need help with juridic problem

[Bigred65]

my friend bought someting on the internet (a dvd writer program) for 450$ but he used a false number of a credit card...normally he uses a programm to hide is IP but this time he forgot and got caught.he received an e-mail from macromedia i think that told him he got caught and that he would receive information about what they were goig to do about it. They e-mailed back and sais they would take him to court and other stuff not sure what. What can he do? is there some law about the internet that can help him? in canada is an adult (18) but in USA he still a minor(have to be 21).any of you know i could get information on how to help him?

 

[TicklingDuo]

BigRed65 wrote he used a false number of a credit card...normally he uses a programm to hide is IP but this time he forgot and got caught.

I'm no lawyer but took a bit of law in school. If there have been no changes (which, there probably have been), here's my understanding...

The jurisdiction normally belongs to the area in which the crime occured. In this case, I believe it's the location of the injured party. Since it's internet theft/fraud that we'd be looking at here and it has crossed a state boundary, I believe it may also be a felony charge...though some jurisdictions only count it as a felony if the value is over $500. That would be lucky for him. Courts are getting really tough on internet fraud.

You say, he's done this before and simply got caught this time? My only advice would be to get a good lawyer who can talk some sense into the jerk and maybe plea it down a bit. He may not be considered a minor here in the states. That varies from one jurisdiction to another. Be thankful that he got caught with something relatively small and hope it will scare him straight before he does something that will cost him real time.

If there are any lawyers willing t answer, I bow to your greater and more current knowledge on the matter.

Ann

 

[P.H. Tickler]

Not good, not good at all!!!!!

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV... BUT, I do like to surf the web occasionally in the pursuit of education (go figure). I happened upon this site today written by what appears to be a very good attorney. Here is a page where he defines what is known about computer law.
http://www.rbs2.com/cdefn.htm

Basically, I come to the conclusion that you need new friends. why?
1. Credit Card fraud IS a federal offense, use of fake number generators like CCGen is illegal. (why do you think they kept shutting down the Silicon Toad site in the late 90's?)
2. Hiding an I.P., no competent hacker would ever forget to set up the proxy connections before going online (I'm guessing Proxy Hunter) ,and for the last two years, the CIA has unleashed a very dangerous "worm" called Carnivore... here's a link to some SCARY reading, made more scary by the passing of the PATRIOT act...
http://www.stopcarnivore.org
3. Macromedia... a SOFTWARE company. Why put yourself at risk for major offenses like credit card fraud when just about every known software package is available (reg. keys and all) for free with a certain unnamed "file sharing" program?

Just because a computer crime appears to have no "real" victim, the jail they'll throw you in is no less real than if he ran into a software store and shoplifted it. Perhaps if he infected himself with the Hybris32 worm (a.k.a. snow white and the 7 dwarves) he could claim someone hacked him, but you'd need to be a wizard in audit trail manipulation... it don't look good.
They WILL sieze the machine. It would probably be irresponsible of me to suggest a "government wipe" of the hard drive followed by 4 low-level formats and an O.S. re-install, so i better not!
Jurisdiction(sp?) gets fuzzy when the net is involved ,but I do believe Ann is right about the injured party's location.


g:h

 

[Strelnikov]

He should be thankful he didn't try to rip off a Saudi company. They still cut off thieves' right hands there.

Guy sounds like an asshole. PH is right, you need new friends.

Strelnikov