Joseph, maybe I didn’t make my point clear. Willie Aikens served a much longer sentence because the undercover agent asked for crack, and he agreed. Had he sold her cocaine–which was the original deal–he would have spent 1-2 years in prison. The disparity makes no sense.

As for why this headline-changer shouldn’t be charged with a felony, or at the very least is a total waste of prison cell space, I can think of at least two reasons. What he did was give a username and password to someone else, so he’s not an elite hacker by any stretch. Had the Tribune Co. merely changed the password after firing this guy, they would have kept him out. It’s like the difference between an ex-employee who breaks into a physical building because he kept a key, versus one who breaks in by picking a lock with a couple of paper clips. The guy who broke in using paper clips is dangerous, where anyone can use a key. And in this case, he didn’t even use it himself–he gave it to someone. The guy who did the actual work will probably never be caught.

The second reason is actual harm. A systems administrator who accidentally reboots a production server during the day causes more actual harm than this guy did. I’ve done it, and so has every other sysadmin I know who has enough experience to be worth having. Many things have been said about me over the years, but as far as I know, nobody’s said I belong in prison.

So the actual harm was minimal, and the chances of him ever doing it again are exceptionally low, so there’s no reason to spend tax money incarcerating him. If he’s not in prison, that means there’s room for one more of those drug dealers you mentioned, and there’s no question they can find a drug dealer who’s a greater danger than this guy is.