Definitely yes if the punishment for their respective crimes is not in correspondence with damage actually done.
If crack cocaine carries a mandatory sentencing of 5 years in jail for less than a gram (it used to), the only moral thing to do is to let the offender go. Even if you think they deserve to be punished to some degree, you have to examine if the expected punishment is proportional to the desired punishment.
He inconvenienced TC for one hour. A felony conviction would be screwing him over for the rest of his life, possibly 70+ years. I don't see any positive outcomes from that which would offset resources wasted prosecuting.
In the chat transcripts, they explicitly discuss the possibility of getting caught. The perp knew the risks, and made a conscious decision to proceed. The Friend's discussion about getting paid for links reveals a pattern (albeit not in this case) of doing this for personal gain. And they also show clearly that they understand the effects of their behavior on the victims, and just don't care about it.
If you want to prevent these hackers from mischief, there must be a credible threat of repercussions. Letting them go will not discourage all this guy's friends. But maybe in a similar conversation next year, when they're talking about getting caught, someone will mention "you remember last year when Xyz got caught, and he's still in jail!".
That is just how the system works, though, you commit a crime, you get convicted. Then you could argue that the laws should change. But I can't understand these kids(?): smart enough to hack a server, but not smart enough to understand the consequences? Presumably he is feeling invincible?
There seem to be a lot of people who might be willing to give him a second change even with a felony conviction. It sounds like you would? If he really is just a stupid kid, there might be extra laws for kids, and the punishment less severe?
Cocaine is an entirely different matter, because it only damages the user, not other people. Hacking a public server damages other people. How is that excusable? And he didn't just put up a powned message, either, he tried to make money. What's next, selling accounts to the russian mafia?
I mean I would agree with you that if you personally feel that the crime is not really a crime (as you might feel about possession of drugs), you wouldn't press charges. But I don't see how hacking a server with the purpose of making money could not be considered a crime.
