SF mayor retrieves keys to the city


Charismatic San Franciso Mayor Gavin Newsom, did it again, this time convincing rogue network administrator Terry Childs to hand over passwords to the city’s captive network. Childs was jailed July 13 after hijacking the city’s multimillion network and refusing to hand over passwords to the system. Though city officials said the network had been functioning without error, administrators couldn’t gain access or control of the system.

According to reports Childs said the Major was the only person he could trust. Mayor Newsom secured the passwords without telling the cities Department of Telecommunications and Information Services.

Child’s lawyer reportedly said that none of the people, other than the mayor, who requested the cities password information “were qualified to have it,” and that in his defense Child’s hopes to “expose the utter mismanagement, negligence, and corruption at DTIS, which if left unchecked, will in fact place the City of San Francisco in danger.”

Childs is being charged with four counts of computer tampering.

Photo credit: the Associated Press.