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He certainly was an interesting person. It was always amazing the degree to which law enforcement prosecuted his hacking and cracking, when it seems like much m

He certainly was an interesting person. It was always amazing the degree to which law enforcement prosecuted his hacking and cracking, when it seems like much more impactful crimes involving computers go uninvestigated. Plenty of people are hounded by threats of violence into leaving their jobs and homes, that seems far more impactful than Mitnick's crimes. And FYI, while he died unexpectedly young, a 57-year-old man in the US has only a 50% chance of living to see their child reach 23 years of age. I, personally, wouldn't feel comfortable risking leaving a child with a likelihood of dealing with my death at that relatively young age.

bragr 3y ago
Well just doing the math, they must have conceived after his diagnosis, so presumably that was baked in sadly just knowing the actuarials on pancreatic cancer.
woooooo 3y ago
Everything is high school. A rebel thumbing their nose at the system must be punished, while the conventionally corrupt deserve the benefit of the doubt.
- javajosh 3y ago
  Wow, this comment is the most profound thing I've read in a while on HN. I find myself a) intuitively agreeing and b) trying to pick it apart. Society as a whole seems to have a very complicated love/hate relationship with rebellion and rebels. But with Mitnick it's like he personified Chaos vs law enforcement's Order in an almost mythological, Jungian sense that goes beyond any utilitarian justification.
- goodpoint 3y ago
  That's very specific to US society. Authorities treat computer intrusion more seriously than many violent crimes because it can affect companies and the government. Companies and the government can spy on people all they want (see Snowden) but the reverse is punished severely (see Assange)
bagels 3y ago
Doesn't that statistic depend heavily on how old the child is to begin with?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- wittenbunk 3y ago
  Child are typically born zero years old.
  - bagels 3y ago
    Okay, but most 57 year olds aren't having children at 57, most will have children well before that, if at all.
pc86 3y ago
> a 57-year-old man in the US has only a 50% chance of living to see their child reach 23 years of age Perhaps a clearer way to put it: a 57-year-old man in the US has a 50% chance of living to 80, which doesn't seem quite as shocking of a statement.
- hnick 3y ago
  It might also be loaded with the assumption the man has a child - I'd assume outcomes are different for those with and without? I wonder by how much.
- riffic 3y ago
  yo if people like looked at an actuarial table they'd have a better idea what that means
- jonhohle 3y ago
  How many men are having their first child at 57? I’ll be well under 57 when my oldest child is 23.
  - pc86 3y ago
    I'm not sure what that has to do with the parent comment.
    - oefnak 3y ago
      I on the other hand, don't understand why that first comment brought up children at all. Did Kevin have his first kid at 57?
      - callalex 3y ago
        The third sentence of the linked article tells us that his wife is pregnant.
      - wittenbunk 3y ago
        Reading between the lines of the article he battled cancer for 14 months, but his wife is currently pregnant with their first kid. So they chose to have a kid knowing he was a 57 year old with an aggressive form of cancer.
m4jor 3y ago
>And FYI, while he died unexpectedly young, a 57-year-old man in the US has only a 50% chance of living to see their child reach 23 years of age. I, personally, wouldn't feel comfortable risking leaving a child with a likelihood of dealing with my death at that relatively young age. To me it seems more like he wanted to have a child with his wife before he passed so they planned it out so it would happen.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
neilv 3y ago
I'm sure the child will grow up knowing that they were wanted and loved. Obituaries mention surviving family members by convention, but otherwise leave very personal matters to the family. The death of someone can be a reminder of our own mortality. Maybe a later HN post can work through some of those thoughts.
dghughes 3y ago
I think it's pretty amazing to be 57 and expecting a child. I'd be thrilled. I'm 54 no kids and I wish I could have great relationship with a woman that is so good we had a child. Seeing how sick he was and sterility is a possibility from cancer drugs I think Kevin would be thrilled about the child as anyone would be.
- layer8 3y ago
  The question is about whether the child will be thrilled to have a father who died before they were born.
PostOnce 3y ago
None of the commenters expressing this bullshit sentiment will provide their children with 1% of the education, health, freedom, security, etc that Mitnick will have left for his child. We struggle our whole lives to provide, it looks like he already assured that for his family, even into perpetuity if managed well. It's not like he gave himself cancer on purpose and chose to leave a child with nothing out of spite. He played the hand he was dealt, it seems. "Mitnick has filed a 13G form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing ownership of 9,379,829 shares of KnowBe4, Inc. Class A (KNBE). This represents 6.9 percent ownership of the company. " " companies announced on Wednesday that they have entered into a definitive agreement, with KnowBe4 stockholders set to receive $24.90 per share in cash, " "Vista Equity Partners to Acquire Security Awareness Training Firm KnowBe4 for $4.6B" https://fintel.io/news/mitnick-kevin-discloses-stake-in-knbe-knowbe4-inc-class-a-0.5683683029169924 https://fintel.io/news/mitnick-kevin-discloses-stake-in-knbe... https://www.securityweek.com/vista-equity-partners-acquire-security-awareness-training-firm-knowbe4-46b/ https://www.securityweek.com/vista-equity-partners-acquire-s...
- wittenbunk 3y ago
  Right who needs a father figure when you have cash....
  - PostOnce 3y ago
    We don't live in an ideal world. That doesn't mean it's not worth living in. The man didn't hang himself, he got a case of severe bad luck. I'm sure he'd be here doing the father figure stuff if he could, but if he can't, that doesn't mean the kid shouldn't have been created, and really, that's their family's own personal decision to make. Ultimately, he did a good job for his family and the kid will be fine. People shitting on him on the day he died for choosing to have a kid that he leaves very well taken care of just seems wrong in several different ways. I mean, we could all be at work trying to provide for our theoretical kids right now and we're sitting here saying dumb shit on the internet instead.
  - dang 3y ago
    Please make your substantive points without snark. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
ldargin 3y ago
On the flip side, his child will grow up knowing he had the coolest dad ever.

bragr 3y ago

Well just doing the math, they must have conceived after his diagnosis, so presumably that was baked in sadly just knowing the actuarials on pancreatic cancer.

woooooo 3y ago

Everything is high school. A rebel thumbing their nose at the system must be punished, while the conventionally corrupt deserve the benefit of the doubt.

javajosh 3y ago
Wow, this comment is the most profound thing I've read in a while on HN. I find myself a) intuitively agreeing and b) trying to pick it apart. Society as a whole seems to have a very complicated love/hate relationship with rebellion and rebels. But with Mitnick it's like he personified Chaos vs law enforcement's Order in an almost mythological, Jungian sense that goes beyond any utilitarian justification.
goodpoint 3y ago
That's very specific to US society. Authorities treat computer intrusion more seriously than many violent crimes because it can affect companies and the government. Companies and the government can spy on people all they want (see Snowden) but the reverse is punished severely (see Assange)

bagels 3y ago

Doesn't that statistic depend heavily on how old the child is to begin with?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
wittenbunk 3y ago
Child are typically born zero years old.
- bagels 3y ago
  Okay, but most 57 year olds aren't having children at 57, most will have children well before that, if at all.

pc86 3y ago

> a 57-year-old man in the US has only a 50% chance of living to see their child reach 23 years of age Perhaps a clearer way to put it: a 57-year-old man in the US has a 50% chance of living to 80, which doesn't seem quite as shocking of a statement.

hnick 3y ago
It might also be loaded with the assumption the man has a child - I'd assume outcomes are different for those with and without? I wonder by how much.
riffic 3y ago
yo if people like looked at an actuarial table they'd have a better idea what that means
jonhohle 3y ago
How many men are having their first child at 57? I’ll be well under 57 when my oldest child is 23.
- pc86 3y ago
  I'm not sure what that has to do with the parent comment.
  - oefnak 3y ago
    I on the other hand, don't understand why that first comment brought up children at all. Did Kevin have his first kid at 57?
    - callalex 3y ago
      The third sentence of the linked article tells us that his wife is pregnant.
    - wittenbunk 3y ago
      Reading between the lines of the article he battled cancer for 14 months, but his wife is currently pregnant with their first kid. So they chose to have a kid knowing he was a 57 year old with an aggressive form of cancer.

m4jor 3y ago

>And FYI, while he died unexpectedly young, a 57-year-old man in the US has only a 50% chance of living to see their child reach 23 years of age. I, personally, wouldn't feel comfortable risking leaving a child with a likelihood of dealing with my death at that relatively young age. To me it seems more like he wanted to have a child with his wife before he passed so they planned it out so it would happen.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

neilv 3y ago

I'm sure the child will grow up knowing that they were wanted and loved. Obituaries mention surviving family members by convention, but otherwise leave very personal matters to the family. The death of someone can be a reminder of our own mortality. Maybe a later HN post can work through some of those thoughts.

dghughes 3y ago

I think it's pretty amazing to be 57 and expecting a child. I'd be thrilled. I'm 54 no kids and I wish I could have great relationship with a woman that is so good we had a child. Seeing how sick he was and sterility is a possibility from cancer drugs I think Kevin would be thrilled about the child as anyone would be.

layer8 3y ago
The question is about whether the child will be thrilled to have a father who died before they were born.

PostOnce 3y ago

None of the commenters expressing this bullshit sentiment will provide their children with 1% of the education, health, freedom, security, etc that Mitnick will have left for his child. We struggle our whole lives to provide, it looks like he already assured that for his family, even into perpetuity if managed well. It's not like he gave himself cancer on purpose and chose to leave a child with nothing out of spite. He played the hand he was dealt, it seems. "Mitnick has filed a 13G form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing ownership of 9,379,829 shares of KnowBe4, Inc. Class A (KNBE). This represents 6.9 percent ownership of the company. " " companies announced on Wednesday that they have entered into a definitive agreement, with KnowBe4 stockholders set to receive $24.90 per share in cash, " "Vista Equity Partners to Acquire Security Awareness Training Firm KnowBe4 for $4.6B" https://fintel.io/news/mitnick-kevin-discloses-stake-in-knbe-knowbe4-inc-class-a-0.5683683029169924 https://fintel.io/news/mitnick-kevin-discloses-stake-in-knbe... https://www.securityweek.com/vista-equity-partners-acquire-security-awareness-training-firm-knowbe4-46b/ https://www.securityweek.com/vista-equity-partners-acquire-s...

wittenbunk 3y ago
Right who needs a father figure when you have cash....
- PostOnce 3y ago
  We don't live in an ideal world. That doesn't mean it's not worth living in. The man didn't hang himself, he got a case of severe bad luck. I'm sure he'd be here doing the father figure stuff if he could, but if he can't, that doesn't mean the kid shouldn't have been created, and really, that's their family's own personal decision to make. Ultimately, he did a good job for his family and the kid will be fine. People shitting on him on the day he died for choosing to have a kid that he leaves very well taken care of just seems wrong in several different ways. I mean, we could all be at work trying to provide for our theoretical kids right now and we're sitting here saying dumb shit on the internet instead.
- dang 3y ago
  Please make your substantive points without snark. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

ldargin 3y ago

On the flip side, his child will grow up knowing he had the coolest dad ever.