Editing Kevin Mitnick (section)

==== Arrest, conviction, and incarceration ====
[[File:Free Kevin sticker.svg|thumb|alt=Black sans serif text "FREE KEVIN" on a yellow background|Supporters from ''[[2600: The Hacker Quarterly|2600 Magazine]]'' distributed "Free Kevin" [[bumper sticker]]s.<ref>{{cite web | title=Freedom Downtime - The Story of Kevin Mitnick | website= archive.org| date=October 23, 2016 | url=https://archive.org/details/FreedomDowntime-TheStoryOfKevinMitnick | access-date=May 14, 2019}}</ref>]]
After a well-publicized pursuit, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] arrested Mitnick on February 15, 1995 at his apartment in [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], [[North Carolina]] on federal offenses related to a two-and-a-half-year period of computer hacking that included computer and [[Mail and wire fraud#Wire fraud|wire fraud]].<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/February95/89.txt.html |title=Fugitive computer hacker arrested in North Carolina |date=February 15, 1995 |publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]] |website= usdoj.gov |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120629/http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/February95/89.txt.html |archive-date=June 29, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''[[The Colbert Report]]''{{nonspecific|date=July 2023}}</ref> He was found with cloned cell phones, more than 100 cloned cellular phone codes, and multiple pieces of false identification.<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao/legacy/2006/06/30/usab4902.pdf | title = Supervised Release and Probation Restrictions in Hacker Cases | first = Christopher M. E. | last = Painter | journal = United States Attorneys' USA Bulletin | publisher = [[Executive Office for United States Attorneys]] | date = March 2001 | volume = 49 | issue = 2 | access-date = April 19, 2015 | archive-date = July 21, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150721034020/http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao/legacy/2006/06/30/usab4902.pdf | url-status = live}}</ref>

In 1998, Mitnick was charged in the [[United States District Court for the Central District of California]] with 14 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of possession of unauthorized access devices, interception of wire or electronic communications, unauthorized access to a federal computer, and causing damage to a computer.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1998/09/hacker-cant-get-access/|title=Hacker Can't Get Access|first=Arik|last=Hesseldahl|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|via=wired.com|date=September 4, 1998|access-date=July 20, 2023|archive-date=July 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720054608/https://www.wired.com/1998/09/hacker-cant-get-access/|url-status=live}}</ref> As part of a [[plea bargain]], Mitnick pleaded guilty in 1999 to four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud, and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication. U.S. district judge [[Mariana Pfaelzer]] sentenced Mitnick to 46 months in federal prison plus 22 months for violating the terms of his 1989 supervised release sentence for computer fraud. He admitted to violating the terms of supervised release by hacking into [[Pacific Bell]] voicemail and other systems and to associating with known computer hackers, in this case co-defendant Lewis De Payne.<ref name="sciencedirect.com">{{cite journal|title=Super-hacker Kevin Mitnick takes a plea| doi=10.1016/S1361-3723(99)90141-0|volume=1999|issue=5|page=6|journal= Computer Fraud & Security|year=1999|last=Gengler|first=Barbara}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/news/1997/cac70627_1.html|title=Computer Hacker Kevin Mitnick Sentenced to Prison |website=fas.org |publisher= Federation of American Scientists| date=June 27, 1997|access-date=February 16, 2020|archive-date=April 15, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190415034136/https://fas.org/irp/news/1997/cac70627_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kevin Mitnick sentenced to nearly four years in prison; computer hacker ordered to pay restitution to victim companies whose systems were compromised |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/mitnick.htm |publisher=United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California, U.S. Department of Justice |website= usdoj.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926231348/http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/mitnick.htm |archive-date=September 26, 2009 |date=August 9, 1999 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He was diagnosed with [[Asperger syndrome]], but it was not used as evidence because he pleaded guilty before going to trial.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ghost-in-the-wires-the-kevin-mitnick-interview/|title=Ghost in the Wires: The Kevin Mitnick Interview|last=Hess|first=Ken|website=[[ZDNET]]|date=September 12, 2011|access-date=November 5, 2022|archive-date=November 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105223338/https://www.zdnet.com/article/ghost-in-the-wires-the-kevin-mitnick-interview/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Mitnick served five years in prison—four-and-a-half years' pre-trial and eight months in [[solitary confinement]], because, according to Mitnick, law enforcement officials convinced a judge that he had the ability to "start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/social-engineering-101-mitnick-and-other-hackers-show-how-its-done/ |title=Social Engineering 101: Mitnick and other hackers show how it's done |date=July 20, 2008 |first=Elinor |last=Mills |work=[[CNET]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713/http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-9995253-83.html |archive-date=July 13, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> implying that law enforcement told the judge that he could somehow dial into the [[NORAD]] modem via a payphone from prison and [[phreaking|communicate with the modem by whistling]] to launch [[Nuclear weapons delivery|nuclear missiles]].<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1XsJW6X4pc&app=desktop/ | title = Famed hacker to Snowden: Watch out | work = [[CNN]] | access-date = May 8, 2020 | archive-date = March 30, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220330233351/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1XsJW6X4pc&app=desktop/ | url-status = live}}</ref> In addition, a number of media outlets reported on the unavailability of [[Kashrut|kosher]] meals at the prison where he was incarcerated.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1999/08/life-not-kosher-for-mitnick/|magazine=Wired |title=Life Not Kosher for Mitnick|last=Thomas|first=Douglas|date=August 18, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206212439/https://www.wired.com/1999/08/life-not-kosher-for-mitnick/|archive-date=6 December 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mitnick was released from prison on January 21, 2000. During his supervised release period, which ended on January 21, 2003, he was initially forbidden to use any communications technology other than a landline telephone.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bowker |first=Art |title=Hackers, Sex Offenders, and All the Rest |url=http://www.corrections.com/cybercrime/?p=365 |website= corrections.com| publisher= | access-date=September 14, 2018 |archive-date=September 14, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180914061033/http://www.corrections.com/cybercrime/?p=365 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under the plea deal, Mitnick was also prohibited from profiting from films or books based on his criminal activity for seven years, under a variation of the [[Son of Sam law]].<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.ulm.edu/news/2016/104-worlds-most-famous-hacker-kevin-mitnick-to-speak-ulm-business-symposium.html|title=World's most famous hacker Kevin Mitnick to speak at ULM Business Symposium|website= ulm.edu|access-date=July 20, 2023|archive-date=December 8, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221208100710/https://www.ulm.edu/news/2016/104-worlds-most-famous-hacker-kevin-mitnick-to-speak-ulm-business-symposium.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In December 2001, a [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) judge ruled that Mitnick was sufficiently rehabilitated to possess a federally issued [[amateur radio]] license.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/technology/27HACK.html | title = F.C.C. Lets Convicted Hacker Go Back on Net | date = December 27, 2002 | work = [[The New York Times]] | access-date = February 19, 2017 | archive-date = March 6, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160306102431/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/technology/27HACK.html | url-status = live }}</ref>