In the end, on March 16, 1999, I signed the deal. The prosecution this time was willing to go with a "binding" plea agreement, which meant that Judge Pfaelzer would have to sentence me to the agreed terms, or I could withdraw my plea and go to trial. I pled guilty to seven counts handpicked by government prosecutors in Northern and Southern California (other jurisdictions also wanted a piece of me), which included wire fraud (social-engineering people over the phone into sending me source code), computer fraud (copying source code), possession of access devices (passwords), and interception of data communications (installing network sniffers to grab passwords).