SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Marcus Hutchins, the researcher who stopped the Wannacry Windows ransomware attack, has pleaded guilty to two counts of writing banking malware in 2014.
Hutchins was accused of writing a banking malware called Kronos in 2014, after he finished high school. The researcher was arrested in Las Vegas after attending the hacker conference Def Con in 2017. Days later, he plead not guilty in a Milwaukee courtroom. He was scheduled to be tried this summer.
But on Friday, Hutchins plead guilty to two counts of [cracking]. According to the guilty plea, each of these counts carries a maximum sentence of 5 years, $250,000 in fines and up to 1 year of supervised release.
He has published a brief statement regarding the case on his blog.
Legal Case Update
As you may be aware, I’ve pleaded guilty to two charges related to writing malware in the years prior to my career in security. I regret these actions and accept full responsibility for my mistakes. Having grown up, I’ve since been using the same skills that I misused several years ago for constructive purposes. I will continue to devote my time to keeping people safe from malware attacks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 21 2019, @08:36AM (1 child)
That Atlantic story doesn't help your argument. First she told the cops she did it. Later she told a reporter she didn't. Guilty? Who knows. But you can't say this is an innocent person who plead guilty, which your argument requires. The prosecutor may well know more. And isn't it a crime to lie to the police? So she was guilty of either the drug charge or obstruction.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Monday April 22 2019, @09:42AM
If you don't like that one article, there are plenty of others that describe the problem with plea agreements [reason.com]. It has been a bad problem for decades now. It's just a matter of looking in the search engines. Apparently nearly all criminal cases are dealt with via plea "bargains", some claim 95% of those cases. The "deals" are usually reached by stacking charges against the defendant and leveraging that plus incarceration to force them to submit a guilty plea. Part of it is due to the perverse incentives provided by evaluating the success of prosecutors based on their conviction rates. In effect they are rewarded even if they put away innocent people.
A case like that which should have been higher profile than it was would have been that of Reality Winner. She lifted the lid on election interference, yet none of the complicit parties have been even reprimanded, let aone punished.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.