[eno_]

The truth is that Mitnick is no angel. He may in fact have stolen things of value. But the "millions of dollars in damage" is pure hype. Hackers should be punished like other criminals - in line with the actual damage they do. If someone steals my car AND hacks the password on the cell phone in order to fence it, he is still a car thief and should get the same penalty as a car thief, plus whatever addtional for stealing a cell phone. We don't need to turn common criminals into super-criminals just to glorify the people that catch hackers.

[dheretic]

Of course, no one wants to see the Enron execs get life without the possibility of parole for their crimes. Those evil hackers, they're super terrorists! A part of the blame falls on those who facilitate the crime. AFAIAC, anyone that leaves critical infrastructure exposed to outside networks should get locked away for years.