"The issue here was public safety," Councilwoman
Wendy Greuel said. "What if there had been a major
accident and we were not able to control the lights
while the officers were on their way?"
-- from Los Angeles Times report
Sounds to me like an incident deserving the title "domestic
terrorism" ... has the MSM played it up to even 1/10th of the degree it
has, say, Mel Gibson's drunk driving arrest?
_______________________________________________________
2 deny hacking into L.A.'s traffic light system
Two accused of hacking into L.A.'s traffic light system plead not
guilty. They allegedly chose intersections they knew would cause major
jams.
By Sharon Bernstein and Andrew Blankstein
Times Staff Writers
January 9, 2007
Back in August, the union representing the city's traffic engineers
vowed that on the day of their work action, "Los Angeles is not going
to be a fun place to drive."
City officials took the threat seriously.
Fearful that the strikers could wreak havoc on the surface street
system, they temporarily blocked all engineers from access to the
computer that controls traffic signals.
But officials now allege that two engineers, Kartik Patel and Gabriel
Murillo, figured out how to hack in anyway. With a few clicks on a
laptop computer, the pair — one a renowned traffic engineer profiled in
the national media, the other a computer whiz who helped build the
system — allegedly tied up traffic at four intersections for several
days.
Both men pleaded not guilty Monday morning to felony charges stemming
from the case, and Murillo's lawyer said his client meant no harm when
he signed on to the system that day.
But authorities say the pair picked their targets with care —
intersections they knew would cause significant backups because they
were close to freeways and major destinations.
They didn't shut the lights off, city transportation sources said.
Rather, the engineers allegedly programmed them so that red lights
would be extremely long on the most congested approaches to the
intersections, causing gridlock for several days starting Aug. 21, they
said.
Cars backed up at Los Angeles International Airport, at a key
intersection in Studio City, onto the clogged Glendale Freeway and
throughout the streets of Little Tokyo and the L.A. Civic Center ...
"The issue here was public safety," Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said.
"What if there had been a major accident and we were not able to
control the lights while the officers were on their way?"
Details of the case emerged Monday in interviews and court documents.
After access to the system was cut off for all but top managers,
Murillo signed in as one of them, according to the criminal complaint.
Murillo had helped design the nationally recognized system.
By signing in, the engineers allegedly obtained the codes needed to
unblock the computers that control traffic lights throughout the city.
Soon, the lights at those four intersections were reprogrammed with a
code that prevented city officials from fixing them.
"The red signal would be on too long for the critical approach and the
green signal would be on too long for the noncritical approach, thus
resulting in long backups into the airport and other key intersections
around the city," said one source in the traffic department, who spoke
on condition of anonymity.
Murillo was charged with two felonies: one count of identity theft and
one of unauthorized access to a city computer. Patel was charged with
five felonies: one count of unauthorized access to a city computer and
four of unauthorized disruption or denial of computer services.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Catherine J. Pratt
released the men on their own recognizance on the condition that they
do not access city computers or set foot on Department of
Transportation property without their attorneys.
If convicted on all charges, the pair could face several years in state
prison, although authorities said that is unlikely because they have no
criminal records.
Murillo's lawyer, James Blatt, said that his client was on paternity
leave
{Paternity leave? Don't they mean "maternity leave"? After all, Murillo
seems like quite a p*ssy. -- GWAdmirer}
... He said Murillo didn't mean to do anything wrong ...
{"Just doing the felonies Americans won't do," presumably. -- GWAdmirer}
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trafficlights9jan09,0,7005703.st
ory?coll=la-home-headlines
************************************************************************
PLEASE EMAIL THESE LINKS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW:
"The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave" by Heather MacDonald
www.City-Journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html
www.PredatoryAliens.com
www.ImmigrationsHumanCost.org
www.DayLaborers.org
www.Alipac.us
www.ImmigrationWatchdog.com
www.AmericanPatrol.com
www.SaveOurState.org
www.EscapingJustice.com
See the COLOSSAL costs of illegal aliens to the American taxpayer:
www.ImmigrationCounters.com
------------------------------------------------
“How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico”
By John Dillin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html
Excerpt:
“General Eisenhower ... quoted a report in The New York Times,
highlighting one paragraph that said: ‘The rise in illegal
border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than
1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation
in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters
of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal
Government ..."
“Herbert Brownell Jr., Eisenhower's first attorney general, said the
president had a sense of urgency about illegal immigration when he took
office.
“America ‘was faced with a breakdown in law enforcement on a very
large scale,’ Mr. Brownell said. ‘When I say large scale, I mean
hundreds of thousands were coming in from Mexico [every year] without
restraint.’"
--------------------------------------------------
Just two of MANY American cops murdered by illegals:
www.DeputyDavidMarch.com
www.KrisEggle.org
"Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged
in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent Social Security
numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses
represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of
illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their
illegal status. In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and
possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens. Over 25% of today's
federal prison population are illegal aliens. In some areas of the
country, 12% of felonies, 25% of burglaries and 34% of thefts are
committed by illegal aliens."
-- Testimony of District Attorney John M. Morganelli before the House
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border, Security and Claims [Note: 99% of
warrants for murder in Los Angeles, California -- the USA's 2nd
most-populous city -- are for illegal aliens]
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of
men."
-- Samuel Adams
"“All great truths begin as heresies.”
-- Former Democrat Governor of Colorado Richard Lamm, official of
Defend Colorado
Now, a movement opposed to illegal immigration and public services
for illegal aliens
.
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