Pad had no idea what they were talking about. He hadn't done anything
like that to the Swedish phone system, and as far as he knew, neither
had Gandalf.
Something else didn't sound right. Richardson told the court that in
total, the two hackers had racked up at least [sterling]25000 in phone
bills for unsuspecting legitimate customers, and caused `damage' to
systems which was very conservatively estimated at almost
[sterling]123000.
Where were these guys getting these numbers from? Pad marvelled at
their cheek. He had been through the evidence with a fine-toothed
comb, yet he had not seen one single bill showing what a site had
actually paid to repair `damage' caused by the hackers. The figures
tossed around by the police and the prosecution weren't real bills;
they weren't cast in iron.
Finally, on Friday 21 May, after all the evidence had been presented,
the judge adjourned the court to consider sentencing. When he returned
to the bench fifteen minutes later, Pad knew what was going to happen
from the judge's face. To the hacker, the expression said: I am going
to give you everything that Wandii should have got.
Judge Harris echoed The Times's sentiments when he told the two
defendants, `If your passion had been cars rather than computers, we
would have called your conduct delinquent, and I don't shrink from the
analogy of describing what you were doing as intellectual joyriding.
Pages:
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483