Mitnick's ham license ?

[Robert E. Seastrom]

Andre Kesteloot <andre.kesteloot@ieee.org> writes:

> Mitnick to Plead for Ham License

Kevin is N6NHG.  www.QRZ.com thinks that it expired in 1999.

> The Federal Communications Commission filed an action in late
> December to revoke Mitnick's amateur radio license. The commission
> does not charge (PDF) that Mitnick, who spent four-and-a-half years
> behind bars on various hacking charges, has violated any amateur
> radio rules or regulations. It is rather that the court fears, based
> on his past actions, he might violate those rules in the future.

That creates one heck of a dangerous precedent.  As one who has been
pink-slipped by an Officious Observer for going 24 minutes between IDs
in a long-winded QSO, the FCC might well conclude that based on my
previous conduct (being a blabbermouth), I might be likely to "violate
those rules in the future" too.

> The amateur radio community appears to be split over whether Mitnick
> should retain his license, according to Bennett Kobb, a journalist who
> covers communications and the author of Wireless Spectrum Finder, a
> guidebook for amateur radio enthusiasts.
> 
> "Kevin is a high-profile 'bad guy,' and so I suspect a lot of people
> in the amateur radio community would applaud if his license was
> pulled," Kobb said. "A lot of people only know what they have read
> in the media about Kevin."

Kevin is a high-profile punk who has a gift for social-engineering and
likes to play with technology.  I've met him though he almost
certianly doesn't remember me; I certainly don't count him as a
friend.  Nevertheless, if the story as related before is true, the FCC
ought to leave Kevin Mitnick alone.

                                        ---Rob