Declan writes:
Feel free to read the plea agreement (politechbot.com) yourself and draw your own conclusions.
I did. The plea agreement is essentially verbatim what the prosecution was saying in its press releases when Mr. West was disputing the prosecution's account. I fail to see why Mr. West being coerced into signing this government editorial renders moot his extremely cogent prior arguments as to why it was bullshit. As an example... [WEST penetrated a security hole in the website of the Poteau Daily News and Sun, employed a user ID and password, and downloaded computer files of value."] The word "and" does not imply that any of these things was enabled by any of the others. Particularly it does not imply that Mr. West used the user ID and password to gain access to and to download files not otherwise available. It merely states that he downloaded some files, AND noticed a security hole, AND tried a userid and password he had found. Indeed, merely browsing the site would have "downloaded" files according to the letter of the law. Such deceptive weasel-wording and juxtiposition of facts having no cause and effect relationship is typical of plea agreements. I wish it wasn't also typical of most news reporting. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"