Kevin Mitnick was informed today by the United States Probation Office that he will be permitted to pursue several offers of employment including speaking engagements, security consulting work and writing for Steven Brill's online magazine Contentville. The approval represents a reversal of the probation office's earlier position that Mitnick was not to speak publicly or write about any technology related issue. (See 'Free Kevin! (to speak)'.)

In April, the probation office had sent Mitnick a letter denying all requests for employment, recommending instead that he 'seek employment in another field.' As a result of that letter, Mitnick returned to court hoping to get US Federal Judge Marianne Pfaelzer to provide guidelines regarding what employment opportunities would be considered 'reasonable.'

Although Judge Pfaelzer set no such guidelines, her insistence that each of Mitnick's employment opportunities be reviewed seems to have had an effect. Moving from what Mitnick's defense attorneys deemed a 'blanket denial' of Mitnick's right to speak or write, the probation office appears to be loosening up their restrictions to allow Mitnick to make a living.

Mitnick expressed relief regarding today's decision, 'I was in limbo,' he said, 'it was really hard not knowing what was going to happen.'

Writing for Contentville, Mitnick will be critiquing Internet and computer-related articles, providing his perspective and analysis. Other opportunities include speaking engagements, security consulting and possibly a position as a talk show host for Los Angeles radio station KFI.

Mitnick's probation office, Larry Hawley had positive comments about Mitnick following the May hearing, calling him a 'nice guy' who was 'doing very well' under the terms of his supervised release.

Since his release from prison in January, Mitnick has already made full restitution to the victim companies and is now concerned with getting on with his life and making a positive contribution. According to attorney Sherman Ellison, 'a lot of maturation has happened in prison,' and since that time, Mitnick has become a 'valuable asset to the government and the private sector' because of his expertise.