A little history here: Mittnick was a criminal who used his computer knowledge to defraud the phone company of $$$, and he did his "best work" using social engineering. A con game is still a con game, even if the pigeon deserved the loss.

We don't really know how Lamo got in, do we? Someone mentioned that he only took what was available on the web site. Did he open the gate? cross the lawn? break open the door? enter the house? blow open the safe? In physical crimes, each of these steps constitutes an escalating level in the severity of the crime. Why is it that doing the same things on a computer are all illegal, at the same severity? Isn't that what most of the debate is about?

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