The Channel Wire

July 23, 2008

Disgruntled San Francisco system administrator Terry Childs has finally relented and turned over the password to the FiberWAN network he has been holding hostage. But Childs didn't give the information to the police or San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris; instead he went straight to the mayor of the city, Gavin Newsom. In a jailhouse meeting arranged by Childs' lawyer, Erin Crane, Newsom met with the system administrator who handed over the password in an off-the-radar meeting.

Newsom took the password to a team of Cisco Systems code crackers that had been working on the case for the city. Initially, the password Childs provided did not unlock the system as promised, prompting the mayor to call Crane back for clarification, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Childs provided the missing protocols which, when paired with the password, gave the control back to the city. Turning over the password to mayor likely ends the first phase of the case -- but a bail hearing is still pending for Childs today.

Since being taken into custody, Childs has been charged with four counts of felony computer network tampering and one count of causing losses of over $200,000. Childs was arraigned last week and his bail was set at $5 million.

Suspects in a murder trial usually have bail set at $1 million.

When bail was set, Crane called the number "ridiculously high." But the district attorney believed there was a chance of flight. When Childs was taken into custody he was found with $11,000 cash in his possession, leading the district attorney's office to think Childs might have been considering fleeing.

"What I can say about the bail being set at the level it was set at is that there were questions about flight, as well as about the full extent to which the alleged behavior [Childs was charged with] might have caused continuing damage and whether there was an ongoing threat going forward," said Erica Derryck, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said.

It's expected that Crane will use Childs' good faith show of turning the password and protocols over to Mayor Newsom to try and get the bail reduced.

Childs pled not guilty to all charges.