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From: kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: IDG Hackers
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Date: 29 Nov 90 20:48:09 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 859, Message 8 of 13


In article <14982@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jgd@convex.csd.uwm.edu (John G
Dobnick) writes:

> >> magazine, prompted two Staten Island, N.Y., teen-age brothers to break
> >> into the telephone mail system at International Data Group's
> >> Peterborough, N.H., office - where Gamepro is published - and cause
> >> $2.4 million worth of damage.

> > I wonder how likely that figure is to shrink under the gaze of a
> > competent defense lawyer 

> > [Moderator's Note: Suppose the damage was only $24,000; or $240, or
> > $24.  Then what?   PAT]

> I have no sympathy for the "teen-age brothers" who allegedly trashed
> the phone mail system -- if they are guilty they must pay the
> consequences.  And perhaps be made examples of.  [Cheee...  am I in a
> vindictive mood this morning, or what?  :-) ]

> However, I agree with the poster, Mr. Izenberg, about the "spector of
> Bellsouth".  It will be interesting to see how much the claimed monetary
> damages have been "inflated".  [I find the $2.4 million hard to swallow.]

I would have to agree here too.  In fact I thought about sending IDG a
FAX asking what in the world they could have on their voice-mail that
would be worth $2.4M?  Come on, even if they broke in and physically
destroyed the equipment you would be hard pressed to do $2.4M.  It is
also interesting to see this figure coming out of one of their own
periodicals.  (So far I haven't seen it anywhere else) My feeling is
that they are doing themselves and a lot of other people, who get hurt
by people doing the wrong thing, a dis-service by inflating the amount
of damage.  Especially if this amount comes down, the general public
will start getting the opinion that all cases are overly inflated.

I too feel that these kids (I don't think that the 17 year old should
be viewed as an adult, I know how I was at 17 :-)), should pay the
piper.  But to say that they did $2.4M worth of damage is a bit hard
to swallow.


Kurt Baumann        InterCon Systems Corporation
703.709.9890        Creators of fine TCP/IP products
703.709.9896 FAX    for the Macintosh.