Because he shared secret information from the US military on his private Discord server, a Minecraft player was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
After sharing military secrets on his Discord server, a 22-year Minecraft player was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Even if you have never played Minecraft, chances are high that you at least know the basic mechanics of the game. Crafting tools, building stuff, sharing top secret us military information – the usual.
Military secrets on Discord and 4chan
That’s at least what a former US Air National guardsman thought to do while playing the game by Mojang Studios. The 22-year old was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison because of sharing US military secrets on a Minecraft-Discord server.
Ironically he was serving as part of the Intelligence Wing’s cyber defense operations since 2019 but started to access military documents beyond his classification grade in 2022. He shared material including details of America’s involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the development of a supersonic spy drone in China, and information surrounding ammunition negotiations with South Korea.
The documents were kept within the Discord server he ran before they have been leaked onto 4chan. At this point he pleaded with other Discord members to eliminate any evidence before trying to destroy his hard drives and disposing of the broken hardware in a dumpster near his home.
Authorities seized the evidence and later arrested the 22-year old.
15 years in federal prison
Prosecutors told the courts that the information he shared on a private Discord server was “highly classified and contained vital national defense information”.
The sentencing documentation explained:
By posting intelligence products on the social media platform Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, he caused exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States. The scope of his betrayal is breathtaking. The amount of damage he caused is immeasurable.
In the beginning, the accused pleaded not guilty but changed his plea in March of this year. He was sentenced on November 12 to 15 years in federal prison.
What are your thoughts about the whole situation and the sentence?
