Sad that it had to come to this, but congratulations on being able to track the culprit down. Perhaps your efforts will deter at least some further tampering by others down the line.On a personal note, I'm happy that Mazzurbaf has apparently given up posting constant notes trying to sell Microsoft (I assume pirated) software in my own forum.

I am actually glad the culprit wouldn't settle out of court. The thought of him doing time on the inside makes me feel warm and fuzzy!

I am actually glad the culprit wouldn't settle out of court. The thought of him doing time on the inside makes me feel warm and fuzzy!

Yes good news indeed.But I wouldn't bank on seeing the culprit or culprits behind bars.In the UK we have a justice system that increasingly seems to favour the criminal and ignore the victim.I do hope you at least recover your costs though.cheers Andy

Yes good news indeed.But I wouldn't bank on seeing the culprit or culprits behind bars.In the UK we have a justice system that increasingly seems to favour the criminal and ignore the victim.I do hope you at least recover your costs though.cheers Andy

And if Sweden should be any better...?...Here the criminals get a "pat on the shoulder" by the lawenforcement. Because it is the criminals who suffer here for some reason, not the victims. :( :( But I do hope that the culpit in this Avsim hack will spend some considderable time behind bars. And also pay a considderable compensation to Avsim. :(

Congrats! I hope he's at least fined from here to eternity.

Congrats! Let's hope the court follows through, and justice is served. And I applaud AVSIM for taking this fight head on, instead of rolling over and taking it. -m@

If AVSIM is to suceed it needs take more care over the facts. There is no such thing as the "Police Constabulary of London". London is policed by the Metropolitan Police.Gary McKinnon, based in the UK, is accused of hacking into the Pentagon's computers in 2001 and 2002. The Pentagon wants to extradite him to stand trial in the USA. He claimed he should be tried in the UK. The UK authorities refused, accepting the argument that all the evidence was in the USA. So far, he has appealed to every court in in UK, including the House of Lords (the highest) and to the European Court of Human Rights. He has now entered another appeal on the grounds that he suffers from Aspberger's Syndrome. He's stll at liberty 8 years on!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnonI shall follow events with interest.

The Met is 'the police constabulary of London', which is just a slightly fancy way of saying the cops in London, so it's not factually inaccurate, just a little archaic in terms of language. In any case, whatever you want to call them, in the UK it is the Crown Prosecution Service and the head of that department - the Director of Public Prosecutions, who deal with the matter in legal terms, so if the evidence has been presented to the cops, then they will contact the CPS and see if it can be made to stick, since although the cops investigate matters, it is the CPS that advises them on what charges to bring. All that aside, good on AVSIM - I say nail that sucker.Al

If AVSIM is to suceed it needs take more care over the facts. There is no such thing as the "Police Constabulary of London". London is policed by the Metropolitan Police.Gary McKinnon, based in the UK, is accused of hacking into the Pentagon's computers in 2001 and 2002. The Pentagon wants to extradite him to stand trial in the USA. He claimed he should be tried in the UK. The UK authorities refused, accepting the argument that all the evidence was in the USA. So far, he has appealed to every court in in UK, including the House of Lords (the highest) and to the European Court of Human Rights. He has now entered another appeal on the grounds that he suffers from Aspberger's Syndrome. He's stll at liberty 8 years on!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnonI shall follow events with interest.

You really are being too literal. Read Chocks' explanation below. The obscuration of the fact was the intent.

The Met is 'the police constabulary of London', which is just a slightly fancy way of saying the cops in London, so it's not factually inaccurate, just a little archaic in terms of language. In any case, whatever you want to call them, in the UK it is the Crown Prosecution Service and the head of that department - the Director of Public Prosecutions, who deal with the matter in legal terms, so if the evidence has been presented to the cops, then they will contact the CPS and see if it can be made to stick, since although the cops investigate matters, it is the CPS that advises them on what charges to bring. All that aside, good on AVSIM - I say nail that sucker.Al

The AVSIM article refered to the Police Constabulary of London - note the capitals. In my opinion it doesn't bode well for legal proceedings if AVSIM can't use the correct name for the authority to which it's submitted its complaint.As you say the police will prepare a report for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who will decide to bring charges. The CPS will not generally prosecute unless there is a realistic prospect of conviction, ie better than 50%. This will depend on whether there is enough evidence to prosecute. The CPS will consider whether the evidence can be used and is reliable. I don't know where AVSIM servers were at the time - I assume not in the UK. I foresee defence lawyers having a field day with admissibility of evidence from outside the UK. The CPS will take this into account too.I hope the prosecution is successful - but I'm not holding my breath.

I saw the news that you have now identified the individual responsible for the site's downfall. This is good news as no-one deserves to get away with what is essentially criminal damage.The United Kingdom Computer Misuse Act 1990 specifically identifies what this individual carried out as a criminal offence which is good news (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/ukpga_19900018_en_1#pb1-l1g3)The UK has recently centralised its eCrime unit (http://www.met.police.uk/pceu/index.htm) and they are very capable of carrying out an indepth investigation into what transpired, even if there is an international dimension.I would be optimistic about a positive outcome and I hope the result is publicized so people understand that damaging data is the same as property damage.

I'm pleased to see Avsim has gathered enough evidence, however I will be surprised if the Crown Prosecution Service takes the case up, and even more surprised if the culprit serves a custodial sentence.Perhaps a more successful outcome would be achieved if Avsim persued this as a civil case?Whatever happens I hope Tom can get some measure of justice for what happened.

I'm glad to hear that justice will be given to the hacker.

... The obscuration of the fact was the intent.

What purpose did the obscuration achieve? Either this was reported to the Metropolitan Police or it wasn't.

This is all I have to say... :(