h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today, Kevin Mitnick (uber- and 'reformed' hacker) gets to use the internet for the first time in three years And he's going to do it live on tv

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/story/0,24330,3414409,00.html

Oops, not three years - eight years. It's three years since he got out of the jug.

how did they stop him ? was it a parole condition ?

I cant read the link, do you mind explaining what it says about...

Yes, it was a parole condition. He served just short of five years in federal prison for computer hacking, which many people say was way over the top and that the government was simply making an example of him.

Although released three years ago, he wasn't even allowed to go near a computer for the first year of freedom, then they let him use a laptop (it's up for auction at eBay along with some of his old computers which are still in the evidence bags they were put in by the feds, to raise money for his legal costs) with no internet connection so that he could write a book.

He wasn't allowed to have a job in McDonalds when he was first released because of the tills

Good ol' Kevo!
Slashdot coverage:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/20/1254218&mode=thread&tid=172

Including this comment:

"No, he's been waiting for hot teen nympho's, an MBA in 2 weeks and penis enlargement offers.

I bet his email account is full! 100,000 spams just waiting for him to return..."



Liam.

...and this:

http://joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/432.html



Liam.

Interestingly enough, during his ScreenSavers interview, he said that a US court recently ruled that it is illegal to deprive someone of using the internet as a probation condition. They, of course, ruled that after Kevin had been deprived of it for 3 years, following his 5 year prison stint.