I'm okay with it. Weev is the type of guy I wish was behind bars. He's a stain with no redeeming qualities that I can tell. He takes a lot of joy in causing people pain, and many peoples lives are better with him behind bars. So I don't really care if it's for wire fraud or tax evasion.

I owe someone else on HN for introducing me to this quote:

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." —H. L. Mencken

Unpleasantness is not a crime. Which judging from your post is probably something you should be thankful for.

What weev did crossed many times into criminal territory. He harassed a lot of people in ways that made it either hard or unlikely to press charges.

Seriously, save the reaching argument for people who aren't complete scumbags.

I think that people who employ your kind of cowboy-film morality on suspension of rights for those they dislike to be complete scumbags.

I'd still want you to have a fair hearing if you ended up in the shit however, as I hold the quaint notion that the criminal justice system should at least attempt to be more than a popularity contest if it wants to retain any kind of legitimacy.

So prosecute him for the shit that deserved prosecution and leave the CFAA out of it.

Well someday we'll get CFAA reform... but even then I'm convinced that weev in particular would still have run afoul of it in this case (though presumably a misdemeanor variant of it).

Security researchers in general wouldn't run afoul of even the current version IMO, though it's certainly prudent for security researches to re-emphasize how key some of those techniques are for them, so that we don't end up in a surreal situation where even altering a URL, cookie, etc. one time would subject one to conviction under CFAA.

What the current version means depends on how it works out in prosecutions. If weev is prosecuted, normal security research is endangered.

That's the whole point of the Mencken quote squeak posted. Another favourite: "Bad cases make bad laws" - if bad principles get enshrined in the precedents made by convictions of bad people, those bad principles will hurt good people or good activity down the line. That's precisely why the EFF, Schneier, Felten, et al., are devoting their precious time to this case.

Prison as punishment to force behavioral changes is really messed up, even if Weev is a scumbag.

What exactly did he do to other people?

If a person is a criminal in general I don't really care if hasn't done the one particular crime he is nailed for if he is clearly guilty of others, but just being an ass should not be criminal.