My inbox has been flooded with emails of support, encouragement and best wishes from friends, family and people from around the world. The paypal legal defense fund is doing pretty well - and thus I thank everyone who has donated to the fund.
While the university's legal team have said they won't protect me - the professors/students here at IU have been amazingly supportive, esp. those in my department and my adviser in particular.
Members of the press: I really can't comment right now. Even if you send me an email saying you're on my side, I still can't comment. I urge you to read this blog going back for the last week or so, and top-notch coverage by places like Wired News and BoingBoing.
However, I can at least tell you that my last name is pronounced Soh-Goy-An.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
A bit of good news
Markey announced his change of heart Sunday morning in a press release:
On Friday I urged the Bush Administration to ‘apprehend’ and shut down whoever had created a new website that enabled persons without a plane ticket to easily fake a boarding pass and use it to clear security, gain access to the boarding area and potentially to the cabin of a passenger plane. Subsequently I learned that the person responsible was a student at Indiana University, Christopher Soghoian, who intended no harm but, rather, intended to provide a public service by warning that this long-standing loophole could be easily exploited. The website has now apparently been shut down.
Under the circumstances, any legal consequences for this student must take into account his intent to perform a public service, to publicize a problem as a way of getting it fixed. He picked a lousy way of doing it, but he should not go to jail for his bad judgment. Better yet, the Department of Homeland Security should put him to work showing public officials how easily our security can be compromised.
It remains a fact that fake boarding passes can be easily created and the integration of terrorist watch lists with boarding security is still woefully inadequate. The best outcome of Mr. Soghoian’s ill-considered demonstration would be for the Department of Homeland Security to close these loopholes immediately.
More here
On Friday I urged the Bush Administration to ‘apprehend’ and shut down whoever had created a new website that enabled persons without a plane ticket to easily fake a boarding pass and use it to clear security, gain access to the boarding area and potentially to the cabin of a passenger plane. Subsequently I learned that the person responsible was a student at Indiana University, Christopher Soghoian, who intended no harm but, rather, intended to provide a public service by warning that this long-standing loophole could be easily exploited. The website has now apparently been shut down.
Under the circumstances, any legal consequences for this student must take into account his intent to perform a public service, to publicize a problem as a way of getting it fixed. He picked a lousy way of doing it, but he should not go to jail for his bad judgment. Better yet, the Department of Homeland Security should put him to work showing public officials how easily our security can be compromised.
It remains a fact that fake boarding passes can be easily created and the integration of terrorist watch lists with boarding security is still woefully inadequate. The best outcome of Mr. Soghoian’s ill-considered demonstration would be for the Department of Homeland Security to close these loopholes immediately.
More here
A couple things
For those of you who do not want/cannot interact with Paypal, donations to the legal defense fund can also be sent to:
Christopher Soghoian
School of Informatics
Indiana University
901 E 10th St
Bloomington, Indiana 47408
USA
Please put my name as payable to.
The legal advice I've gotten thus far has been to not talk to the press for now.
Christopher Soghoian
School of Informatics
Indiana University
901 E 10th St
Bloomington, Indiana 47408
USA
Please put my name as payable to.
The legal advice I've gotten thus far has been to not talk to the press for now.
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