I have considerable interest in this case, as you may guess from the content. I am very happy this has happened, but gods – 12 years is a punishment even if it ends in expungement…

news.com.com.com.com

A former Intel contractor has seen his conviction for hacking into the company’s systems expunged, after a battle lasting more than a decade.

Randall Schwartz had his arrest and conviction for bypassing Intel security systems “set aside” at the beginning of February, legally giving him a clean slate.

Schwartz was arrested in 1993 after using a program called “Crack” to find out the passwords of various former colleagues in the Intel Supercomputer Systems Division (SSD). Schwartz had left SSD under a cloud, and told the court he decided to crack the Intel passwords to show that SSD’s security had gone downhill since he had left, and to reestablish respect he said he had lost when he left SSD.

In late 1995, Schwartz was convicted of three counts of computer crime and ordered to pay Intel $68,000 restitution. His sentence also included five years of probation, 480 hours of community service and 90 days of deferred (cancelable) jail time. His legal bill exceeded $170,000 by the end of 1995.