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Comment by tlrobinson | Hacker News Reader

In the San Jose case, all 14 suspects are accused of using a free program called Low Orbit Ion Cannon

...

When you have a decentralized group,” Ms. Granick said, “the question is, Are there big fish, and are any of these people big fish?”

No.

They're basically going to ruin a few kids' lives in order to deter other kids from "hacking" with things like LOIC.

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> They're basically going to ruin a few kids' lives in order to deter other kids from "hacking" with things like LOIC.

They'll get probation is it's their first offense. Judges do have brains you know, and don't toss people in jail (or fine them) just because the prosecution wants them to.

But I doubt it'll go to trial. The prosecution will get lots of media out it (which is all they really want). Then they'll offer a plea bargain deal with probation, and that'll be all.

But then it would be on their record, wouldn't it?

Yah. You can sometimes get those purged if you complete the probation without issues. It depends on the judge I guess.

Have you seen the ages of the people arrested, I wouldn't say many of them are 'kids', one was i believe like 42, another 36 and another 32.. This from 'fox news':

"The department identified the suspects in the California indictment as Christopher Wayne Cooper, 23, aka “Anthrophobic;” Joshua John Covelli, 26, aka “Absolem” and “Toxic;” Keith Wilson Downey, 26; Mercedes Renee Haefer, 20, aka “No” and “MMMM;” Donald Husband, 29, aka “Ananon;” Vincent Charles Kershaw, 27, aka “Trivette,” “Triv” and “Reaper;” Ethan Miles, 33; James C. Murphy, 36; Drew Alan Phillips, 26, aka “Drew010;” Jeffrey Puglisi, 28, aka “Jeffer,” “Jefferp” and “Ji;” Daniel Sullivan, 22; Tracy Ann Valenzuela, 42; and Christopher Quang Vo, 22. One individual’s name has been withheld by the court.

A fox news link? Surely there must be something more credible somewhere.

It's not clear from that description that they have people who are members of a group in any meaningful sense at all, versus just random people who downloaded/used the app.

I forked it on GitHub. Should I worry?

No. Were you serious? Just downloading it is not illegal - it's using it to DOS someone that is illegal.

You can even DOS your own site with it and be fine. Just not someone else.

"..even DOS your own site with it and be fine"

What if there are other sites/services are hosted on the same physical box?

Then it's not "yours", you are renting it, and whoever you bought hosting from specifically disallowed you to do that, and then you shouldn't.

Their lives aren't going to be ruined, especially if they're a minor. However, they took part in shutting down a business temporarily and need to be punished.

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