Judge gives man two years in Microsoft case

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday sentenced a
convicted hacker known as “illwill” to two years in prison for
selling the code, or software blueprint, for Microsoft Corp.’s
closely guarded Windows programs.

William Genovese, Jr., 29, pleaded guilty last year to one
count of unlawful distribution of trade secrets for putting
Microsoft’s source code for its Windows 4.0 and Windows 2000
programs on his Web site and selling it.

The plea agreement called for a sentence ranging from 10
months to 30 months in federal prison.

“I screwed up,” Genovese said in court.

Genovese has 12 prior criminal convictions, including three
computer-related crimes and a sexual abuse conviction, a
government attorney told the hearing in federal court in
Manhattan.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley said Genovese’s criminal
background was the most disturbing he has encountered during
his seven years as a judge.

“Mr. Genovese is a predator who has morphed through various
phases of criminal activity and in the last few years has
descended into the world of the Internet and is well on his way
to being a cyber predator,” Judge Pauley said.

The Meriden, Connecticut resident also received 3 years
supervised release, with numerous conditions. Among them, the
Judge Pauley ordered him to register as sex offender and agree
to have programs installed on his computers that monitor his
activity.

Source code is the intellectual property and lifeblood of
any software company since it is the basic language used to
create software programs.

Microsoft learned on February 12, 2004 that portions of the
code were released on the Internet. That same day, Genovese
offered the source code for sale on his Web site. He received a
total of $40 for selling the code to Microsoft investigators.

Genovese will surrender himself to federal prison
authorities on March 14.