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I don't understand why punishment in hacker cases isn't always the exploitation of the guilty hacker's skills redirected towards societal benefit for extensive
by Maursault 5y ago
I don't understand why punishment in hacker cases isn't always the exploitation of the guilty hacker's skills redirected towards societal benefit for extensive periods rather than expensive prosecutions, expensive prison sentences, and ultimately disenfranchisement of a valuable resource. When they catch them, they should just give them a choice, prosecution, or "you work for us for as long as we say," draft them into the Cyber Force as closely watched grunts that can advance with merit, accomplishments and earning trust, with positive reinforcement effectively eliminating recidivism. It is incredibly cheap to keep a hacker happy and producing compared to the cost of prosecution, etc. Granted, the vast majority of criminal "hacks" involve unimpressive retaliations for being mistreated by an employer, but even some of those were impressive, at least among the hacks we know about. I know a few convicted hackers went into security after restitution, but I think we can avoid the expensive and slow process of heavy justice for most of these crimes that entirely happened on computers, where most had little effect on the material world... few were maimed, physically injured, suffered immensely before dying horribly at their hands. Three years is not enough for murdering someone, but 5 years is far too much for anything that happened only on a computer and left no actual legitimately human carnage.
- Smithalicious 5y agoYou make it sound really cool but I think the term you're looking for is "slave labour"
- Maursault 5y agoI think it's properly conscription yet doesn't quite become as bad as prison labor. They'd have better personal security, more freedom, get to choose and keep their own stuff, and access to the world. Compared to prison, a military base is a spa.
- inefficient 5y ago13th amendment makes slave labor legal for those that are imprisoned. And do you make the same argument for community service?
- stjohnswarts 5y agoIf you can't do the time don't do the crime. Anyway, I'm sure he'd rather do that than sit in gen-pop worrying about getting shanked or having to join a prison gang.
- skeaker 5y agoIf time can be filled for free by unwilling participants, fabricating crimes becomes a very obvious option for malicious actors.
- Kye 5y agoThe 13th Amendment does explicitly carve out an exception for this. Not that I approve, but it's perfectly constitutional.
- easton_s 5y agoThat's called community service. It exists and is commonly used.
- Larrikin 5y agoThis argument seems to come up from people who want to be able to hack into things and not really get punished for it. Should people who hot wire cars be employed by the government for auto mechanic work? People who burglar homes be employed as home security consultants? There's an argument that can be made for reducing sentences, especially for children. Breaking the law but in a certain category shouldn't give some people a job and some people prison.
- dicknuckle 5y agoIn the real world, breaking the law in any number of categories can lead to community service or other "jobs" within the prison system. It really doesn't take much skill to break into a car or a house. Anyone can learn how to do it within an afternoon and anyone can learn to protect from it within a few afternoons without learning how to break in. Gaining access to digital systems requires a wide range of skill sets and at least a subset of those are generally required to learn how to protect from it properly.
- BizarroLand 5y agoI don't understand why a Canadian is being tried in the US after being captured in the Dominican Republic. That's just bizarre.
- chews 5y agoBoth DR and Canada allow extradition.
- vlark 5y agoBecause the people overseeing the convicted hacker have no clue what the hacker is capable of and are afraid they will use their skills to commit more crimes right under their noses. Never underestimate the technological ignorance of the majority of people that make up any bureaucratic governmental system.
- 0des 5y agoThey could be whistling missile launch codes, can't be too careful.
- JohnHaugeland 5y agoHe's not a hacker. He's a commercial pirate It's amazing to me how easily torrentfreak tricks people on hn Five years is less than you get for stealing a painting Sorry, but he shut two companies down. You don't have the background - on the case or in general - to second guess society's rules