Andrew Auernheimer, the US “hacktivist” who broke into the network of AT&T said that the attack was done to highlight security failings.
Its reported that Andrew Auernheimer aka Weev and Daniel Spitler stole email addresses from 120,000 iPad owners by exploiting a bug in the way AT&T set up its network. Due to this, Auernheimer and Spitler have been sentenced to 41 months in jail.
Unlike Spitler who had pleaded guilty in June 2011, Auernheimer defended his ground saying that the attack was made to make the internet more secure thus passing the addresses to a journalist to publicize his point.
According to Marcia Hofmann, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney, the punishments for computer related crimes are recrementitious and thus need serious revisions. “Weev is facing more than three years in prison because he pointed out that a company failed to protect its users’ data, even though his actions didn’t harm anyone,” Hofman added.
At the moment, EFF lawyers are helping Auernheimer appeal against his unjust sentence.
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