SF city network admin gets 4 years.

Post #330,994 by Another Scott 8/7/10 10:13:02 PM Reply	SF city network admin gets 4 years. Out in 6 more months after credit for time served. http://www.sfgate.co...07/BA8F1EQIBQ.DTL A former engineer who prosecutors said held San Francisco's computer network hostage in a "power play" was sentenced Friday to a four-year prison term. Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson said Terry Childs was simply wrong in thinking he owned the computer system he built for the city. She sentenced the 45-year-old computer technician to four years in prison but gave him credit for time served, meaning he could be released within six months. Childs was found guilty in April of felony computer tampering and a separate allegation associated with how much the scheme cost the city. He was portrayed by prosecutors as a power mad techie who, facing reassignment because of workplace conflict, locked out his bosses from accessing the computer system by refusing to surrender vital codes he alone held. The network he built allowed various city computers to exchange e-mail and information. [...] Cheers, Scott.
Post #330,996 by folkert 8/7/10 10:53:16 PM Reply	I believe most of this was... From incompetence on the Management side of things, where he felt he was forced to protect the network. Even if he'd have cooperated they would have come to the same conclusions they did as he was ensuring the uptime of the network. I'll admit, I've got backdoors into nearly everything, IOW things you shouldn't do in normal circumstances. Things that if the firewalls are screwed, you can still get into them and fix them provided they have acted like you've set them up to do if they fail. So, I can see his point, but still he should have had all that stuff documented to prove things, its would have covered his butt and nearly prevented them from getting anywhere in the courts.
Post #330,998 by Another Scott 8/7/10 11:04:05 PM Reply	Yup. It's good to be careful and want to do one's job well. But (almost) nobody is irreplaceable, and documentation is key. (What if Childs had been hit by a bus?). Without documentation he had no way to prove his case; and even with it it's awfully close to the line. I do think that if it got to the point that he didn't trust his bosses or colleagues, then he should have found another job for his own sake. At least it will be over for him soon. Whether he'll be able to find a position that can use his expertise (especially in this economy) is another question though... Cheers, Scott.
Post #331,004 by scoenye 8/8/10 9:50:55 AM Reply	He could try Tuttle, OK...
Post #331,005 by Another Scott 8/8/10 10:02:51 AM Reply	:-) I had forgotten about that.

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