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                                 :PRESENTS:
                               
                               CYBER-ADDICTION
  
                                
    Did anyone hear of a news item about a boy in England who was brought
    up on hacking charges but pleaded not guilty because he claimed that
    he was not responsible for his actions due to his severe addiction to
    computers?

    A good motto, don't y'all agree?  P.S.  I hope to hell this "boy in
    England" isn't Craig Shergold.

    The case they are thinking of may be this Mitnick guy.  Not British.
    A contemporary account of the case follows:

    Kevin Mitnick is the hacker once called "as dangerous with a keyboard as a 
    bank robber with a gun."

    His first plea bargain was rejected by U.S. District Judge Mariana R.
    Pfaelzer as too lenient.  He subsequently reached a new agreement, with no
    agreed-upon prison sentence, in which pleaded guilty to stealing a DEC
    security program and illegal possession of 16 long-distance telephone codes
    belonging to MCI Telecommunications Corp.  If convicted of all counts,
    Mitnick faced a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine of $750,000.

    According to a story by Henry Weinstein in the 18 July 1989 'Los Angeles
    Times', Judge Pfaelzer said Monday that she will sentence Mitnick to a year
    in a rehabilitation center, where he can be treated for his "addiction."
    It is believed to be the first time a person indicted for a computer
    hacking - related crime will be treated as an addict.

    Harriet Rossetto, the director of the rehabilitation center said that
    Mitnick would benefit from the program.  She said that Mitnick's "hacking
    gives a sense of self-esteem he doesn't get in the real world.... This is a
    new and growing addiction .  There was no greed involved.  There was no
    sabotage involved.... He's like a kid playing Dungeons and Dragons."

    Asst. U.S. Attorney James R. Asperger told Pfaelzer that he was amenable to
    the rehabilitation plan, in part because Mitnick has cooperated extensively
    with the government in its case against DiCicco, Mitnick's one-time friend
    who turned him in.  Asperger said that Mitnick had turned out to be
    considerably less harmful than the government had originally thought,
    particularly since he not broken into DEC's computer system out of malice
    or to make money.

    Judge Pfaelzer said she will rule on whether Mitnick should serve any
    additional prison time, beyond the seven months he has so far spent in
    federal custody.  DiCicco still faces one federal charge of illegally
    transporting a stolen program (!).

    Sounds like an interesting starting point for the AFU legal staff.

    And an even more interesting way for those who need an escape from
    the law.

    I like the D&D analogy by the judge.

                                        -Johnny