Re:Teenager facing prison for downloading unsecured files fr...
by fenomas on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @01:47AM
(#16855823)
> if they saw the first classified document, then pulled down the rest of the trove hunting for more..
Per the articles: nothing was "classified", it was an archive of public documents that the government published periodically. The issue is that a small subset weren't redacted properly - but there's no apparent reason the teen would have known that.
It appears that someone simply archived a bunch of documents they reasonably believed to be public information.
Agreed. There is no inherent or intrinsic reason to expect that any given document or any given URL ought to be restricted. However, a look at the documents could have provided some extrinsic reason to stop looking. For example, if I find a filing cabinet full of classified documents, I will not continue leafing through them after I see the first one. I will stop immediately and notify someone appropriate (after contacting my lawyer). I do not intend to access classified documents.
The question is one of intent. Did the individual intend to access documents that they knew or should have known that they ought not access. If the kid pulled down one classified document, took a look, realized what he was looking at, and deleted it and notified the authorities, then I'm with the crowd. Likewise if they pulled down the entire archive without looking at any of them. I'll be on the front lines with my pitchfork.
On the other hand, if they saw the first classified document, then pulled down the rest of the trove hunting for more, some amount of punishment is probably warranted. Even then, I would say fifteen years is too much. Maybe a few months of time and probation, depending on exactly how much willfulness was on display.
I imagine these are the kinds of questions that will be resolved during the trial.