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The primary relevance is that this looks at the business details of a tech startup, JPay, which is in the not-insignificant industry category of incarceration s
by danso 8y ago
The primary relevance is that this looks at the business details of a tech startup, JPay, which is in the not-insignificant industry category of incarceration services (estimated 1 to $2 billion) https://blog.ycombinator.com/pigeon-dot-ly-yc-w15-a-startup-focused-on-serving-the-us-prison-population-joins-y-combinator/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/pigeon-dot-ly-yc-w15-a-startup-...
The secondary factors of relevance are: hardware sales, the increasing use of mobile/tablet computers, the impact of private contractors on the cost of government, and interesting/controversial pricing schemes.
- mmirate 8y agoNo, this article is mostly a bout of "let's express pity on these poor people because we're compassionate/upstanding/Christian/whatever", and does not go into particularly much depth about JPay. (Nor did those legislators, but that's typical of legislators.) It does go into just enough detail about JPay to bring a smile to my face. But simple schadenfreude is not what HN is for, I daresay.
- danso 8y agoI think it's fine to accept that this article was written by what seems to be a pro-prison reform group (I saw it retweeted by a friend, who I believe works in that area), but that doesn't make it irrelevant to the tech entrepreneurial crowd. Just as pricing strategies and revenues for pay-to-win mobile games is interesting to folks here who have no intention on playing such games. But yes, there is an additional element of public policy discussion, particularly whether we should be cautious of the wider consequences of seemingly no-strings-attached contracts. Not everyone shares your clearcut perspective on what amenities convicts should have access to. But the bulk of these costs are borne by the families of these convicts, who are generally not morally culpable in their family members' crimes.
- dictum 8y agoAre HN readers not allowed to express pity (assuming this is what is happening here) via their interests? I can understand not having much sympathy for criminals (not as individuals, but as a generic group) but a worldview that abolishes pity for underclasses (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17630121 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17630121, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17630115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17630115) is going to take a little more explaining before a sizable number of HNers embrace it.
- mmirate 8y ago> a little more explaining Does "I'm not among them" not suffice? Sheesh.
- throwaway2048 8y agoYou sound like the kind of person that does nothing but make the world a worse place.
- mmirate 8y agoYou sound like the kind of busybody who thinks they know what's best for everyone, and will stop at nothing to make everyone kowtow to your good intentions, until you're too old and frail to even enjoy the results of your good deeds.