All that is as may be, but the CFAA charge here isn't pretextual; what he's alleged to have done is pretty serious by any standard. I have no trouble believing that the prosecution was motivated by Tor drama, but all that tells me is that the DOJ had real cards to play, and they played them.

My guess is that things would have gone substantially worse for this person had he taken that case to trial.

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heavyset_go 14 hours ago | parent [-]

Having seen the system up close, I hesitate to draw conclusions from cases that don't go to trial. Doesn't really sound like they have the means to afford trial, or at least a chance at a fair one.

	▲	tptacek 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's a pretty good reason not to break into your former employer's data center to unplug a bunch of servers because you're mad they terminated your contract. That would not have been a difficult case to prove up.