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MySpace Hackers Plead No Contest TMCnet Contributing Editor Two New York men accused of demanding “consulting fees” from MySpace and developing a code that tracked the website’s users have reportedly pleaded no contest to illegal computer access and two counts of attempted extortion in a plea deal with prosecutors on Monday. According to published reports, Shaun Harrison, 19 and Saverio Mondelli, 20, have avoided jail time but will be performing 160 hours of community service and were ordered to pay MySpace $13,500 in restitution. They were also prohibited to use the social networking site and they can only have one e-mail address for each. In addition, they were ordered to comply computer searches whenever the court demands it. The pair was reportedly offering code for $29.95 that can be used to collect the e-mail and IP  addresses of MySpace users. Stalkers who are seeking to locate MySpace users could have used this information. The men were able to sell several versions of the code, which also allows users to determine the number of people that had visited their MySpace pages, which is a violation of MySpace’s strict rules.Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Kristi Lousteau said should the pair violate the terms of their plea deal they will be likely sent to prison. Paul Gabbert, attorney for the two men, said his clients have acknowledged their mistakes and they should be given a second chance. Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey A. McGrath said the young men’s activities were discovered by MySpace operators and were immediately sent a “cease and desist” order through e-mail. The pair replied saying, “We will neither cease nor desist,” a prosecutor said. MySpace operators decided to stage a “quasi negotiation” that resulted to the two men’s arrests on May, 2006. The two flew to Los Angeles hoping to collect $150,000 in an entrapment operation by undercover Secret Service. --------- Beverly Maniago is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page. |