"White hat" Facebook hacker gets 8 months in jail

Re:"White hat" Facebook hacker gets 8 months in jail by tstonez on Friday February 17, 2012 @02:39PM (#3604676)

[Without knowing the full details of the case or proceedings] I don't see how putting this, clearly quite gifted, young person in jail for 8 months is going to help him, Facebook or anyone else for that matter.

Surely, there must be other options except jail?! Maybe some form of community service where he would then be an asset rather than a cost to the general public. If he can infiltrate Facebook, I am sure there are government sites and systems with much more sensitive information that he could be testing and identifying security threats.

Eight months hard time, plus the stigma of a criminal record, just seem like such a waste.

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Re:"White hat" Facebook hacker gets 8 months in jail by troels on Friday February 17, 2012 @03:04PM (#3604773)

Well, that's true of incarceration in general.

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Re:"White hat" Facebook hacker gets 8 months in jail by unreal37 on Friday February 17, 2012 @04:29PM (#3605052)

The article states that the judge clearly wanted to send a message to other hackers that this type of hacking is not "just fun". To give him a job as a professional security consultant would send the opposite message.

Reminds me of the movie War Games.

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Re:"White hat" Facebook hacker gets 8 months in jail by veyron on Friday February 17, 2012 @03:04PM (#3604770)

He may have found a security hole so disastrous and so ingrained that its easier to jail the kid than to fix the problem.

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