Mitnick Rebuffed in Bid to Take Job as Web Columnist

A federal judge refused to intervene Monday in a dispute between convicted computer hacker Kevin Mitnick and his probation officer over a job offer from an Internet-based business.

U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer told Mitnick he should sit down with his probation officer and try to resolve any disagreement before asking her to intercede.

“This defendant shall not be treated differently than anyone else,” she said.

Mitnick, freed early this year after a 54-month prison term, says his probation officer denied him permission to take a job as a columnist for a Web business soon to be launched by publisher Steven Brill.

The 36-year-old Mitnick was recruited to write a column critiquing computer magazines for Brill’s new enterprise, Contentville, which will offer a wide range of expert analysis, commentary and product reviews while selling books, magazines and other publications over the Internet.

Under terms of his supervised release, Mitnick is barred from using a computer or working as a computer consultant without his probation officer’s approval.

The current dispute was sparked by a letter to Mitnick from federal probation officer Larry Hawley, saying, “In regard to the numerous requests you have received concerning writing and critiquing articles and speaking at conferences, we find it necessary to deny your participation and recommend that you pursue employment in a non-related field.”

Mitnick’s lawyer, Sherman M. Ellison, said his client took that to mean that he was barred from taking the job with Brill or even testifying before congressional hearings about computer security issues.

First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams charged in a friend-of-the-court brief that the probation officer’s denial violated Mitnick’s constitutional rights.

At Monday’s court hearing, Chris Painter, deputy chief of the Justice Department’s computer crimes section, appeared to back away from Hawley’s sweeping denial.

He said the government does not categorically object to Mitnick speaking and writing about computer-related matters. But, he told Pfaelzer, that should left to Hawley to decide on a case-by-case basis.

Pfaelzer agreed, telling Mitnick and his lawyer to provide the probation officer with more specifics about the job offer from Brill and other prospective employers.

Ellison said Mitnick is also being considered for a job as a talk show host with Los Angeles radio station KFI.

Under the proposed deal with Brill, Mitnick would receive $750 a column plus a $5,000 down payment and 50% of the profits from a planned e-book, which would include some of his articles.

To avoid violating the terms of his release, Mitnick would compose his column on a typewriter and dictate it over a land-line telephone to his editors in New York.

Brill, who publishes Brill’s Content, a monthly devoted to media criticism, said Mitnick is one of about 90 contributors he has enlisted to write for his new Web business.

Once considered America’s most notorious hacker, Mitnick eluded FBI trackers for more than two years before he was captured. He eventually pleaded guilty to seven computer-crime and fraud charges.

Although federal prosecutors accused him of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of software, Mitnick has likened his crimes to joy riding.

“I was an accomplished computer trespasser,” he told an interviewer recently. “I don’t consider myself a thief. I copied without permission.”