Issue July-10
 

Would Tyburn Tree end the hacking scourge?

Slogan: "Please don't hang me all I did was ruin the lives of several thousand people, steal their savings, caused them irreparable psychological harm!"

At last the authorities, very unlikely to be Kahn's Met, have made arrests in conjunction with the mass hacking of companies such as M&S, Harrods and Coop.

The identities of the suspects have not been disclosed. We are all innocent until proven guilty and that is rightly so but the nationality would not in any way identify an individual.

Of course little to no effort will be made to solve hacking crimes if an individual is hacked. Writing from experience, the Dorset Constabulary were prevented from following a hacker who had busted into our computer system during a night because, of course known to the hackers, court orders to identify culprits can only be obtained in this county if the value of the loss is more than £2,000.00.

But to some people this sum can mean being able to buy their grandchildren Christmas presents whereas to an M&S manager or a top-cop it might mean one night out in London less this year.

Years ago when movies were often westerns one might have wondered why horse thieves were sent to the gallows. Murderers of course, but being hung for stealing a mere horse?

The reason was quite logical. Stealing a man 's horse meant he could no longer plough his fields, no longer herd his cattle and as a result no longer feed his wife and kids. They might and in many cases probably just die.

So stealing a horse and wiping out a family is often far worse than killing a single individual. Reason enough to hang the culprit in those days

Now just imagine the damage to many, possibly hundreds, of livelihoods a hacking attack can have. Coop for example run a funeral service, they offer house and other insurance schemes. Imagine you have just spent your last savings on granny's funeral and it can no longer take place. You can't get your money back because their IT systems are locked for weeks. Your car insurance has run out and you have a serious accident. What then? Do these four wretches for one moment consider the personal pain and damage they are causing? Or is it just a computer game. Not real life. After all they probably grew up with a view detached from realism. This is not Game of Thrones but do they see the difference?

Surely if ever there was a case to renovate Tyburn tree this is it. Surely if there was a case for a deterrent this is it.

Capital punishment was abolished in the UK in 1969 and in truth there is little likelihood of it ever being restored. But in many of our allies' countries it still exists even for crimes other than murder. In the United states espionage can be punished by the death penalty for example.

So what would be a fitting punishment for a group of young hackers? A slapped wrist handed out by one of England's soft woke magistrates? Will there be a trial by jury if it even goes that far? If there is then let's hope some of the jury members, which is highly likely, have been hacked at some time.

The current suspects are four Europeans, three from the UK and one a Latvian) and so Kier (I meddle with the judiciary) Starmer will probably insist on the full force of the law. Let's hope none of them start reciting the Quran or wrapping themselves in pride scarves.
London: 10. July 2025: -pw-
Source: WessexTimes, BBC, Times, Telegraph, Reuters, AP, UPI
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect WessexTimes editorial stance.

 
   
 
 
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