For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “cracker”, it simply consists of people breaking into computers for illegal reasons and malicious intent. So when you hear the government goes to crackers for help, you can’t help but wonder where the government will go to for help. The case where the Orange County Superior Court Judge has been tried for having child pornography on his computer is a stand-out example of when the government used material obtained from crackers to prosecute.

Sometimes standing up for individual rights is not just a matter of principle, it’s common sense.The prosecution of former Orange County, Calif., Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline for child pornography is a case that stands out in this respect, and for reasons which have a lot to do with computer security.

Kline had downloaded images of child porn, including some that contained a trojan horse and had been left there by Brad Willman, a Canadian who calls himself Citizen Tipster. Based on what I’ve read, it appears that the images probably exploit some vulnerability that allows them to run malicious code.

Once Kline loaded the images, Willman, like any other bot herder, could gain access to his computer and do what he wished, including looking for evidence of who Kline was and passing it on to the authorities, and this he did. The government was willing to accept this evidence even though it was obtained by clearly illegal means. And the government made it clear they weren’t going to prosecute Willman, which effectively encourages him to continue his activities.[more]

Tags: Hackers, Privacy