don't already have? It would be like ordering your car seized, but you don't own one, so one day when you buy one, the gov't takes it.

      But laws don't make sen
    • How about felony speech?!

      Hmm... did I miss something in the article where he talked about and/or posted source code for something without actually using it to attack computers?

      A DNS attack using compromised zombies is neither protected nor speech.
    • Hi. I'm the one the submitted the article. My reference to "lightweight" was specifically informed by the judge's decision to use the lower end of the recommended range. The judge, and the news source cited refered to it that way. I found some semi-dark humor in the judge's reasoning, and immediately thought of the thousands of other basement-dwelling game players that thrive (not sarcastic here) with an alternate reality playing a big part in their real lives. We all know the types. The "get out of jail fr

  • Just read the article (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mr. Cancelled ( 572486 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:41PM (#11510069)
    before surfing to Slashdot to check the headlines.

    I remember seeing this kids picture when he was busted, and now that i've read his story, I've gotta say I feel sorry for him.

    Not so much for his punishment, as much as his life thus far. His parents did get blamed by the judge for being neglectful, but I don't think that begins to explain how bad it was.

    The guy was afraid to go outside. You can see in his photo that he's rather large, and not at all the typical 19 year old (He was what? 17 when he got busted?). It just looks like another case wherein a kid was an outcast, primarily due to a bad home situation, and rather than have friends or relatives to help him through, he retreated into his room, and kind of lived in his own world, which the parents did nothing to prevent, or try to help him outta.

    Just sounds like a sad story... Kinda like you feel after watching one of those HBO Specials like "Black Tar Heroin" or something. It sucks that he is where he is, but what sucks worse is that there's lotsa other people out there in similar situations.

    The Skatenigs said it best w/their debut album: "Stupid people shoudn't breed!".
  • 'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.'

    so let's lock him in a room with someone else who will love creating a whole 'nother reality for him.

    one man's reality is another man's fantasy.
  • 'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality.'

    If this Judge thinks having a taste of reality is a healthy thing, they should have themselves placed into the prison system with which they punish people and see if they have any better grasp of reality afterwards.

  • 18 months != 18 months (Score:3, Informative)

    by kaustik ( 574490 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @07:44PM (#11510095)
    I'm not sure how it works is his state, but 18 months in California generally works like this:
    - 1-3 months in County jail awaiting transport
    - Remaining 15-17 months can actually be served as 1/3 time, given good behavior. That leaves about 5 -6 months left
    Total time: around 7 or 8 months.
    • When you're a fatty little weakling computer geek forced to toss the salad of a guy named Bruno who's been pumping iron since he was convicted of bashing his girlfirends skull in because he found out she was going cyber with some fatty little weakling computer geek.
      • I'm completely in agreement with you. In fact, I don't think the punishment fits the crime. Jail is for violent offenders. Just trying to shed some light on how different terms work in the prison system.
  • The message has to get out that doing stuff like this will get severe punishments. He crippled 50,000 computers.

    The judge imposed three years of supervised release following his prison term, during which Parson can only use computers for business and education - not video games or file-sharing or hacking.

    The judge should have denied him any access to computers, to hell with the kids education. Would a judge allow a drunk driver to get back in a car if he caused damage to 50,000 cars? It is the same thi

  • How many dollars of damage did he cause? How much prison time would somebody who stole that much get? Hell, a member of DrinkOrDie got 41 month (three years and change) [cybercrime.gov]. That's for just putting software on the Internet! This jerk gets about half that for deliberately causing harm! I hope the idiot judge gets every computer virus known to man.
  • Qyntel Woods [palmbeachpost.com] was suspended from the Portland Trail Blazers (a losing team) because of legal and behavioral troubles. Including animal abuse...

    The Blazers suspended him for the WHOLE rest of the season, and then fired him.

    But he gets picked up by the Heat, who are a championship bound team, and given only a 5 game suspension.

    So not only is his sentence lighter - but he gets "promoted" to a better team.

    All while making obscene amounts of money for doing something most of us would consider "recreation" an
  • Which means most slashdotters basically have a get out of jail free card.

    Well, according to this poll [slashdot.org] from a while back, no more than 24% of slashdotters could be considered "teens." Is ScentCone implying that the longer we read Slashdot, the more childish we become?

    Not that I'm saying he'd be wrong, mind you. . .

  • What, no Microsoft bashing? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @11:01PM (#11511253)
    I'm surprised nobody's commented about Microsoft being treated as the primary victim in this case. The worm attacked tons of machines across the entire Internet, not just ones owned by Microsoft, yet the offender is ordered to pay restitution to Microsoft. They're not the victim here! In fact, I'd go so far as to say that their shoddy programming and quality control contributed to the situation (as it has many times over for various other bugs since Blaster). Why are they receiving restitution when they could more easily be considered liable?

Slashdot Top Deals

You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk.

Close