Voice over IP 'hacker' in court today
A Venezuelan has been dragged to the US to face trial on charges of hacking into voice over IP networks.
Edwin Pena, 26, was arrested in Mexico last year. The 20-count indictment charges Pena with conspiracy to secretly hack into the computer networks of unsuspecting Voice over Internet Protocol ( VoIP ) phone service providers, conspiracy to commit wire fraud by transmitting telephone calls over the victims' networks, and individual hacking and wire fraud counts.
An FBI spokesman said that the extradition represents the continued success of the United States in working with foreign countries to bring alleged cyber criminals to justice.
In other words one should not feel free and comfortable from prosecution or detection merely be being in another country. American justice with its quaint medieval penalties for trivial offences and tendencies for rich people to get away with murder will now apply all over the world.
In this case Pena was supposed to be a legitimate wholesaler of Internet-based phone services. However he flogged discounted service plans to his unsuspecting customers.
The Indictment claims Pena was able to offer such low prices because he would secretly hack into the computer networks of VoIP providers.
Apparently he flogged 10 million minutes of Internet phone service to telecom businesses at deeply discounted rates, causing a loss of more than $1.4 million in less than a year. µ
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4 quick points:
1) I'm an American.
2) I think it's stupid of the US gov't. to go after minor crimes of an international nature. We in the US do plenty of things that are crimes in other countries. Heck - 90% of our press could be arrested in certain areas of the world for what they write freely about here.
3) No one was hurt - some bandwidth was used - big deal.
4) Didn't Apple Corp. get it seed money by hacking the phone system and selling blue boxes - Both Steve W. and Steve J. have admitted doing so.
Have to agree. They put a couple of CEO's to jail to make like justice is being done, and the same assholes that caused the meltdown a year ago are still running the show, with billions of taxpayers money ta boot. The FBI's hands are tied so they go after a small time crook in a foreign country and stick out their chests and thump on them like apes. If I had millions to donate to either party, I'd probably never have to serve time. When was the last time the Mafia was gone after. They learned fast where the power lies,their all involved in politics. To top it off they get to write the laws that benefit them. Makes for a good movie.