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I bet 99% of "hackers" (I'm using the criminal sense of the word, that I hate to use, btw) have psychological issues of one way or another and they are a suicid

by nnq 14y ago

I bet 99% of "hackers" (I'm using the criminal sense of the word, that I hate to use, btw) have psychological issues of one way or another and they are a suicide risk! The SS, prosecutors and whoever handles these people should fucking take that into account and put it in balance with the fact that they are a valuable resource to society! You may put a "criminal hacker" in jail for credit card fraud, but chances are, if he doesn't stay in there too long to get his brain "fried", he will grow up to become the security guy that keeps shit safe so you can keep online shopping 'till you drop! I mean... these guys are a subset of what one calls "infosec field people" that are a subset of "IT people" that are a subset of "tech people"... the smaller the subset the less the chance that a member of it will be (1) "well socialized", (2) "psychologically robust" or even (3) "sane"... add up that they're in their 20s and... what would you freakin expect?!

danso 14y ago
Don't think too many people are going to go for the idea of a certain type of criminal requiring certain special treatment...why couldn't rapists and murderers claim the same kind of social deficiencies?
- nnq 14y ago
  Rapists and murderers commit their crimes in the context of close interaction with their victims. Criminal hackers are the opposite. For most of them any form of social interaction, especially the forced one with the law enforcement personnel will be extremely stressful. I think that even "basic interaction with the law system" would qualify as a mild form of psychological torture for hackers. Imagine keeping a drug addicted rapist in solitary confinement for a month with no drugs, in a windowless cell, preventing him from even masturbating or smth like that - I think this would be closer to the psychological equivalent of the stress "hackers" experience when interacting with the law system! (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating with this example but I don't know enough about drug addicted rapists' psychology to construct a better one) Jonathan James wrote in his suicide note "Either way, I have lost control over this situation and this is my only way to regain control". For him, the lack of control and predictability of his future, induced by interaction with the law system was painful enough to make him commit suicide! People are very different and respond very differently to stress - my "basic family social interactions" may mean "psychological torture" to you! :)

by nnq 14y ago

danso 14y ago

Don't think too many people are going to go for the idea of a certain type of criminal requiring certain special treatment...why couldn't rapists and murderers claim the same kind of social deficiencies?

nnq 14y ago
Rapists and murderers commit their crimes in the context of close interaction with their victims. Criminal hackers are the opposite. For most of them any form of social interaction, especially the forced one with the law enforcement personnel will be extremely stressful. I think that even "basic interaction with the law system" would qualify as a mild form of psychological torture for hackers. Imagine keeping a drug addicted rapist in solitary confinement for a month with no drugs, in a windowless cell, preventing him from even masturbating or smth like that - I think this would be closer to the psychological equivalent of the stress "hackers" experience when interacting with the law system! (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating with this example but I don't know enough about drug addicted rapists' psychology to construct a better one) Jonathan James wrote in his suicide note "Either way, I have lost control over this situation and this is my only way to regain control". For him, the lack of control and predictability of his future, induced by interaction with the law system was painful enough to make him commit suicide! People are very different and respond very differently to stress - my "basic family social interactions" may mean "psychological torture" to you! :)