Former SC Councilman Faces Imprisonment for Installing Spyware

According to the latest news reports, Tony Trout, ex-Councilman of Greenville County, on July 15, 2009, admitted before a District Judge of Spartanburg (South Carolina, USA) that he committed the offense of installing spyware on the computer of Joe Kernell, Administrator of Greenville County as well as posting of Kernell's private life details on an online site.

Trout employed the computer program 'Remote Spy'. This program was designed to seize screenshots so that keystrokes indicating passwords could be recorded. The program thus helped Trout to seize data from personal e-mail accounts and work, which Kernell accessed while working on his PC.

Along with Kernell, Trout understandably also infected the computer of Butch Kirven, Chairman of Greenville County, with the same spyware sent via an e-mail from a phony ID. Kirven, who apparently faced problems in opening an attachment in the e-mail, sent the message to Kernell. When Kernell and Kirven clicked on the attachment, their computers were infected with the spyware that started transmitting data to a Texas-based server, which Trout used.

Describing Trout's action as "politically nasty tactics," Dean Eichelberger, prosecutor of the case argued that the way Trout installed the spyware and thereafter carried out his malicious deeds deserved a strong punishment.

But the attorney defending Trout opposed Eichelberger's statement arguing that his client hadn't used "sophisticated means." Actually, Trout's attorneys have been contending for a less harsh punishment, as according to them, Trout isn't skilled in computers and hasn't specially trained to intercept others' systems.

However, Trout faces three simultaneous one-year and a day of imprisonment along with one simultaneous 10-month imprisonment because he was found guilty of committing two instances of violating federal wiretap acts and two instances of infiltrating PCs. The jury convicted Trout for illegally extracting data from Kernell's PC, illegally viewing Kernell's two private e-mail accounts with Yahoo, illegally tapping e-mails and intentionally revealing the tapped information.

Meanwhile, Trout defending himself regretted that he did not check the federal acts prior to transmitting the spyware. However, the jury granted him ten months for pleading in superior courts.

Related article: Former Council Intern Charged with Intruding City E-mail

» SPAMfighter News - 8/5/2009