LOS ANGELES — Kevin Mitnick, dubbed the "Hacker from Hell" for invading the Web sites of major technology companies and costing them hundreds of millions of dollars, was released from U.S. prison Friday after spending nearly five years behind bars.
Mitnick, 36, is on probation for the next three years and will not be allowed to use computers, modems, software, cellular phones or any device that would allow him access to the Internet during that time.
But his lawyer, Donald Randolph, has said Mitnick — a self-taught hacker — wants to study computer science in a university and would seek permission from authorities to use computers for that purpose.
Mitnick was released from Lompoc Federal Detention Center in central California early Friday and was driven away from the prison by his mother, prison spokesman Mike Baca said. He did not speak to reporters on his release.
Mitnick, a native of Los Angeles who led the FBI on a three-year chase before being arrested in North Carolina in 1995, pleaded guilty to computer and wire fraud in August last year and was sentence to 46 months in jail.
Friday's release reflected time already served while awaiting sentencing.
Under a plea bargain, Mitnick was also ordered to pay restitution of $4,125 to the high-tech companies he victimized, a sum that the judge described as a "token" amount.
Prosecutors had sought restitution of $1.5 million. Mitnick's victims, including such high-tech giants as Sun Microsystems Inc., Novell Inc., NEC America Inc. and Nokia Mobile Phones, said Mitnick's hacking had cost them about $290 million.
Mitnick, who started hacking as a teenager, was jailed for eight months for his activities in 1989. He went underground in 1992 when he was accused of violating the terms of his probation.
In all his tangles with the law, Mitnick was never accused of making money and always insisted that he was just "having fun."
In an interview with CBS "60 Minutes" to be broadcast Sunday, Mitnick said he saw himself as the James Bond of hackers.
"I saw myself as an electronic joyrider. . . . I was like James Bond behind the computer. I was just having a blast," he said.
Mitnick said it would have been easy to make millions through his hacking but chose not to. "I was an accomplished computer trespasser. I don't consider myself a thief ... It was a hobby in itself," he said. "It would be quite easy to become a millionaire. I could simply have accessed the computers of law firms that do acquisitions and mergers and traded on the information. I could have transferred funds."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Painter said Mitnick had missed the point.
"The more important thing is that it doesn't really matter to the victims what the motivation of the person who caused the damage (was). You're harmed, you're still a victim. It doesn't matter if they (hackers) profit or not, and that's what happened here," he said.