A 23-year-old man, accused of being involved with the 2008 PlayStation Network hacks, has been given a year of house arrest. Interestingly, the sentence is not for hacking. Todd M. Miller, the accused, was instead punished for destroying his computers and disposing of his hard drives before the authorities could return with a search warrant.
"U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus said Miller was part of the KCUF clan, a group of hackers who organized an attack on Sony's computer servers in San Diego in 2008 and beyond. After the FBI interviewed Miller in 2011, they returned with a search warrant and found that his hard drives were missing and he had smashed his computers," The Columbus Dispatch reports.
According to court records, the FBI did not have enough evidence to charge Miller with hacking and so, they nailed him with "obstructing a federal investigation." In addition to a year of house arrest, Miller is also sentenced to three years of probation and is ordered to complete a high-school equivalence certificate. Miller, who has a ninth-grade education, appears to have gotten away with a light penalty given the fact he could have faced up to 20 years prison and a $250,000 fine if enough evidence was present.
Miller told the judge that he was "immature and ignorant and caught up with the wrong people at the wrong time" when he destroyed the computers. He acknowledged that he learned a lesson and assured the judge that he will not see him again. "Economus told Miller he could "see no purpose in sentencing you to prison" because Miller has a full-time job and some stability in his life after a tumultuous childhood," the report said.
