Cosmo the God, a 15-year-old UG Nazi hacker, was sentenced Wednesday to six years without Internet or access to a computer.
The sentencing took place in Long Beach, California. Cosmo pleaded guilty to a number of felonies including credit card fraud, bomb threats, online impersonation, and identity theft.
Cosmo and UG Nazi, a group he runs, started out as a group in opposition to SOPA. Together with his group, Cosmo managed to take down websites like NASDAQ, CIA.gov, and UFC.com among others. Cosmo also created custom techniques that gave him access to Amazon and PayPal accounts.
According to Wired’s Mat Honan, Cosmo’s terms of his probation lasting until he is 21 will be extremely difficult for the young hacker:
“He cannot use the internet without prior consent from his parole officer. Nor will he be allowed to use the Internet in an unsupervised manner, or for any purposes other than education-related ones. He is required to hand over all of his account logins and passwords. He must disclose in writing any devices that he has access to that have the capability to connect to a network. He is prohibited from having contact with any members or associates of UG Nazi or Anonymous, along with a specified list of other individuals.”
Jay Leiderman, a Los Angeles attorney with experience representing individuals allegedly part of Anonymous also thinks the punishment is very extreme:
“Ostensibly they could have locked him up for three years straight and then released him on juvenile parole. But to keep someone off the Internet for six years — that one term seems unduly harsh. You’re talking about a really bright, gifted kid in terms of all things Internet. And at some point after getting on the right path he could do some really good things. I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life–his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it’s like taking away Mozart’s piano.”
There’s no doubt that for Cosmo, a kid that spends most of his days on the Internet, this sentence seems incredibly harsh. Since he’s so gifted with hacking and computers, it would be a shame for him to lose his prowess over the next six years without a chance to redeem himself. Although it wouldn’t be surprising if he found a way to sneak online during his probation. However, that kind of action wouldn’t exactly be advisable. It’s clear the FBI are taking his offenses very seriously and a violation of probation would only fan the flames.
Do you think the sentencing was harsh or appropriate punishment for Cosmo’s misdeeds?
It’s going to be more detrimental to his masturbatory schedule.
At no point had Mozart defrauded or hurt anyone by using his piano.
I think that comment really is making light of the damage that he has caused. The bomb threats alone are capable of jail time, I’m surprised he is getting off so easy.
I agree with Gregory…maybe it’s because of the “Mr-Spock” portion of his “name”, who knows, this Grandma approves of what he said and how he said it. Mostly. With some reservations. Did you see the – incomplete- list of all that the 15-year old had done with his computer knowledge? Last year my daughter had her bank acct and PayPal acct. hacked into and she lost everything she had…she had recently become unemployed, and as a single Mom of 3 girls, that measly amount of money which was from her tax returns and online schooling money was all she had…with careful budgeting they could have gone through at least six months while she looked for other work. They lost their home due to no income…and no, the girl’s Dad wasn’t paying his child support…nor has he since. Someone like this 15 year old had changed the lives of 4 people with their skills on the computer.–Same thing happened to several other people that had been friends of ours in the “real world” and many more online friends…all within the same month last year. Many were low-income, single Moms with children. NONE of them were able to get their money back. Lots of pain and hardship for them all. — At 15, this boy and his friends wreaked havoc to faceless people and thought nothing of it. Six years for an accumulation of how many people he defrauded and possibly caused similar pain to? Not enough, if you ask me. —I agree with Gregory about “education” for the kid. This kid wasn’t sitting in front of a video game system…he had collected a lot of knowledge in his 15 years and he used it doing evil. Do I think his skills should be used and honed more into a weapon we can use? No. Weapons hurt their own as well as the other guy….but…would rather he was “for” us rather than “against” us.
A lot of the same exploits that he’s used all this time will still be around, and usable, 6 years later.
A *real* punishment would be for him to sit in juvie with no access to any technology more sophisticated than a TV. There’s no reason why his regular high school education should be compromised(aside from a ban from any computer courses) – but it’s back to textbooks, calculators, and pen and paper for you kid. He should make good time going right back to the basics – math, multiple language courses, physics, chemistry, etc.
The mere fact that he’s still allowed to go online, albeit supervised – honestly is the shoulder-surfing officer really gonna know what he’s doing? He won’t. It’s really naive for anyone to think that he won’t be able to contact his buddies – they *will* find a way, and do so in plain sight. And what happens when he gets access to a smartphone(if they haven’t already taken his away)?
He’ll be hired as a security researcher once he gets outta juvie, just like how all the other hackers end up.
he shouldn’t have ANY access to the internet or computers, where’s the punishment?
*Next Week*
in other news, a kids gets job with FBI
haha I was just about to post the same thing. Don’t all of these child prodigies wind up working for a big security corporation or government agency?
Like half a year ago or so that guy from Anonymous worked with the CIA or FBI or something and took out a few members of Anonymous or something. not sure haha
The headline and article are ridiculously slanted and inflammatory.
He IS allowed to use computers and Internet, just supervised, with access restrictions, and/or for educational purposes.
How is that going to screw up his future? He doesn’t need to be playing MMORPGs or hacking into sites illegally or watching viral videos/porn/TV online in order to study everything he needs and access every site he need to have a great, completely prepared career in IT, networking, programming, etc. – or any other subject for that matter.
Again, they didn’t deny him ALL Internet or computer for 6 years. They only set some rules, since he obviously isn’t mature enough yet to grasp the concept of self discipline. He will probably, for example, be able to use computers at libraries, which are prevented from accessing a lot of sites anyway.
There are LOTS of teenagers whose parents basically set the same rules as the court did (and more should). Parents buy “nanny” programs that block access to certain things, monitor their kids’ Internet usage, etc. That’s their job – they’re parents, the adults who help children and teenagers learn to obey laws and rules.
The court has been EXTREMELY LENIENT in the sentencing. Yes, the court and the law in the person of the parole officer are acting in loco parentis to a large extent, but that’s part of their job when it comes to juvenile offenders.
They could have sentenced him to jail time – and increased the possibility he’d simply become a better criminal.
Instead, he’s been given a huge chance to turn his life around, and learn to use the skills and abilities he has the RIGHT way. (And if the writer of this article believes this is a “news” story, he’s a non-journalistic unprofessional idiot.)
Wow, he must had a lot of spare time on his hands!
Felonies are often detrimental to your future.. (Duh)
i hope he gets scouted by the military. we need good anti-hackers in our country.
He should have been sentenced to twenty years in prison!
When a kid gets into a fight, we show him what boxing can do.
When a kid does graffiti, we show him what a canvas can be sold for.
When a kid hacks… We take away all means of being creative and forget that he’s a child in need of being molded into something great.
This in my opinion, is a FAIL!
I agree to an extent, but some of his crimes were pretty serious!
Poor baby! Don’t they just hate it when they get caught!
No sympathy, he is a criminal, there are consequences, even for the over-indulged Californian youth.
Please….that ain’t nothing but a slap on the wrist. Hope the kid use his time wisely. Get a education and open those text books. If this child and his parents are smart. This kid is going places otherwise the cycle of dysfunctional behavior continues until he get into serious trouble. Not one soul is above reproach or above the law. Quite frankly hacking can get a individual harsh time. Ummmmm….jail ain’t for geeks.
Hack the planet! cue orbital….
What like you would prefer he immediately be offered a job with the Federal Government hacking criminals computers online.
it’s like taking the gun away from a killer
If you click on the link to his name, the Twitter account pops up as a girl but there is a boys picture in the article.
I’d take choose prison.
Cosmo don’t go to the dark side…Find Assange!!
It’s a LOCK that this kid will end up working for either the FBI or the National Counter Terrorism Center….
His career track is set. He will find a job pretty quick.
The gov’t will most likely hire him, if they already haven’t. Very common.
It makes me sad to be reminded that our laws and law makers are so I’ll equipped to keep up with the pace of change in the world today. Technology is moving fast and we need people influencing laws that understand that. :(
books may not be completely outdated but if you are going to do research on any subject, what would you think would be the most efficient use of your time, scouring your library or using google?
The notion that books are outdated is ridiculous. Not all knowledge is best as a computer code.
Matthew, its not that all knowledge is computer code that makes books outdated its that the time to write, proof, print, ship is far to long to keep the information in books relevant. Learning is also about how the individual can take in the information as much as it is about the information.
He’s already, been in contact; with David Mitnick! Has job offer, to be filled; as soon as he turns 20 1/2!
Delores, it’s clear you have absolutely no significant insight regarding the year 2012 and what “success” is. Opening a textbook is what learning to carve wood was in the 1980s. It’s almost completely useless.
This 15 year-old needs to be employed. He hacked mainly out of curiosity, to see if he could do it. There’s a big ‘underground network’ of people just like him doing far worse. I used to hang out on CCPower’s network years ago before it was shut down, watching over tons of identities (SSNs and other info). This kid wasn’t being nearly as bad as he could have been, and he knows it. Anyone who’s logged onto an IRC server full of programmers at least once knows this.
The problem here is the the judiciaries handling the case have YOUR exact idea of what adequate punishment is. The bottom line is that we need people like him and he can still be molded into our own weapon.
dont be disrespectful to Delores’ opinion, Greg. You don’t have to ridicule or be a bully to express your view. That’s just unnecessary. Just express it minus the condscention. and text books are still used in schools.
What young person can live without the internet in2012
ooooooo they really showd him i woulda done pin time if it was me , lil boy needa be glad at all he got
Hackers get in trouble!
And this is enforced how?
companies look for people like him to hire and use to make their security stronger