back to article Yahoo! webmail! hacker! faces! nearly! eight! years! in! the! cooler!

The Canadian hacker who helped Russian agents by breaking into more than 11,000 Yahoo email accounts could spend the next eight years behind bars, if American prosecutors get their way. The case against Karim Baratov entered its sentencing phase this week as both sides submitted to a California federal district judge their …

  1. Camilla Smythe

    Yabbut. It wuz forrin 'puters.

    and he did it from our soil. Bloke should get a medal.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Yabbut. It wuz forrin 'puters.

      "Bloke should get a medal."

      All those down-votes. Obviously none of them heard the whoosh.

      1. Camilla Smythe

        Re: Yabbut. It wuz forrin 'puters.

        My fault for leaving out the, binary, context. Perhaps I should have used the 'whoosh' icon... Oh!

        RFC:

        We need a Whoosh icon for when Joke Alert might not fully express the concern of a polarized response where the post implies but avoids making the authors intent clear.

        The Whoosh Icon will comprise a head and paw image of a Hamster holding a sunflower seed in their paws with the word Woosh!1! above its head.

        1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

          Re: Yabbut. It wuz forrin 'puters.

          Why a hamster?

          1. Camilla Smythe

            Re: Yabbut. It wuz forrin 'puters.

            Why a hamster?

            The imagery appeals.

  2. Sierpinski

    "Additionally, Mr Baratov was under the age of 22 during the majority of the time that he hacked email accounts," they argue."

    That's an interesting spin on "He didn't outgrow his behavior after becoming an adult."

    1. Mark 65

      Baratov's team, meanwhile, contends this was his first run-in with the law and he was in his teens for much of the alleged activity

      "The Extenuating circumstances in the instant matter are plentiful. This is Mr Baratov’s first arrest. Additionally, Mr Baratov was under the age of 22 during the majority of the time that he hacked email accounts," they argue [PDF].

      To these two points I would respond:

      1. First run-in with the law simply translates to first time caught breaking it

      2. Who gives a shit? He was an adult and the age of criminal responsibility is substantially lower.

  3. Florida1920
    Pirate

    Natural life

    Send these cretins a message.

  4. EveryTime

    "My client deeply regrets the choices which led to him being before this court."

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      "My client deeply regrets the choices which led to him being before this court."

      "Particularly the ones that led him to get caught"

  5. Mark 85

    I wonder how hard the lawyers would argue in his defense if it were their accounts (or their law firms accounts) that had been hacked? Just musing....

    1. veti Silver badge

      What strikes me is the closeness between proposed sentences. One side wants him to get 94 months, the other 45 months? That's - really not a very wide difference of opinion.

      If I were employing the defense team, they should be seeking a writ of "boys will be boys" and arguing for a six month suspended sentence, or whatever it's called in California.

    2. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

      "I wonder how hard the lawyers would argue in his defense if it were their accounts"

      Lawyers will argue the defence of child killers and sex-slave-rapist-kidnappers, i dont think they'd have a problem.

      They'd probably use the line : "Well he hacked mine too and I didnt mind that much ..."

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eight years is way too short

    Digital crims should be spending far longer time at the Iron Bar Hotel for their crimes.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is one of my concerns with plea bargaining - the facts are not considered. The result is that the prosecutor's version becomes the accepted story.

    1. Lexeus

      Yea, but when you are this idiot and you know the facts are worse than the prosecutors story, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to admit your guilt and say "yea, yea, that's what I did, i'm really sorry....... don't check under the carpet...."

  8. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

    Maybe! It's! Just! My! Intellecatual! Level! But! Somehow! That! Yahoo! Headline! Exclamation! Mark! Joke! Doesn't! Get! Old!

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