FBI Nabs Chicago Transit Authority Radio Hacker

Wh15per writes "The Chicago FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested an individual for misusing Chicago Transit Authority radio systems. Marcel Carter, 20, is charged with violating a US code that forbids interference with transportation operators. A federal complaint alleges he began using a radio to transmit on CTA frequencies in June 2008, often interjecting comments during communications between the agency's control center and train operators. The CTA claims Carter's radio communications were never followed, and passengers were never in danger."

Re:Refreshing Change

[Romancer]

And it doesn't even matter if his "...radio communications were never followed..."

He could have been talking over some important directions, or distracting from critical legitimate communications, or if someone thought that it was him and ignored a real direction it is the same thing. He's an idiot on their frequency, thereby endangering the passengers.

Re:Refreshing Change

[Andy Dodd]

Or, at the very least, modified a radio to operate on the CTA frequencies, but it sounds like he bought a stolen CTA radio.

Not a hacker or cracker by any sense of either word.

Re:Could be easily worse

[Andy Dodd]

Keep in mind that they didn't even DF this guy to catch him - they caught him because he eventually tried to return the radio for a reward and they recognized his voice!

Re:Refreshing Change

[SEWilco]

The article mentions two incidents where he tried to make trains go when they shouldn't move. The first incident, telling a train to go past a stop signal, risks a crash. Give an idiot a radio and he'll eat for 1-5 years in prison.

Re:Oh, and this was funny:

[autocracy]

It's a great PR line, but I don't think it's safe to say that they were never at risk. Just because motions didn't happen does NOT mean that motions couldn't have happened.

I did make a tenuous statement about the "being arrested is usually close to knowing..." bit, so I'll concede that right away. What he did was still dangerous, though, and did present a risk to trains. A greater risk if he knew what he was saying.

Re:Refreshing Change

[Thansal]

Sorry, but the summation of "He's an idiot on their frequency, thereby endangering the passengers." is 100% accurate. He attempted to give directions to train operators that could have ended with crashes. He is a stupid little punk that deserves jail time.

Re:Refreshing Change

[beef curtains]

He's an idiot on their frequency, thereby endangering the passengers.

Trying to get elected with that sensationalism are you?

you need to go further and call his actions "terrorist" and how he endangered the "entire city".

what he did was stupid, but you are doing the same thing by acting like a Fox news reporter.

Are you on drugs? The GP could not have summarized this whole thing in a more factual, less sensational way. So posing as a CTA supervisor & ordering train conductors to ignore stop signals when approaching busy subway stations doesn't count as "endangering the passengers" in your mind?

Look, I hate the black & white, "with us or with the terrorists" propaganda as much as anyway, but how about a little perspective on things? The facts here are simple: this guy is definitely an idiot, and some of his idiocy had the potential of injuring and/or killing a lot of folks.