Judgement Day
Gandalf proved to be as easy to talk to in person as he was on-line. They exchanged phone numbers and shared notes on the police raids. Gandalf had insisted on meeting a lawyer before his interviews, but when the lawyer arrived he didn’t have the slightest understanding of computer crime. He advised Gandalf to tell the police whatever they wanted to know, so the hacker did.
The trial was being held in London. Pad wondered why, if all three hackers were from the north, the case was being tried in the south. After all, there was a court in Manchester which was high enough to deal with their crimes.
Maybe it was because Scotland Yard was in London. Maybe they had started the paperwork down there. Maybe it was because they were being accused of hacking computers located within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court — that court being the Old Bailey in London. But Pad’s cynical side hazarded a different guess — a guess which seemed justified after a few procedural appearances in 1992 before the trial, which was set for 1993. For when Pad arrived at the Bow Street Magistrates Court for his committal in April 1992, he saw it packed out with the media, just as he had anticipated.
A few hackers also fronted up to fly the flag of the under- ground. One of them — a stranger — came up to Pad after court, patted him on the back and exclaimed enthusiastically, ‘Well done, Paddy!’ Startled, Pad just looked at him and then smiled. He had no idea how to respond to the stranger.
Like the three Australian hackers, Pad, Gandalf and the little- known Wandii were serving as the test case for new hacking laws in their country. British law enforcement agencies had spent a fortune on the case — more than £500 000 according to the newspapers — by the time the 8lgm case went to trial. This was going to be a show case, and the government agencies wanted taxpayers to know they were getting their money’s worth.
The hackers weren’t being charged with breaking into computers. They were being charged with conspiracy, a more serious offence. While admitting the threesome did not hack