jail

Jailed SF network administrator faces fewer charges

A judge has dismissed most of the charges against a former San Francisco network administrator accused of hijacking the city's computer network he designed and maintained.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy on Friday tossed three tampering charges against Terry Childs, while preserving a lone charge of denying city authorities access to the network, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. Childs, who has been in custody since July 2008, had worked at San Francisco's Department of Telecommunication Information Services for five years. Childs, 44, is being held on $5 million bail.

Childs had formerly … Read more

U.K. prisoners doing time on Facebook?

I thought prison was supposed to be a miserable place.

But an increasing number of Facebook profiles are proving that it's really rather an entertaining spot to hang out in a recession.

It seems that prisoners in the United Kingdom are able to upload images and touching messages to their loved ones on the pages of Facebook. And their jailers either don't know it's happening or are too busy checking to see if Donkey's Dream won the 3.30 race at Royal Ascot.

Here is an example from the Facebook page of Ross Ajilo, a 19-year-old … Read more

The 404 235: Where now we love Christian rock

With Justin at home sick, we invite MTI into the studio today to take his place. After we take the proper sanitary precautions with Justin's microphone, we chat about Twitter's questionable decision to reject a $500 million buyout offer from Facebook.

Next it's on to a fairy tale story starring Steve Jobs as the fairy godmother. Seems some kid (who is clearly more well-off than the average college student) sent him an e-mail desperately seeking a student discount for Final Cut Studio. Jobs waved his magic wand and sent him the package totally free. Wow Steve, that's awfully nice of you. How bout hooking The 404 up with a Mac Pro that won't drop our Ustream feed?

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the short week. Download today's episode for more stories from around the Web, a ridiculously huge Calls from the Public session, and some Christian rock apologies.

EPISODE 235 Download today's podcast … Read more

Village Voice executives jailed in Phoenix

Just days after the House of Representatives passed the Free Flow of Information Act, The New York Times reports that two executives from Village Voice Media were arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, for revealing "grand jury secrets". Michael Lacey, the executive editor, and Jim Larkin, chief executive, were arrested at their homes after they wrote a story that revealed that the Village Voice Media company, its executives, its reporters and even the names of the readers of its website had been subpoenaed by a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor had been appointed to look into allegations that the newspaper had violated the law in publishing the home address of Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio on its website more than three years ago. The two have since been released, but the reverberations of this blatant assault on the press and of Arpaio's retaliatory behavior will likely resonate for some time. Although the original investigation stems from a column written by John Dougherty about Arpaio's real estate investments, the impetus for yesterday's arrest appears to be this week's Phoenix New Times cover story, " Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution". In the article, Lacey and Larkin acknowledge the fact that the story may generate a legal backlash, and imply that civil disobedience had become their last option.… Read more