• E-mail this page
• |  Print this page
• | 
• | 
• | 

Jury Of His IT Peers Would Throw The Book At Convicted Hacker, Poll Shows

By an overwhelming margin, InformationWeek.com readers would hit 26-year-old convicted hacker Joseph Patrick Nolan with the maximum sentence of 10 years in jail plus a $250,000 fine, according to results of a CIOs Uncensored online poll. That maximum sentence got the vote of 65% of respondents, while 14% voted for 1 year in prison and a $50,000 fine; another 14% voted for 1,000 hours of community service; and 7% voted for no penalty at all.

Just as the votes cast by readers tilted strongly toward the maximum penalty, reader commentary expressed little or no sympathy for Nolan. (As we reported earlier, the IT worker told his employer he was resigning, and in response the company told Nolan that if he signed a release form, he would be paid for his final two weeks without having to actually show up for work. According to court documents, Nolan failed to sign the required form, and so did not receive his final paycheck. Shortly thereafter, he hacked into the company's network and wiped out personnel and payroll files.) You can view some of those comments here, while among some of the more recent comments were these observations: