After a year of unemployment and a year of prison


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Thank you all for the support and kind words. It means a lot to me.

There is a huge difference between being assigned a sentance less than two years and being assigned a longer sentance.  Minimum security prisons are nothing like what you see on Oz.

http://www.hbo.com/oz/?ntrack_para1=leftnav_category0_show12

Also guys, let's lay off the discussion of Razor 1911 or any of their related "products"...

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Sorry, I didn't intend to bring on a warez discussion, and Fred's right, let's not talk about the specifics of the warez scene, releases and what not. I'll gladly answer any questions or discussions about my experiences, but please don't ask about anything illegal, as it's clearly a violation of the Neowin ToS. I just made this thread because I'm excited and anticipating getting the opportunity to resume a somewhat normal life.

Thank you all for the support and kind words. It means a lot to me.

Sorry, I didn't intend to bring on a warez discussion, and Fred's right, let's not talk about the specifics of the warez scene, releases and what not. I'll gladly answer any questions or discussions about my experiences, but please don't ask about anything illegal, as it's clearly a violation of the Neowin ToS. I just made this thread because I'm excited and anticipating getting the opportunity to resume a somewhat normal life.

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Dont worry dude. you havent broken any rules. others may ask, but so long as you dont give an answer you will be ok.

It's a good idea that many so far have come up with. Your story as well as Kevin Mitnicks and Adrian Lamo's...need to be told. Otherwise it's folklore. I think you should write a book, or get in touch with someone who is writing a book pertaining to either computer crimes, or warez, or just jail.

I think it sucks that because it's not "Black and White" that why you were there is an issue. I remember things like "and remember if you enjoy this release buy the game"... I guess that's not enough. Kinda like "you must be 18 years old to enter this site"....if I'm 14 and click it, who's really at fault?

Because of the organization and it's stability...that's why kingdoms fall. Targets they become.

Glad to know you're out, best of luck to you.

Pit..

Hey you're from Conover? Thats about an 2-3 hour drive from me.......Good luck getting  the job dude (Y)

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Yep, Conover, NC is home. The job I'm interviewing for is in Charlotte though, which is about an hours drive. Not too bad. I know people who commute a lot farther.

Shane (may i call you shane? lol)  man i think you should write a book about your story and things youve learned from your experiences. i'd buy it.  or...  download it..  :shifty:

good luck with your interview :)

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Please do call me Shane. :) You aren't the first person to suggest that I write a book based on my experiences. I'd like to do that, and I have written before, although it's all been training and technical material. Sitting down to write biographically is a lot different, and I feel like I would probably need the help of someone more experienced in that style of writing.

man

you are my american idol now!

u rocks!!!!

good luck with your interview, but is the job related to computer at all?

if not, then you are probably going to get it

but it's merely my personal thought

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Yes, the job is computer related. I would be the Systems Administrator for a very large non profit organization.

Good luck man in the future. R u allowed to talk about how you were arrested and how you run your group it would be intresting to know.

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I have no restrictions on what I'm allowed to talk about, at least not legally. Obviously I'm not going to discuss anything here that would violate the Neowin ToS, at least not without the Neowin managements blessing.

wow, shane! kudos and respect many many times

i grew up on Razor 1911 releases. in my country obtaining legal software back in the day was impossible. all the good soft was brought to us through your releases only.

i am sure in US you could get all the stuff legaly at a time. but in many other coutries you just could not. thanks for what you did! i know you had to pay for piracy, but the appreciation of Razor 1911 lives!!!

good luck with your job.

IT RAZOR 1911

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This is exactly why I want to destroy/change the American legal system, its plain stupid. You didn?t do anything THAT bad and if it wasn?t you it could have been someone else. You can?t control the internet like this, you should have received a small fine and have equipment seized at the MOST.

Edited by inphlict
This is exactly why I want to destroy/change the American legal system, its plain stupid. You didn?t do anything THAT bad and if it wasn?t you it could have been someone else. You can?t control the internet like this, you should have received a small fine and have equipment sized at the MOST.

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Oh believe me, they did take equipment. They took every computer I had (about 10 or so at the time), whether it had anything illegal on it or not. They said "anything that doesn't have illegal material on it will be returned to you" which was a total lie. I had a G4 server that I had just loaded OS X on (legally), nothing else, just the OS. I have the box and the CD's here, but they never returned it, and they never will.

I missed a couple of questions, and I didn't mean to ignore anyone, it was purely unintentional. So here goes.

wow......that's amazing and quite scary at the same time.  it's too bad you had to get mixed up in that ****.  i'm sure it was quite the learning experience.

edit: I'm curious.  Was it difficult getting interviews considering your background?

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Well, since I got home and got off of house arrest at the end of November, I've sent out tons of applications and resumes. So far, this is interview numero uno. Now granted, I'm not sending out applications to places all over the country, as I have no intentions of moving. I've lived here all my life, my family is here, and I like it here.

wow, razor, you sure had some great releases, i remember reading about the news that razor got shut down a while ago.

im really interested in your story, i usually dont read long stuff like that, but i thought it was really interesting and read it word by word. seems like hell. and makes me think ALOT.

good luck with your new job.

question, did you pay your fine? how much? did you get a shorter sentence?

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I had no fines or restitution to pay. The probation officer that did my pre-sentence investigation (called a PSI) determined that I couldn't afford to pay anything. You see, at the time that I got busted, I was the Network/Systems Administrator for a fiber optics components manufacturer. About a year after I got busted, my investigation was still ongoing, and the company I worked for went through some massive layoffs and downsizing. They cut the entire IT department in favor of outsourcing, which of course meant that I had no job. Now, no company is going to hire someone to fill an IT position knowing that they could potentially and very likely be going off to prison at any given time for who knows how long. So, I have pretty much gone with very little income aside from the few contract jobs that I could scrounge up or that friends would throw at me since November of 2002. In short, no, I didn't have any fines or restitution to pay. I couldn't have paid it, and still can't, even if I did.

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