w w w .w e sterngazette.c a • @uw ogazette
Science by design Visual arts & engineering students have teamed up to install functional artwork on campus. >> pg. 4
thegazette Speaking too soon since 1906
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
today high 21 low 12
tomorrow high 18 low 5
canada’s only Daily Student Newspaper • founded 1906
Volume 106, Issue 13
Hacker Horwood ordered to pay $10K Gloria Dickie Editor-in-Chief Most students can’t go a day without checking their email, Facebook or Twitter account, but Western graduate Keith Horwood went nearly seven months. Horwood, known for his February 2012 hack of the University Students’ Council elections website in which he posted numerous Justin Bieber references and changed the site name to ‘student erections,’ was banished from all devices with Internet access after turning himself in to campus community police service. On Thursday, he appeared in court on four counts—mischief to data, altering data, interception of computer functions and the use of a computer with intent contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. At his sentencing, Horwood was ordered to pay Western $10,219.84 in restitution, complete 100 hours of community service and complete a year’s probation. “You’ve been charged with a criminal offence,” Justice John Skowronski said. “But you’re not a criminal.” Horwood expressed he felt “extremely thankful, and a little bit lucky.” He added that he didn’t go into
his trial with any expectations, good or bad. “I just went in there with the idea that if I did what I believed was the right thing, and kept a positive attitude, then everything would work out for the best.” Responses from the Western community seemed to indicate the public thought his sentence suited the crime, so to speak. “I think the $10,000 is a little bit excessive, but it will drive home the point—if you find a problem with a Western website, don’t screw around with it, just tell someone at ITS,” Jessica Chambers, a fourthyear political science student, opined. “You don’t need to be a jerk and ruin the hard work of the candidates.” Third-year science student Saquib Mian thought the judge’s orders were fair, “considering it was supposed to be a harmless prank. I think a part of that money needs to go to candidates for all the extra hard work they had to do,” he said in a Facebook comment. Meanwhile, Adam Fearnall, USC president and one of those most affected by Horwood’s hack, said he was happy with the outcome. “I think, overall, we’re happy to see there’s recognition of the fact that a lot of students, and a lot of people, put a lot of time into the election. It’s
FILE PHOTO
HACKER’S BACK. University Students’ Council elections hacker Keith Horwood, pictured here in his YouTube video, was ordered to pay over $10,000 in restitution to the university on September 20.
nice to see the court recognize that.” “I don’t think we had any great desire to see Keith’s life ruined by the experience,” he added. Fearnall noted the USC was ready to move on and make sure they had a secure election this year. Horwood, too, seems ready to move on. The software entrepreneur is working on a new commu-
nications-based project that should be ready to launch soon. But has his absence from the Internet left him rusty? Horwood doesn’t think so, and was already actively participating in the online realm Thursday night, posting a video update on his life on YouTube, and tweeting up a storm.
The only difficulty thus far, he says, has been Internet memes. “One of the things I haven’t really re-familiarized myself with yet is current Internet memes. So, people have made references to things that I’m just like ‘what?’ and they’re like ‘oh yeah, you couldn’t use the Internet.’”
Mike Laine Gazette
Students rejoice as PQ repeals tuition hikes Aaron Zaltzman News Editor
Courtesy of Hera Chan, The McGill Daily
The saga of the Quebec university tuition hikes came to a longawaited end last week when the newly-elected Parti Quebecois repealed the 75 per cent fee increase in its first cabinet meeting, less than 24 hours after coming into power. Though the news came as no surprise—the PQ made the repeal of the fee hike a key platform point in the general election earlier this month—it was met with a sense of jubilation from the student groups who had staged protests and class disruptions for the better part of the academic year. Martine Desjardins, president
of the Fédération Étudiante Universitaire du Québec, said her group saw the repeal as a victory. “We didn’t expect that it would take a general election and a leadership change to end this crisis,” Desjardins said. She explained her group was originally hopeful about the negotiations with the Liberal government of Jean Charest, who had enacted a tuition increase of $1,778 over the next five years. “However, after the second round of negotiations we realized they would amount to nothing, and in the third round the government walked out,” Desjardins said. “We knew when they left that no other negotiations would take place and only a general election
would help to solve the crisis.” “When the election was called, we saw an opportunity to make a difference and elect a new government that would be willing to listen to what we were asking.” What FEUQ will now be asking for is a tuition freeze—something that will have to be hammered out with the PQ during the education summit to be held some time in the near future. New premier Pauline Marois is proposing an inflationary increase for tuition, which would mean a one to three per cent hike per year. Desjardins argued the students are already feeling the effects of inflation. >> see quebec pg.3