Former Reuters Journalist Matthew Keys Sentenced to Two Years for Hacking

Such a BAD use of tax payer money. So now we have to pay for 2 years of jail time (Probably 1 year for good behavior) for giving a key (That was actually not proven but was believed by the juror. The crime was the defacing of ONE page. This key also should have been revoked after he left the company.<p>The recommendation of 7 years is just crazy and even the lowered 5 years is just nuts. If you just look at the cost to the newspaper it was at one point almost a million dollars when the fix for the page was one editor reverting the page.<p>&gt; In order to be convicted of felony under the particular provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act which prosecutors used to charge Keys, the conduct must exceed a threshold of $5,000.<p>That someone is responsible for paying a company to sure up their security is an issue. Or the inflation of cost to so Federal Prosecutors can get another win under their belt. That over reach is pretty high in this case.

If someone broke into the tribune&#x27;s printing office (which perhaps didn&#x27;t collect the key or change the lock when they fired someone) and that person changed the headline and a byline for an article in the paper that went out to thousands of people, I still have a hard time believing a court would put that person in prison for 2 years because of it.<p>At some point we have to acknowledge these tough cyber laws do nothing but pass down intentionally harsh sentences to the unlucky few Americans that get the book thrown at them.<p>I predict we&#x27;ll look back at them with the same embarrassment and shame we do mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws now.

For those catching up, I made a timeline of the case: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;newslines.org&#x2F;matthew-keys&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;newslines.org&#x2F;matthew-keys&#x2F;</a>

I&#x27;ve read like 20 stories and I still can&#x27;t figure out what Keys did that is actually illegal. He (or someone else) posted the login credentials to the Tribune&#x27;s CMS, and then someone used those credentials to login and deface the site? Or am I missing something?<p>That&#x27;s like saying you can get in trouble for giving someone a key to your old apartment, and then they go use it to unlock the door and do whatever they feel like inside. Or can you get in trouble for this, as maybe, an accessory?