Riccardo Calixte has finally regained access to the social networking asylum / porn database that is the internet.
The Boston College student and IT worker’s three laptops, two cell phones, two iPods, digital camera and fifteen other electronic storage devices were seized in a raid last month after his roommate accused him of sending malicious emails and hacking into the school’s network, according to the online tech publication The Register.
The former roommate and prosecution alleged Calixte used the school’s network to change grades, sent emails to multiple recipients saying the roommate visited a gay dating site, and downloaded “illegal” files. Of course, by illegal files, the Register means he downloaded movies and mp3s. Are we still on that?
In their argument, the prosecution read the roommate’s statement, which alleged that Calixte “uses two different operating systems to hide his illegal activities.”
According to the Register, the prosecution then explained that once computer was a “regular B.C. operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on,” and that it was “not uncommon for Mr. Calixte to appear with unknown laptop computers which he says are given to him by Boston College for field testing or he is ‘fixing’ for other students.”
They maintained the emails violated the Boston College network’s terms of use.
Rushing to Calixte’s aid was the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco organization dedicated to defending and interpreting legal rights and issues involving the internet and electronics.
Along with a Boston law firm, the EFF successfully argued their client’s case. Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Margot Botsford threw out the search warrant last Thursday, claiming that the evidence was “troublingly weak” in her written opinion
Botsford ruled that was insufficient evidence to warrant the search and that there was no clear violation of the law. The bulk of the prosecution’s case was the sole testimony of the disgruntled roommate, which the defense cleverly pointed out.
Police officials had agreed to return everything except one of his laptops, which still could hold valuable evidence if they ever managed to break into it. (Now that’s a security system!.) The ruling now forces them to return all of the seized equipment.
Our Take:
Okay, let’s delve into this together, shall we?
“Uses two different operating systems to hide his illegal activities. One is the regular B.C. operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.”
- Yeah, that’s called the command prompt geniuses. We’ve all got one. (Start Menu: All Programs: Accessories: Command Prompt. Now close it before you accidentally hack something!) I had to use mine not too long ago to resize disk storage. (Thanks Vista.)
“Not uncommon for Mr. Calixte to appear with unknown laptop computers which he says are given to him by Boston College for field testing or he is ‘fixing’ for other students.”
-He worked in Boston College’s IT department! He should have all sorts of crazy equipment, be working all the time, and know how to do stuff beyond updating your Facebook status. He might be a hacker, but none of that was reason to suspect anything.
I would like to laud Justice Margot Botsford for her ability to recognize the flaming bag of fecal matter that was the prosecution’s case. As someone who can do more than the average PC user, their whole argument just made me laugh incessantly until I realized how truly dangerous their lack of knowledge is.
This is reminiscent of the Lori Drew – Megan Meier MySpace case. Both deal with hurtful emails and internet libel, though obviously this is more cut and dry. Lori Drew is scheduled for three years in prison, while Riccardo Calixte will have no charges filed… until they decide he’s hacked CIA.
