I find it very hard to believe that the three letter agencies have such a shortage of netsec professionals that they offer jobs to untrustworthy computer criminals and script kiddies. Its almost an apocryphal male power fantasy - "You're so awesome, we wont even arrest you, we'll just offer you a job!" I wouldn't put it past law enforcement to use such things to their advantage.
It does sound like this was prosecutor... discretion. Probably a ploy to get him to incriminate himself further by having him talk some more or revealing other hacks as a "resume." Sounds like they had a weak case overall. While I'm not happy about such tactics, I think there's a difference between that and forcing people to "work" for the government.
Also, this is his word. We don't know how trustworthy he is. While anti-government sentiment is always high, I'd rather not reflexively side with criminals who paint themselves as anti-government. Its possible both sides suck. In fact, its probably the most likely outcome.
"I find it very hard to believe that the three letter agencies have such a shortage of netsec professionals that they offer jobs to untrustworthy computer criminals and script kiddies."
How many of those "netsec professionals" would be willing to test their skills against "Mexican drug cartels and local government figures accepting bribes from drug traffickers"? Screw up, or just have the notoriously inept FBI screw up, and you're very messily dead.
Wait, I was with you up til blaming law enforcement for this 'male power fantasy'. Isn't it more likely the guy claiming this is living that fantasy. "Yeah, they caught me, then they offered me a job. And I threw it back in their face! They threatened me, but I stood firm and they caved."
Who exactly is living the fantasy in that story? It sounds contrived, I admit, and I think I know who contrived it.
You're right - they don't generally offer them jobs, because jobs implies paying them an actual salary. We know that the FBI does this, though, because we've found out after the fact about some of the members of Anonymous who've taken this offer and co-opted other Anonymous members in hacking foreign governments on behalf of the FBI. In particular, I recall that Sabu did this quite a lot.
It does sound like this was prosecutor... discretion. Probably a ploy to get him to incriminate himself further by having him talk some more or revealing other hacks as a "resume." Sounds like they had a weak case overall. While I'm not happy about such tactics, I think there's a difference between that and forcing people to "work" for the government.
Also, this is his word. We don't know how trustworthy he is. While anti-government sentiment is always high, I'd rather not reflexively side with criminals who paint themselves as anti-government. Its possible both sides suck. In fact, its probably the most likely outcome.