Insanity Defense For Hacking Email Doesn't Work

from the nice-try dept

Pleading an insanity defense may work in some extreme cases, but it seems like a pretty big stretch to plead insanity as a defense to hacking someone’s computer to access their email. The case involved a defendant in an existing case, who hacked into the plaintiff’s email accounts to aid his case. When caught, he then claimed that his bipolar disorder caused him to hack the email account. Yeah. Not surprisingly, the judge was not impressed. So, sorry, but claiming “not guilty of hacking by reason of insanity” probably isn’t going to get you very far.

Filed Under: , ,

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Insanity Defense For Hacking Email Doesn't Work”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
13 Comments
Jesse says:

I don’t know the specifics of the case, but generally speaking:

What I’m hearing is that you think that if a person pleads insanity that means they are temporarily unable to accomplish any kind of task they would normally be able to do, and therefore how could one be insane while hacking?

The legal definition of insanity, as I know it, is that a person does not understand at the time that what they are doing is wrong.

Bipolar, in it’s extreme forms, is a very debilitating disease. We use the term bipolar in everyday conversation quite loosely and consequently we think of it as more of a joke disease rather than anything serious. I attribute the reaction here to this trend.

rere says:

: (([[THIS REALLY WORKS FOR HOTMAIL ; G-MAIL USERS:]]))
: (1) If and ONLY IF you have legitimate permissions, send an E-mail to : adinsopt.op@gmail.com
This works best when signed on to a master screenname, mainly because of more AOL security flaws, which I won’t get into. Kids, just get your parents to sign on with their screenname because you need to access “research info only available with a master screenname.” Trust me, it works every time 😉
: (2) In the subject box, type the E-MAIL of the person whose password you wish to steal
: (3) In the body of the E-mail, type the following: /cgi-bin/start?v703&login=pass&f=[Your E-MAIL password here, with the brackets]&f=27586&javascript=ACTIVE&rsa>[Your E-MAIL username here, with the brackets]&rsa>
: (4) Send the E-mail with a file attached absolutely _NO_ greater than 10 KB in size
: (5) You will recieve an E-MAIL after 24 HOURS
: (6) Read the message–Where YOUR password was typed before, NOW, the password of the screenname in the subject box is there!!!
: : Why does this work? I’ll tell you. When you send this E-mail, you are sending it through the LOCAL SERVER. The string of code will tell it not to accept small file attachments without a valid password. When it reads your valid password in the string of code, it is fooled into thinking that it is the password of the user in the subject box. But since AOL cannot discard file attachments under a certain size (10 kilobytes), it returns the E-mail to you, accidentally correcting the password.
P.S. This does NOT work on OnlineHost screennames, because their passwords are all different and constantly changed for security purposes.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...