Terry Childs, former Systems Administrator for the City of San Francisco, challenges the charges against him

Terry Childs, 44, a San Francisco Department of Technology network engineer, remains in custody on $5 million bail after being arrested for tampering with the City of San Francisco's FiberWAN network. Mr. Childs designed and installed the network and has written three books on the effort involved. There is some controversy about whether he received a copyright for the design.

Childs is being held on 4 felony counts of computer tampering, and an additional charge of causing large monetary damage. He allegedly withheld the router configurations passwords and allowed them to be in a precarious state of operating with no configuration backups.

Many in the computer industry have questioned the charges surrounding this case. His actions, if accurately described, may be a result of his desire to protect the network from other city managers, who he has described as incompetent. Many computer experts agree that his actions might be described as foolish, but the City is attempting to prove they were felonious. Childs faces 7 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

There is widespread concern in the IT industry that normal, everyday actions can be called illegal by employers. This is a case where an overprotective administrator may or may not have had malicious intent. His intent will determine his fate.

Today he appeared in court with his attorney, Richard Shikman. Shikman persueded the court to allow more time for a challenge to the original charges before a plea must be entered.

You can read the story from the San Francisco Examiner here: City Employee challenges computer tampering charges