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Crime Security The Courts

US Gov't Seeks 7-Month Sentence For LulzSec's Sabu 76

An anonymous reader writes with this news from Wired: "As a reward for his extensive cooperation helping prosecutors hunt down his fellow hackers, the government is seeking time served for the long-awaited sentencing of top LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, also known as 'Sabu.' After delaying his sentencing for nearly three years, the government has asked a federal court to sentence Monsegur to time served — just seven months — calling him an 'extremely valuable and productive cooperator' in a document that details for the first time his extensive cooperation providing 'unprecedented access to LulzSec.'" That's much less than the 317 months in prison he might otherwise face.
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US Gov't Seeks 7-Month Sentence For LulzSec's Sabu

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  • In some places being a snitch = a beating.

    • by nurb432 ( 527695 )

      And not being in prison helps stop that how?

      • by I'm New Around Here ( 1154723 ) on Sunday May 25, 2014 @08:59AM (#47086999)

        He has more room to run away from the mobs of angry geeks. Unless he actually go into the subterranean lairs, aka their mothers' basements, he can avoid most beatdowns.

        Other than that, how many people know him on sight? How hard would it be to walk through a crowd without being noticed?

        • by Xest ( 935314 )

          Given the level of attention whore the little shit is I suspect he'll be his own worst enemy and start telling us about how awesome he was for raising awareness of corporate and government abuse on the internet but also how he decided he had to be a real good guy in the end "do what's right".

          I'll be genuinely surprised if someone this utterly desperate for attention manages to keep his mouth shut about his life for more than 5 minutes after he completes his sentence.

          The only reason he ever got caught was be

          • Just curious, but is he a 'little shit', because he was a member of LulzSec, or because he cooperated with the authorities?
            • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday May 25, 2014 @09:39AM (#47087145)

              Yes to both. Extreme grandstanding, nihilistic evil actions and not even a hint of a backbone. An impressive number of the worst possible qualities a human being can have combined in one person. Of course the feds recognize somebody like that as "extremely valuable", they like failed human beings.

              • by Chas ( 5144 )

                Really easy to talk about backbone (or lack thereof) when you aren't the one facing prison time, and don't have a pair of young cousins as dependents for him as sole provider.

                Not saying what he did was right or cool or okay in any way.

                Just saying that unless you've been in a similar situation, with family DEPENDING on you, your protestations are just so much noise.

                • by gweihir ( 88907 )

                  Then maybe, if he was/is sitting in a glasshouse, throwing stones as he did repeatedly, cruelly and immorally was a really, really stupid thing to do?

                  I do not really object to the deal-making so much (that I can understand), but to what he did before.

                  • by Chas ( 5144 )

                    Again, this is why he was *caught*.

                    If you still find this objectionable, look up "Operation Overcast". Read up on it. Then tell me you're still outraged.

                • by Xest ( 935314 )

                  If I had a couple of young dependants I wouldn't prat around doing something illegal just to get attention in the first place so the point is moot.

                  This just makes him even more of a little shit.

              • Suppose he gets the full punishment. It will serve as his deterrent, but it will also serve as a deterrent to others who could be (mark that should be) helpful to the authorities.

                A good question to ask is "Who is the government?". The posting wrote "the government", without explaining if it was the local cop or the DA:

            • Both.

              He's a little shit for being a narcissist asshole who thinks he can do what he pleases and for fucking over everyone else when he was too dumb to not get caught.

            • by Xest ( 935314 )

              Only just got back to this post, but others have already answered in the same way I would anyway. The two aren't mutually exclusive, the answer is both. The guy wasn't hacking because of his principles, but for attention, he blabbed to the authorities because he wasn't hacking for principles.

              So the reason I call him a little shit is because everything he's done is for attention, and not for anything principled and he's ruined his life and that of many others in the process - he's ruined the lives of hackers

        • by nurb432 ( 527695 )

          And more room for the mob to grab him and put him in the river without getting caught.

        • He has more room to run away from the mobs of angry geeks. Unless he actually go into the subterranean lairs, aka their mothers' basements, he can avoid most beatdowns.

          The geek's talk of revenge and revolution always seem to be in inverse proportion to his actions --- though now and again you are left to wonder if you are looking at someone like the Isla Vista shooter.

      • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

        well, outside you have a room that you can lock and unlock as you please.

        however, everyone should be bitching more about the way US so called justice works nowadays. it's all backroom deals. well, not all but 80%+. what the law says that the punishment is for something has absolutely no relation to the time that the dealings put on them and the original charges have nothing to do with what the actual crimes are(or indeed what the prosecution even thinks happened) - and the prosecution and justice systems se

        • by TheCarp ( 96830 )

          Oh exactly. As far as I can tell, unless you did something really heinous, for petty crime, drug crime, etc, the whole point of punishment is to make people who can afford to pay up. I have a particular friend.... you want to know how stupid the drug war is now....get this.

          He was arrested in AZ; but lives near me on the east coast. He could afford a lawyer, he could afford to pay fines and fees. His entire court procedure was done...over the phone. He got probation.

          What was he caught with? Was it a few join

      • And not being in prison helps stop that how?

        In the hacker world being a snitch gets you hated, and maybe shitflooded on IRC.

        In prison, being a snitch gets you a sharpened toothbrush rammed between your ribs.

        Thats the difference.

    • by jmd ( 14060 )

      He will still be a snitch. Inside. Or outside. Someday, somewhere someone might just come calling.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Man, I hate it when the Mormons do that.

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Would you consider someone who rats out the Italian mafia a snitch? Suppose he rats out a number of murders? Is he a good snitch or a bad snitch?

    • by Anonymous Coward
      The world might be a better place if there were a lot more snitches.

      The line between whistleblowing and snitching is rather blurry ;).
      • There is a world of difference between the two. - One is selling out their principles and friends or colleagues, either for money or because they have been caught themselves and were bullied or persuaded into it. The other is usually acting on principle, often to report some kind of crime - for the moral good, and very often at quite high costs to themselves - loss of money, jobs etc..

  • by Anonymous Coward

    They probably had enough evidence anyway but wanted to keep their secret spying tech out of the news...

  • by Anonymous Coward

    So that is now the governments way of doing things and it is considered acceptable? Just bang people away in a cell with a trial magically taking forever and after getting what they want we call for a conviction of time served and let them go? This is not a positive thing for anyone.

  • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday May 25, 2014 @09:35AM (#47087133)

    I do not mind that this person turned traitor on his compatriots. That is only fitting for an evil, nihilistic organization like LulzSec. What I do mind is that somebody heavily involved in their activities gets off so easy. Probably the feds found that they actually like this guy and his style...

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      The reason is because he was able to get the feds into the inside of LulzSec and Anonymous and help take down some of the members. The U.S. criminal justice system has used cooperation in return for light sentences for a long time, it is one of the reasons they were able to make such a dent in the Mafia.

  • This guy has the life expectancy of a fruit fly once he gets outside the nice safe confines of (unintentionally)-protective custody.

    And no, not from random geeks raging online. From the likes of the Russian mafia. Expect to hear about him dying in a "colorful" way. I wonder how they'll top Polonium poisoning?

    / Snitches get stitches and end up in... lead-lined coffins buried in limed graves.
    • Park, rope, tree.

      You have to earn polonium. It's not something you get for free.

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      He is outside and, it appears, not going inside. He'll be in the witness protection program. Unless the Russian mob is able to break that, he'll be fine.

      • Why would they put someone in witness protection who has already testified. He is worthless to the feds at this point. He would have had to negotiate that when he had leverage. That costs money and resources.
        • by Anonymous Coward

          Presumably the government would like to have informers in the future. It would both be bad advertising and encourage information withholding to not protect informants after the cases are finished.

        • by ShaunC ( 203807 )

          He and some family members have already been relocated because there were direct threats early on in his cooperation. Not sure he was afforded full-blown witness protection (new identity, etc.) but I wouldn't be surprised.

  • this guy is a total negative...he's the antithesis of my values on many things

    but prison isn't the answer, we're not making anything better by putting him in prison

  • People like Snowden are hunted down or targeted for assassination but serial baby killer mothers or women who mutilate or kill their husbands get free without time served because "court has been traumatic enough for them to serve as a punishment".

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique. -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

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