Kevin's Statement

ryanr writes "Kevin's statement that he gave today has been posted here. It's a nice summary of the injustices done to him." There's little more I can say.

Re:American Libel Law

[Asperity]

I would assume that he doesn't really qualify as a public figure, which makes the libel claim easier (which points out a shortcoming in American law which was meant to support free press but has ended up leaving us with an unaccountable press, able to publish inuendo without any basis in fact)

Hm. Are you saying that being a public figure makes pressing libel claims easier, or that not qualifying as one does? Not sure how to parse that.

Anyway, as for the problem of public figures having an easier time pressing libel charges (the idea being that they've got more to lose), Times v. Sullivan (1964) addressed this by giving public figures a higher burden to meet to successfully bring their case, i.e., "actual malice" (knowledge of falsity and/or reckless disregard for the truth).

How all this works in actual practice is another idea entirely, as usual.

American Libel Law

[Yet Another Smith]

It seems to me that there is at least one recourse that Mitnik can use to redress some of the damage done to him. If John Markoff really printed as many untrue statements about him as he claims, he's got a pretty good case for libel.

I would assume that he doesn't really qualify as a public figure, which makes the libel claim easier (which points out a shortcoming in American law which was meant to support free press but has ended up leaving us with an unaccountable press, able to publish inuendo without any basis in fact)

In that case he should go to court to prove the allegations Markoff makes are untrue and unfounded. That kind of legal victory would go a great way towards damping the hysteria surrounding "hacker crimes" and serving the mainstream media with a nice slice of humble pie.

(Of course those of us who have defended him would have to eat that pie if such a trial actually showed that he had done a lot of damage as a malicious hacker, but at least the issue would be resolved)

The Pitfalls

[SaxMaster]

I found the statement VERY interesting, and it angered me about the state of the American Legal System today. However, few people will EVER know of these injustices, the way the media works today. Chew on that for a little while.

Government Guarantees our Rights?

[gigabitme]

Something this brings up in my mind is how skewed our perceptions of Constitutional Rights have become in the US. The Bill of Rights was not written to outline rights that the federal and state governments would grant to all of us Citizens (after all, what they can grant, they can revoke). Rather, it was to outline a set of basic human rights that are inherent to us by virtue of being homo sapiens walking on the planet, and to affirm that these rights therefore pre-exist any government. OK, so the people who wrote those documents did not always live up to the standards they wrote down. That doesn't make the document, the statement of ideals and philosophy less valuable.

Kevin is 100% on target: if they can do it to him, they can do it to anyone. If you really stop and honestly consider the question, what is the difference between us and Kevin? Between us and the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX? Between us and the Weavers in Ruby Ridge, ID? At the risk of sounding alarmist, I'd say the difference is that they haven't come for you and me yet. Which is worth being alarmed about.

The sad fact is that we live in a de facto police state. When state and federal officials can openly and willingly flaunt the law, deny rights that they are sworn, duty-, & honor-bound to defend, from the very citizens they are employed by, in truth we do not have those rights. The lessons of Ruby Ridge, Waco, and Kevin Mitnick seem clear: if you do not quietly submit, you will be killed or locked up as an example.

Sure, for the majority the gilding on the bars is nice enough to distract us from the fact that they are there. But they are there, nonetheless.

Remind me again, why should I not be concerned that they want to take all of our guns away?

We all lost.

[Random Q. Hacker]

For all the supposed power hackers and crackers wield, one of our own was imprisoned for five years, and all we could do was deface a few websites.

Let's all go back to hiding behind our monitors, and hope we're not the next "example to the rest of them", because it's clear we don't have the power to effect any real change.