Matthew Delorey’s business idea was to sell hacked Comcast modems which allow free internet access. He just forgot to avoid FBI agents, conspiracy, wire fraud and $US250,000 fines. Now he may get 20 years in prison to rethink things.
Delorey wasn’t doing anything insanely difficult. He was just modifying modems’ MAC addresses to match those of modems whose owners were old-fashioned and actually paying for internet access. He would’ve probably gotten away with selling them for a while longer had some of his buyers not been undercover FBI agents. Whoops.
The resulting conspiracy and wire fraud charges held up in federal court and a ridiculously huge fine and prison sentence were suggested. Yeah, the guy’s a criminal – a stupid one – but come on. Twenty years and $US250,000 are just a bit overboard. I hope the final sentence and fine are a bit more reasonable. [Computer World via Crunch Gear]
Pictured modem is probably not one of the hacked ones. It’s a picture by chaunceydavis818
Lem
January 30, 2010 at 1:28 PM
20 years! Bloody ell! And then you see all these convicted sex offenders get 5 years and get out in less….
Report PermalinkPaul Preston
January 30, 2010 at 3:38 PM
he could of sold some to terrorists, think of how they could use these modems and avoid detection.
Report PermalinkMichael Visser
January 30, 2010 at 9:11 PM
…terrorists!? hell think bigger, imagine college students… they could cause a financial meltdown themselves with all those excessive bandwidth charges!
Report Permalinkkomprezor
February 1, 2010 at 10:58 AM
He did sell them to terrorists — the FBI.
Report PermalinkEver wonder why they escape detection so easily?
Get haxorware and get even.