Journalist won't be prosecuted for pressing 'view source'

2022-02-15 21:57

A reporter who faced potential hacking charges for viewing website source code in his browser can rest easier now that Missouri officials have decided not to prosecute him.

After Renaud filed a story to this effect, Missouri Governor Mike Parson said the state would investigate and explore legal options, and claimed the incident might cost the US state's taxpayers as much as $50m. "Through a multi-step process, an individual took the records of at least three educators, decoded the HTML source code, and viewed the Social Security number of those specific educators," said Parson in an October press conference.

Elad Gross, an attorney representing Shaji Khan, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who was contacted by Renaud to verify his findings, wrote a letter [PDF] to Missouri officials a week after Parson threatened prosecution.

Despite the absurdity of Parsons's hacking claim, Renaud welcomed the news that Missouri officials have backed down.

Renaud further expressed concern that Parson's actions will have a chilling effect on those trying to report on security and privacy flaws in Missouri.

In a statement, Governor Parson's office maintained that Renaud had unlawfully hacked the school website: "The hacking of Missouri teachers' personally identifiable information was a clear violation of Section 569.095, RSMo, which the state takes seriously. The state did its part by investigating and presenting its findings to the Cole County Prosecutor, who has elected not to press charges, as is his prerogative." .

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https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/02/15/missouri_html_hacking/