The case of Terry Childs, the City of San Francisco's network administrator, has taken another bizarre turn.

Childs is the city's computer data network architect and administrator who held San Francisco's WLAN hostage for nine days in a professional disagreement with his manager. He was jailed 15 days ago.

This has turned into a Benny Hill comedy side show for IT people and a lesson for their boss on how to be very careful who has the keys to the kingdom. The latest move in the saga is that the city prosecutors from District Attorney Kamala Harris' office submitted personal-access passwords and user names in an exhibit for court reference last week as evidence in their case against Childs.

Ironically, a listing of about 150 user names and passwords of city officials for access into the system was submitted as evidence as part of the public record of the trial. Yes, public, as in anyone and everyone can get that supposedly secure information. After the passwords were discovered by several of the local press earlier today, they were 'redacted' from the record, said a District Attorney spokeswoman.

Numerous vendors are hawking specialized software that removes sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license data, and bank account information, from public documents.

Aren’t legal types computer savy enough to utilize such high-tech protective mechanisms?

Childs, 43, was arrested on July 13 on four felony charges of tampering with the city's FiberWAN network. It is claimed in a previous indictment that he changed several high-security passwords and refused to hand them over to department managers after claiming that his managers couldn't be trusted to run the system themselves.

He also claimed they had been negligent about allowing viruses and malware into the system. The nine-day standoff was broken July 23 after Childs divulged the network login codes to Mayor Gavin Newsom during a jail house meeting.

Despite a hearing with a judge last Thursday in an effort to lower his bond, Childs remains in jail in lieu of $5 million bail.

We wonder what will be the next comedic turn of events? X

Check out
Disgruntled techie holds San Francisco hostage
Computer hijacker refused bail discount