UPDATED: Prosecutor Recommends 18 Months Prison for Braindumper
1/29/2003 -- In anticipation of Robert Keppel's sentencing hearing in federal criminal court this Friday, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a recommendation with the court yesterday that the owner of the now defunct Cheet-Sheets.com and CheetSheets.com Web sites serve 18 months in federal prison.
Keppel pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of theft of trade secrets in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1832(a)(2). The charge stemmed from the sale of Microsoft certification exam questions through Keppel's Web sites. It is the first known successful criminal prosecution of a "braindump" site owner in the IT certification industry.
While the crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, Assistant U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes told CertCities.com that 18 months is the appropriate sentence based on her office's interpretation of the federal sentencing guidelines.
The guidelines take into consideration many factors, Hayes explained, including the approximate loss to the victim, how much planning the crime took, whether the defendant accepted early responsibility for the crime (as in this plea bargain) and the defendant's prior criminal record (Keppel has none). "We came up with a sentencing range of 18 to 24 months, of which we're recommending the lower end," she said.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge will consider this recommendation as well as one prepared by the probation office and Keppel's defense. CertCities's attempts to reach Keppel's attorney before press time failed. Keppel is currently out on pre-trial release. (EDITOR'S NOTE 1/30/03: Today, Keppel's attorney provided CertCities.com with a copy of the defense's sentencing recommendation. The resulting story can be found here.)
Federal sentencing guidelines are fairly strictly structured. However, when asked if Keppel could get probation, Hayes said that the defense may argue that this case is unique in some manner and that the judge should "downward depart" from the guidelines. "You never know what a judge will do," Hayes said. "I hate to speculate."
Hayes said that Microsoft has not been given access to the sites' customer list, and that the list played no part in the plea bargain or sentencing. Hayes said that for Microsoft to gain access to the list, it would most likely need to sue in civil court. She said that the FBI would probably destroy the list "unless it planned to prosecute those that accessed the material..." but did not specify what charge might apply. She added, "We have no plans to do that at this time."
Microsoft declined to comment on the case or related aspects before the sentencing hearing.
CertCities.com will report the results of the sentencing hearing on Friday.  - B.N.
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There are 143  user Comments for “UPDATED: Prosecutor Recommends 18 Months Prison for Braindumper”
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| 1/30/03: Jeff Snyder from Virginia says: |
I studied my tail off for Microsoft, Novell, and CompTIA exams. I use the braindump sites only after studing. If I get incorrect answers I review the material. Unfortunately there are people I know that pass the tests but can not do even some of the more simplistic tasks. This does effect the value of the certification, and my PAY! I like practice exams but have found a lot of qustions on these sites are word for word. Anyone can memorize this. If your getting the certification to make more money there is no substitute for knowing the material not just the questions! |
| 1/30/03: Anonymous says: |
He has to go to prison just so you buttfuckers can get a paper cert. |
| 1/30/03: BetMen from USA says: |
Why when people talk about dumps, it has to be MCSE or Microsoft that they're discussing, complaining, and blaming as if there's no other certs? Or is it only MCSE or any MS certs that have been obtained thru dumps the most? How about CCNP? CNE? CompTIA? I think they have about the same amount of dumps out there as MS exams...ooh poor Microsoft to take all the blame... Anyway, if you're complaining about people using dumps such as TroyTech, CheetSheet, etc then you should do the same about Transcender and other "legal" practice test vendors coz they're nothing different as has been said earlier. I've even heard someone badly complaining about Sybex exam guide books as a means of providing braindump-like material too because they pin point you to the "exact" material to be tested and nothing else outside exam coverage, and it's true, you won't know/find anything other than the certs objectives in those books, so after passing it using the Sybex (no dumps here), what would you know??? Certs were intended for you to study from experience and "more general/broad" books to tackle the exams so you know your stuffs inside and outside the scope of the exam. Try study from MS or CiscoPress books and compare it with Sybex or All-In-One series, their coverage on an exam is much broader than those found in thinner Sybex or other third party exam guide books... So when you're talking about dumps, which one is it? Or is it all of those other than experience? It's your own take on this... |
| 1/30/03: Discouraged MCSE from USA says: |
At the time cheet sheets were shut down, they were the only site selling stolen exam questions. Now there are well over 20 sites that sell "actual questions" or "real questions" TestKing is one of them and yet you can see their ad on this site and even on the mcpmag.com website. MCP magazine is the official publication of the MCP program and when they advertise TestKing it gives TestKing the image of a ligitimate vendor. This is very discouraging. Microsoft should at least talk to MCP magazine and tell them to stop accepting braindump sites as advertisers |
| 1/30/03: nicky from US says: |
i disagree with this law and punishment. Vendor should keep their speed fast to updates their questions pool. It is impossible for any person who can remember word to word questions. On the other part,any certified can be evaluated during the intervew by the potential employer and would pface refusal. The degree or certificate is a just passport to apply for any post but the real evaluation can be made during the interview. In addition to this, computer science is a practical field and dogers can be bounced back by the machine itself. |
| 1/30/03: Anonymous says: |
This is all about money for Microsoft. Microsoft could easily do away with these sites if it would lower the price of its exams. The reason people use them is they don't want to have to keep forking out $125 every time they retake an exam. Microsoft makes money off the training, the books, the "partners in crime" study guides (i.e. Transcender), and the exams. I've realized that the certification process is no longer about making sure people are qualified. It's about making Microsoft more money. YOU HAVE TO RE-CERTIFY EVER FEW YEARS. MORE MONEY FOR MICROSOFT!!!! This kind of crap makes me want to start using and recommending Linux! |
| 1/30/03: Cheaters go to Jail from Not in Jail says: |
Keppel is just one of many crooks and thieves. You numb nuts out there who justify the use of purloined exam questions and brain dumps are like the people in the commercials on drugs. If you are buying stolen questions and answers, you are financing criminals. Word on the street is that sites like Test King are owned by middle easterners connected to terrorism. I don't know how true it is, but I have noticed that a lot of the cert sites (certyourself, cram4exams,) have been bought by the same people. So using the same correlation, are you supporting terrorists when you buy stolen questions? If the questions aren't stolen, how are the "word for word" as many have described. I don't know how true these statements are, but the noise is consistent, and that becomes a concern. Justify it all you want, but I'd rather give my money to an overpriced legitimate company than a bargain priced thief. JMHO |
| 1/30/03: Ed Tittel from Austin, TX says: |
I'm most interested to read that Microsoft can sue for access to the customer list. This seems to imply that MS could then pursue customers as well as the site operator. I'm really curious to understand the legal foundation involved in prosecution here--I'm guessing, on the basis of "knowing purchase of trade secrets." I'd love to hear from somebody legally qualified to speak to this matter, if anybody like that is out there. Comments? |
| 1/30/03: Anonymous says: |
Microsoft breaks the law - slap on the hands Small time individual - prosecuted and sentenced to jail. Priceless !!!! |
| 1/30/03: Anonymous says: |
I have used Testking for MCSE and CCNA exams. Are these braindumps or not? |
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