Source: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-n...t_Punkyhosting

I read this today and found it interesting, but it also made me quite angry... I personally think the sentence is a joke and way too lenient. What is the difference between what they did and robbing a bank? And don't say "they didn't use guns.." because even if you rob a bank using a note that says "put all the money in the bag" and don't use guns nor violence, you're still looking at 6+ years in prison for the crime.

They stole thousands of dollars and caused this web host to actually go out of business (at least the bank can open again the next day!). These kids are not going to learn their lesson with such a weak punishment.. A couple of years in prison would have been more reasonable if you ask me.. It would also show other hackers that what they're doing is a very serious crime.

I agree, that's a very weak punishment indeed. You're right that a bank can open the next day. Targeting a small hosting company and putting them out of business is worse.

One guy gets community service and the other gets a year in jail (likely out in 3-4 months). What a joke!

They should have been in jail for a minimum 5 years for such stealing. Such lenient punishments will give other hackers courage to do the same thing.

I agree. This is exactly why there are so many script kiddies and hackers scamming so many people now days. They simply have the mind set of.. "heh.. risk going to jail for a year or less for $xx.xxx's if not more to gain? hmmm let me think about it.. " and of course the pros out-weight the cons in their eyes..

i bet the money was not even paid back

I think that they should be fined, not sentenced. If anyone's underage, there isn't much to do. You do not want these kids in jail. They would not come out more responsible. Forget it. However a court would order them to do voluntary work for the same company and to pay out the damages. This makes sense.

Did you even read the article?..

They are not "underage", at least not in the U.S.A.. They are 18 and 19 and old enough to know better, and I think they SHOULD be thrown in prison (not jail).

Also.. What company? They went out of business and were forced to shut down due to the attacks. Voluntary work for the company is useless..

How would throwing them in "prison (not jail") benefit society?

The same as with throwing ANY criminal in prison... Most of the time it doesn't, and they get out and do it again. Does that mean they shouldn't go to prison, just because it will not rehabilitate them??

They commited a serious crime, and a serious punishment is what they should get.

In my opinion, community service and a year in prison will have much less effect then say 5 years in prison. They literally destroyed people's lives by doing what they did...

In the grand scheme of things, the fellows were really unfortunate to be caught. Or, to put it another way, the society was really lucky to have them caught. Plenty of such perpetrators walk free among us. At least in this case, some level of justice was done, and now they're prime suspects when similar things occur.

Wow! Targetting small companies like this is in a way worse than targetting a bank.

I am not saying that people should rob banks. LOL.
No way, that is wrong! I don't need to tell you why.

But think of it like this, banks are guilty of wrongdoings, such as squandering people's money, paying banker's bonuses, etc. They have done things that could incite anger in people. This could motivate a bank robber to do what he does as an act of vengeance.

However, what did this small hosting company do wrong?
I agree that these people should have harsher sentences. In fact, I think they should have the same as any robber. After all, they still committed an act of theft.
They should be treated like any other thief, not given lighter sentences.

Your "opinion" is disproved by pretty much any study in incarceration for non violent crime.

They are only teens!! Longer ..atleast 5 years of community services that too related to some online system development for an NGO would be a good punishment. These kids seems to be script kiddies than real hackers.

Such articles and criminal sentences tend to offend and or upset me when relating to programming, be this because the principles by which programmers are taught are strongly against such practices or otherwise.

I think it important to define hackers as what they are and aren't as the term "hacker" itself is an open ended term which is almost always misused due to the common acceptance of an alternative meaning. Hacking from a computing stand point is not the definition of illegally gaining access to computer system, instead it is a programming term for the process by which programmers cut code together in a process that is unscripted/designed thus hacking away at it.

I think it is one of the main reasons why there is now such a distinction in the principles and a break in the pack that is seen with titles, for example officially my classification is as a Software Engineer and as such I follow the software engineering processes.

"Software engineering is the science and art of specifying, designing, implementing, and evolving, with economy, timeliness and elegance, programs, documentation and operating procedures whereby computers can be made useful to humanity.”

Therefore following such guidelines my role is very specific and outlines that I follow a process as such don't cut code, though technically I'm a programmer and would have been a "hacker" at some point during the learning process.

Thus as hacking in itself is an open term, to attempt to charge someone under such a wide banner would be almost impossible, there are great pitfalls in the system by which such offences are classified both here in the UK (computer misuse act) and abroad and I would hazard the main causative factor in the conviction where that of the fraud/money laundering offences rather than the "hacking" as such offences of computer misuse have substantially larger imprisonment sentences.

Until such awareness and such organisations as the BCS (UK) and ACM (USA) work with the associated justice systems to define computer misuse, such offences will go with minimal or no punishment simply due to the fact the justice system is failing to keep up with the modern world and in a modern world such offences and resouces to commit offences are easily available.