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Obviously I didn't write the post in order to get PR. This is NOT the kind of thing you want PR for. We decided to submit letters to the judge in order to have

Obviously I didn't write the post in order to get PR. This is NOT the kind of thing you want PR for. We decided to submit letters to the judge in order to have John's sentence reduced from 60 years to something more reasonable. In order to do that we had to go on record, and those records came out yesterday at the sentencing which I attended. The Register called today and I thought it would be best for me to explain our position in an honest and upfront way, rather than just having one quote posted here or there. Yes, my CTO screwed up the hiring process by not doing a basic Google search. Yes, the easy choice would have been to fire John. However, after getting to know John I thought the best thing for John and society would be for John to work until he went to jail. He's a good person who did very stupid things. My only goal at this point was to help reduce John's sentence and help him become a functioning member of society. all the best, Jason

tptacek 18y ago
I'm not sure, but I think he might be saying: "Mahalo was getting the publicity one way or the other, so by posting this before the story broke, you got a chance to control it".
- chris11 18y ago
  That was basically it.
chris11 18y ago
I might not have clearly articulated myself. I didn't mean to imply that you were using this situation to get more P.R. for Mahalo. As I said before I think the charges against John are serious. I don't know what is fully going on and I don't know know John personally. So I really don't have enough knowledge to form an opinion of his character. So since you know John and say that he is a good person, I believe you. He obviously has technical skill and knowledge, so I see no reason that he can't become a productive member of society once he gets out of jail. Although no news reports currently mention that John worked at Mahalo, that will probably change. As you mentioned, the Register called you today. And once people see that John worked at Mahalo, they are going to link Mahalo to a convicted cracker. Naturally that is going to raise some questions about your company. Sure you could have not made a statement and refused to answer any questions. That is your right. I really don't see how using Mahalo could put my identity or computer at risk (My level of computer knowledge might be making me overconfident). So some of the questions people raise about Mahalo are probably going to be invasive and will not have much to do with a user's experience using the site. But the P.R. is bad, and if you hadn't made any statement, people will probably have assumed the worst about your company. Also, I am sure that John needs any support he can get right now since I am sure that he is going to be attacked. So I'm sure John appreciated your public support of him. So basically an open and honest explanation helps mitigate that bad P.R. Now if people are curious about why you hired John, they can get answers directly from you. And you posted the blog before news reports reports came out about you hiring him, so it really does not come across as defensive. I made that comment about your blog post being smart P.R. because that post and its timing is one of the best responses that I can think of to any questions about your company. All the best, Chris

tptacek 18y ago

I'm not sure, but I think he might be saying: "Mahalo was getting the publicity one way or the other, so by posting this before the story broke, you got a chance to control it".

chris11 18y ago
That was basically it.

chris11 18y ago

I might not have clearly articulated myself. I didn't mean to imply that you were using this situation to get more P.R. for Mahalo. As I said before I think the charges against John are serious. I don't know what is fully going on and I don't know know John personally. So I really don't have enough knowledge to form an opinion of his character. So since you know John and say that he is a good person, I believe you. He obviously has technical skill and knowledge, so I see no reason that he can't become a productive member of society once he gets out of jail. Although no news reports currently mention that John worked at Mahalo, that will probably change. As you mentioned, the Register called you today. And once people see that John worked at Mahalo, they are going to link Mahalo to a convicted cracker. Naturally that is going to raise some questions about your company. Sure you could have not made a statement and refused to answer any questions. That is your right. I really don't see how using Mahalo could put my identity or computer at risk (My level of computer knowledge might be making me overconfident). So some of the questions people raise about Mahalo are probably going to be invasive and will not have much to do with a user's experience using the site. But the P.R. is bad, and if you hadn't made any statement, people will probably have assumed the worst about your company. Also, I am sure that John needs any support he can get right now since I am sure that he is going to be attacked. So I'm sure John appreciated your public support of him. So basically an open and honest explanation helps mitigate that bad P.R. Now if people are curious about why you hired John, they can get answers directly from you. And you posted the blog before news reports reports came out about you hiring him, so it really does not come across as defensive. I made that comment about your blog post being smart P.R. because that post and its timing is one of the best responses that I can think of to any questions about your company. All the best, Chris