4 ms·

Ex-CIA Coder Who Sent Secrets to WikiLeaks Gets 40 Years

43 points by michalu 3y ago

alexfromapex 3y ago
Only people exposing the crimes go to jail…
- nielsbot 3y ago
  sounds like he wasn’t doing it out of a sense of justice, but do get revenge on his office
taraharris 3y ago
I remember reading about this case a few years ago (so I don't have a link). The article said the CSAM was the result of many of the employees in the CIA pranking each other. I am inclined to see this as a selective prosecution that benefits the CIA at the expense of the public interest. The secrecy they operate under inherently shields them from accountability. We have allowed our constitutional system to be usurped, to have a watcher free from the oversight of an effective watcher (i.e., the public or even its representatives).
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
  Yeah. Taking the CSAM charges at face value is frankly like believing that Epstein killed himself. I have strong doubts about the likelihood of someone knowingly getting themselves into such hot water, with the technical competency to understand their digital fingerprint and what’ll happen if / when the government catches on, let alone his literal insider’s perspective into the US surveillance state, behaving as alleged. I’m not saying that it’s not possible. I’m not saying that someone behaves logically all the time just because they work with computers, but “oh, and CSAM!” is such an American government t ‘icing on the cake’ ploy that it feels a bit too good to be true.
  - hpenvy 3y ago
    I still don't understand the belief that Epstein must not have killed himself. I can understand feeling like he might have been killed but I don't know what gives people the conviction that he must have been. I feel similarly about this case. Is it really that bizarre to think that a person who decides to work for the CIA and then decides to leak information would also have CSAM?
    - WhyOhWhyQ 3y ago
      I think that primary causes of assuredness in such conspiratorial matters is 1) political (Epstein didn't kill himself and the people currently in power must be to blame!) and 2) the desire many people have for the world to be more exciting and interesting than it is (this is the ultimate cause of many kinds of magical thinking).
    - tossit444 3y ago
      I believe specifically for Epstein's case it was a combination of two things: 1) The "malfunction" of the security cameras outside of his cell, and 2) his seemingly boundless connection to very wealthy and famous people. 1) page 4 of https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.p... 2) https://epsteinsblackbook.com/all-names https://epsteinsblackbook.com/all-names
    - mc32 3y ago
      Obviously a biased source, but his brother does not thing it was suicide either. That's to say he's right. People do commit suicide in jail or prison, but it does seem weird that a high value prisoner was not properly monitored for suicide-watch. Technically he was, but the Cameras were not working and the guys watching him were very lackadaisical about it.
      - DanBC 3y ago
        > and the guys watching him were very lackadaisical about it. Anyone who knows anything at all about suicide prevention is unsurprised by this. We know that observation does not work because staff cannot maintain it. This is true whether it's 15 minute obs, 5 minute obs, permanent line of sight obs, arms length obs, two to one arms length obs: they do not work. There are countless examples of staff in hospital, on duty, doing obs, knowing their patient is at increased risk of suicide, falling asleep.
hpenvy 3y ago
'Furman said Schulte continued his crimes from behind bars by trying to leak more classified materials and by creating a hidden file on his computer that contained 2,400 images of child sexual abuse that he continued to view from jail." I wonder how he had so much access to technology and his own files while behind bars? I'm not inclined to believe this is false and even if the CSAM is part of a CIA prank (as someone else suggested here), this part of the case would still be quite illegal.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  Hidden folder on his computer? A ".csam" folder or what do they mean? A CSAM criminal programmer that doesn't know to encrypt his CSAM? When being in jail? I've always have had this nagging feeling CSAM is used as a way to frame people -- "4 the lolz" by that kind of people or targeted framing. Way too easy to manufacture a criminal.
  - chislobog 3y ago
    I doubt anyone here would say this directly so I will: the csam charge is an assured way to punish this man without a trial about the other issues. If CIA planted CSAM on a computer they would do it in such a way as to comport with the expectations of a forensic examination, by legal standards. An organization that commits crimes in other countries to do their job, and commits crimes possibly in America regularly, wouldn’t frame someone? Why? They can frame an undesirable politician in another country, but not someone who betrayed their trust and committed an act of aggression and treason from within? That’s laughable.
- hulitu 3y ago
  > I wonder how he had so much access to technology and his own files while behind bars? Just like Hans Reiser. /s
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
nielsbot 3y ago
from the article, it doesn’t sound like this guy is exactly like other leakers who leak on moral grounds. This guy did it for revenge against the government. He also showed no remorse for either the child pornography or the leaking so that’s probably why he ended up with a 40 year sentence.

43 points by michalu 3y ago

alexfromapex 3y ago

Only people exposing the crimes go to jail…

nielsbot 3y ago
sounds like he wasn’t doing it out of a sense of justice, but do get revenge on his office

taraharris 3y ago

I remember reading about this case a few years ago (so I don't have a link). The article said the CSAM was the result of many of the employees in the CIA pranking each other. I am inclined to see this as a selective prosecution that benefits the CIA at the expense of the public interest. The secrecy they operate under inherently shields them from accountability. We have allowed our constitutional system to be usurped, to have a watcher free from the oversight of an effective watcher (i.e., the public or even its representatives).

cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
Yeah. Taking the CSAM charges at face value is frankly like believing that Epstein killed himself. I have strong doubts about the likelihood of someone knowingly getting themselves into such hot water, with the technical competency to understand their digital fingerprint and what’ll happen if / when the government catches on, let alone his literal insider’s perspective into the US surveillance state, behaving as alleged. I’m not saying that it’s not possible. I’m not saying that someone behaves logically all the time just because they work with computers, but “oh, and CSAM!” is such an American government t ‘icing on the cake’ ploy that it feels a bit too good to be true.
- hpenvy 3y ago
  I still don't understand the belief that Epstein must not have killed himself. I can understand feeling like he might have been killed but I don't know what gives people the conviction that he must have been. I feel similarly about this case. Is it really that bizarre to think that a person who decides to work for the CIA and then decides to leak information would also have CSAM?
  - WhyOhWhyQ 3y ago
    I think that primary causes of assuredness in such conspiratorial matters is 1) political (Epstein didn't kill himself and the people currently in power must be to blame!) and 2) the desire many people have for the world to be more exciting and interesting than it is (this is the ultimate cause of many kinds of magical thinking).
  - tossit444 3y ago
    I believe specifically for Epstein's case it was a combination of two things: 1) The "malfunction" of the security cameras outside of his cell, and 2) his seemingly boundless connection to very wealthy and famous people. 1) page 4 of https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.p... 2) https://epsteinsblackbook.com/all-names https://epsteinsblackbook.com/all-names
  - mc32 3y ago
    Obviously a biased source, but his brother does not thing it was suicide either. That's to say he's right. People do commit suicide in jail or prison, but it does seem weird that a high value prisoner was not properly monitored for suicide-watch. Technically he was, but the Cameras were not working and the guys watching him were very lackadaisical about it.
    - DanBC 3y ago
      > and the guys watching him were very lackadaisical about it. Anyone who knows anything at all about suicide prevention is unsurprised by this. We know that observation does not work because staff cannot maintain it. This is true whether it's 15 minute obs, 5 minute obs, permanent line of sight obs, arms length obs, two to one arms length obs: they do not work. There are countless examples of staff in hospital, on duty, doing obs, knowing their patient is at increased risk of suicide, falling asleep.

hpenvy 3y ago

'Furman said Schulte continued his crimes from behind bars by trying to leak more classified materials and by creating a hidden file on his computer that contained 2,400 images of child sexual abuse that he continued to view from jail." I wonder how he had so much access to technology and his own files while behind bars? I'm not inclined to believe this is false and even if the CSAM is part of a CIA prank (as someone else suggested here), this part of the case would still be quite illegal.

rightbyte 3y ago
Hidden folder on his computer? A ".csam" folder or what do they mean? A CSAM criminal programmer that doesn't know to encrypt his CSAM? When being in jail? I've always have had this nagging feeling CSAM is used as a way to frame people -- "4 the lolz" by that kind of people or targeted framing. Way too easy to manufacture a criminal.
- chislobog 3y ago
  I doubt anyone here would say this directly so I will: the csam charge is an assured way to punish this man without a trial about the other issues. If CIA planted CSAM on a computer they would do it in such a way as to comport with the expectations of a forensic examination, by legal standards. An organization that commits crimes in other countries to do their job, and commits crimes possibly in America regularly, wouldn’t frame someone? Why? They can frame an undesirable politician in another country, but not someone who betrayed their trust and committed an act of aggression and treason from within? That’s laughable.
hulitu 3y ago
> I wonder how he had so much access to technology and his own files while behind bars? Just like Hans Reiser. /s
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

nielsbot 3y ago

from the article, it doesn’t sound like this guy is exactly like other leakers who leak on moral grounds. This guy did it for revenge against the government. He also showed no remorse for either the child pornography or the leaking so that’s probably why he ended up with a 40 year sentence.