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Excuse my ignorance about the US justice system, but do I get correctly that the Theranos folks got like 11-13 years? Seems disproportionate.

anigbrowl 4y ago
12 years ago I aspired to becoming an attorney; now I look back at that time and shake my head at my former naivete. To be clear, this guy was doing some crime - he was using his skills to unlock stolen phones so that they could be resold, plus he broke into T-mobile's computer systems by various means long after his access was revoked. But much of the press release is about how the worstest, baddest thing he did was help people get out of their phone contracts (thus acquiring a phone cheaply because so many carriers want to give you the latest greatest phone for $0 down and then collect huge monthly subscriptions). I've never bought a phone this way because it always ends up costing more. But if you want to buy your phone outright, bring in your own device, or prepay for your phone service, the big cell service providers in the US treat you like absolute dirt. So while I don't endorse this guy's actions, I also don't feel any sympathy for his 'victim'.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  > But if you want to buy your phone outright, bring in your own device, or prepay for your phone service, the big cell service providers in the US treat you like absolute dirt. How so? I have walked into ATT and T-Mobile stores and purchased SIM cards very easily. With eSIM, I bet you do not even need to go to a store.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    Perhaps it's the area where I live, but my experience with those kinds of services over the years has involved a distinct lack of enthusiasm and lengthy waits to get the simplest things done, with different staff due to turnover. I thought it was clear that I'm making a generalization rather than asserting a universal or very specific truth.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      I assume service will be better at official ATT/T-Mobile/Verizon stores. But they have a lot of franchised “authorized retailer” stores, where I assume the owner is working on commission, and so a simple SIM request might even net them nothing. Nevertheless, with eSIM, I doubt there will be much reason to go to a store in the future.
nier 4y ago
I’m at no means an expert but it would be logical for me to somehow put the easiness of how the crime was committed and the magnitude of the ill-gotten gains in relation to calculate the punishment. In other words, if all it takes is to operate a store, gain familiarity with your vendor, and then swindle your way to $25,000,000, there might be a lot more copycats so you want to set an example.

anigbrowl 4y ago

12 years ago I aspired to becoming an attorney; now I look back at that time and shake my head at my former naivete. To be clear, this guy was doing some crime - he was using his skills to unlock stolen phones so that they could be resold, plus he broke into T-mobile's computer systems by various means long after his access was revoked. But much of the press release is about how the worstest, baddest thing he did was help people get out of their phone contracts (thus acquiring a phone cheaply because so many carriers want to give you the latest greatest phone for $0 down and then collect huge monthly subscriptions). I've never bought a phone this way because it always ends up costing more. But if you want to buy your phone outright, bring in your own device, or prepay for your phone service, the big cell service providers in the US treat you like absolute dirt. So while I don't endorse this guy's actions, I also don't feel any sympathy for his 'victim'.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
> But if you want to buy your phone outright, bring in your own device, or prepay for your phone service, the big cell service providers in the US treat you like absolute dirt. How so? I have walked into ATT and T-Mobile stores and purchased SIM cards very easily. With eSIM, I bet you do not even need to go to a store.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  Perhaps it's the area where I live, but my experience with those kinds of services over the years has involved a distinct lack of enthusiasm and lengthy waits to get the simplest things done, with different staff due to turnover. I thought it was clear that I'm making a generalization rather than asserting a universal or very specific truth.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    I assume service will be better at official ATT/T-Mobile/Verizon stores. But they have a lot of franchised “authorized retailer” stores, where I assume the owner is working on commission, and so a simple SIM request might even net them nothing. Nevertheless, with eSIM, I doubt there will be much reason to go to a store in the future.

nier 4y ago

I’m at no means an expert but it would be logical for me to somehow put the easiness of how the crime was committed and the magnitude of the ill-gotten gains in relation to calculate the punishment. In other words, if all it takes is to operate a store, gain familiarity with your vendor, and then swindle your way to $25,000,000, there might be a lot more copycats so you want to set an example.