3 February 2089IN CASE YOU WERE THINKING OF HACKING… (or doing anything destructive to Cybertown):
Earlier this year a young man obtained access rights that he was not entitled to and deleted some sections and features of Cybertown causing a great deal of damage. Because everything a person does online leaves "fingerprints", it was very easy to see who he was and exactly what he'd done and how. Because of the amount of damage done and the malice behind it, he was turned over to the Federal Authorities and is being prosecuted. The penalties for what he did include considerable jail time and very large fines. And even when he gets out of jail his time will no longer be his own.
A couple of weeks after this another young man obtained access rights that he was not entitled to and deleted some sections of a Colony. Even though he tried to make it look like others had done it and even used another's account, it wasn't hard to find out that it was him. Because of different circumstances surrounding the reasons for this hack attempt, he was banned from Cybertown with a serious warning that if he comes back or attempts any more hacks, he will be turned over to the authorities.
What you may not know is that the way things are these days if you hack, you will get caught.
A good reference on this is at http://phrack.infonexus.com/search.phtml?view&article=p52-5
As mentioned above, everything you do online leaves a fingerprint even when you try to disguise your footsteps and we and others have recently become much more sophisticated in tracking the activities of hackers.
Many people don't realize just how extensive are the numbers of things that are now covered under hacking under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and other recently enacted statutes. Every state now has considerable statutes on the subject. Some of the information can be seen at:
http://www.cybercrime.gov/
http://www.infosyssec.net/infosyssec/cybercrim1.htmlIt is a FEDERAL FELONY in the United States and other territories to try and obtain access to a restricted area by use of illegal entry. The FBI's National Computer Crime Squad (NCCS) investigates violations of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. These crimes cross multiple state or international boundaries.
Under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and under a variety of similar state and federal statutes (e.g. Unlawful Conduct on the Internet), it can be a crime to access or use a computer without authorization, to alter data in a computer without authorization, and to engage in other similar activities. Engaging in such activities also can make you liable for monetary damages to any person who is harmed by your activities.
In 1992 Congress amended the computer crime statute to punish those who, without the knowledge and authorization of the "persons or entities who own or are responsible for" a computer, bring about the transmission of "a program, information, code, or command to a computer or computer system" with the intent to cause damage to the computer or information in the computer or prevent the use of the system.
As well as punishing intentional conduct, the amended statute criminalizes those who act "with reckless disregard or a substantial and unjustifiable risk" of damage or loss, and would create a civil cause of action to obtain compensatory damages or injunctive relief for "any person who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of the section."
So what kinds of things in Cybertown are covered under these various statutes and could get you prosecuted and jailed? Here's just a short list:
a) stealing passwords
b) using unauthorised access rights to delete anything or anything for which you are not authorised
c) using your authorised access rights to do destructive things that were not the specific reason for which you were given those access rights
d) deleting files or records owned by a corporation
e) destructive acts that cause monetary damage to a corporation
f) locking people out of Cybertown and/or hiding them
g) many, many more (read the statutes!)There are also ways you can become an accessory to a hacking charge - for instance, if you conspired to let back into Cybertown a known hacker who had been banned and he then hacked Cybertown, you would be chargable as an accessory before the fact and could receive a similar sentence.
In addition, anything you post on a message board about a person that is false opens you up to prosecution for slander just as anything false you say about a person in chat opens you up to prosecution for libel.
We recommend that you think very carefully about the consequences in store for you if you attempt damage to Cybertown or its members.
