A Symantec software engineer by the name of Barry Erickson has been sentenced to 33 months in prison following his guilty plea in the still unfolding DrinkOrDie piracy bust. According to prosecutors Mr. Erickson provided Symantec software to software hackers in DoD to defeat various copy protection schemes, as well as for illegal release on to the internet. As part of his plea agreement Mr. Erickson has agreed to state that he caused between $2.5 million and $5 million worth of damages as a result of his actions, a number that is right in line with damages being admitted to by other DoD members.
An interesting side note to this story. While it looks like Symantec's SETI@home team will be getting a little less help contacting little green men for the next few years, it also appears as though the federal government is being harder on pirates than other "cyber criminals." For example, earlier this week the author of the infamous Melissa computer virus was sentenced to 20 months in prison, a full year less than Mr. Erickson. While the Melissa author faces a number of other state charges at the moment, the federal government is finished with him, and the damages he admitted to exceeded $80 million.
News source: RPM Games
