The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2

One thing I'm still not clear on: what would have happened if the German Police hadn't managed to catch him before he boarded the plane?

They would send him to Nova Prospekt.

The American government has far less tolerance for hacking into corporate space and sabotaging their finances (indirectly or not). He'd probably be in jail if they'd gotten ahold of him.

Worse, they'd have confiscated his computer and never let him play games again.

...you know, this is a lot like that movie Hackers.

Isn't it a bit early for April Fool's Day?

Yeah, someone sending German police after a hacker. That's plain unrealistic.

Thumped for switching the discussion from the topic to a person.

Hey, JAF? Could you leave the Sony bashing out of non-Sony threads?

Not Sony-bashing. This is just corporation-bashing

Except Valve is one of the good corporations, as crazy as that may sound.

@Roxor: No, it actually happened. Keep in mind, he was associated with a notorious worm, and I'm sure that authorities would jump at the chance to catch cybercriminals.

edited 23rd Feb '11 6:08:40 PM by RocketDude

I can't believe he fell for a pretty obvious trap, though. Yeah, Valve totally wants to work with a hacker who probably knows jack about game coding and design who just cost them a pretty penny.

He was 16 years old and eager to develop for Valve.

And he didn't think that it might not be a good idea to give someone a copy of the stolen goods, so...

Still, glad to hear he turned his life around.

Glad this was Germany and not America. You could bet your ass the US court system and its retarded zero tolerance policy would have locked him up and turned him into a real criminal.

If the kid was a little bit smarter he would have suggested to Valve to become part of their online security personnel. If he was decently smart he would have spotted the trap during his phone call. (And if he was actually smart, then he would have kept his involvement entirely secret the whole time, despite his remorse.)

._.

...I still find idea of having armed guys take in the hackers really idiotic. I mean, seriously... Well, good that guy didn't get bad end.

I think the armed police was just a precaution. I'm not sure if they knew if he was armed potentially, so it may have been justified.

That said, he's really lucky the German police got him before he could board that plane. You know the U.S. courts would have him jailed for years on end. That, and he does regret having it end up on the internet. What's done is done though.

Heh, the police said, "Get out of bed. Do not touch the keyboard."

Did they think he was going to hack their brains to escape?

The mind control chips, there real I tell's you! Real!

They were afraid he was going to warn the creator of Sasser Worm, who they raided on the same day.

I think they were also afraid that he might quick-format his computer in an attempt to destroy evidence.

No quick format needed when there is a window nearby.

I of course, joking. I bet he must of shitted his pants when he went to grab a knife and they took aim at him.

If he lived in the US, he'd be secreted by the government and hacking other countries databases.

^...You're joking, right?