NZ teenage hacker charges dropped

Police said they were interested in using his skills to fight cyber-crime

[Visit Thailand]

A New Zealand teenager who admitted to taking part in an international cyber-crime network has been discharged without a conviction.

Police said the group hijacked more than one million computers and used them to take at least $20.4m (£10.3m) from private bank accounts.

[news.bbc.co.uk...]

I am surprised this has not come up before.

Doesn't this sort of action by the authorities send the wrong message to wannabe hackers / programmers etc.?

[callivert]

Doesn't this sort of action by the authorities send the wrong message to wannabe hackers / programmers etc.?

Yes. Even if they want to use his knowledge, they should still give him a conviction. They think he's a good kid underneath, and that he just needs to be pointed in the right direction, but how do they know?

Rewarding people for engaging in organised crime is the way to create a monster