Imagine being imprisoned for more than four years without a trial, without a bail hearing, and without being allowed to have any visitors outside of immediate family and legal staff. Imagine what kind of a crime you would have to commit to be eligible for this treatment. Murder? Bank robbery? Terrorism? The crime of the century, it seems, is computer hacking.
             Kevin has been in federal custody since February 15, 1995 and has never been accused of violence, causing any sort of physical damage, or stealing. Yet he has been treated far worse than any violent criminal. Even the Oklahoma City bombers had a bail hearing!
             We live in an age where the brightest among us are often looked upon with fear and suspicion. The Kevin case has been filled with inaccuracies and distortions from the very beginning. These are the facts, verifiable through court records. Kevin has not been charged with stealing, engaging in credit card fraud, causing damage to a computer system, or even breaking into a computer system. What he has been charged with is misrepresenting himself on the phone (saying he was somebody he wasn't) and coming into possession of software belonging to major cellular phone corporations. At no point has Kevin been accused of trying to sell or subvert this software - all indications are that he was simply curious how it worked and whether there were intentional privacy holes that could affect all cellular phone users. The cellular companies responded to this by claiming millions of dollars in undocumented damages when all Kevin did - even according to the prosecution - was look at the software.
             Kevin pleaded guilty on March 26, 1999 to seven felonies, and admitted to cracking computers at cellular telephone companies, software manufacturers, ISPs and universities, as well as illegally downloading proprietary software from some of the victim companies. Four years, five months and 22 days after it began, The United States vs. Kevin cas...