Posted on 02/04/2009 11:12:13 AM PST by nickcarraway
Terry Childs, the man whom prosecutors allege hijacked San Francisco's municipal computer network, will get another chance to meet with mayor Gavin Newsom. And this time the tête-à-tête will be in court instead of jail.
Childs, a network engineer, was hired by the city to work on the municipal network, which is used for city employee payroll and other services.
When a dispute arose with his boss, Childs was jailed and refused to turn over critical system information such as passwords to anyone but Newsom.
Defense Attorney Richard Shikman has as the court to have the criminal charges of felony network tampering against Childs dropped, arguing that his client might not have followed protocol, but didn't intend to disable the network.
Meanwhile, Childs has filed a $3 million claim against the city for civil rights violations stemming from his arrest and suspension, which City Attorney Dennis Herrera has deemed "completely without merit," spokesman Matt Dorsey told the Examiner.
San Francisco has spent over $1 million on outside contractors brought in to secure the network in the wake of Childs's suspension.
A report presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland which Newsom recently attended states that 42 percent of corporations believe disgruntled ex-employees are the greatest threat to their computer networks.
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