
Ghost in the Cell - pmcpinto
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/10/16447264/prison-hacker-recycled-computer-fraud-ohio-marion-transkiy
======
freedomben
The debate surrounding the ethicality notwithstanding, it seems like an
incredible waste of talent and ability to lock up someone with this kind of
mind and work ethic. If for no other reason than this, I hope we can at least
have a meaningful conversation about justice reform and the prison-industrial
complex.

~~~
jasonmaydie
That's an interesting way to look at it.

Apply your comment to Harvey Weinstein and see if you can give him a pass on
an "incredible waste of talent and ability"

~~~
freedomben
Advocating for not locking people up isn't equivalent to arguing that there
should be no enforcement of law or punishment for crimes committed, or as you
say, giving someone "a pass". This seems to me an example of a false dilemma
(logical fallacy). There are other strategies available besides either
incarcerating someone or doing nothing at all.

I simply think that in general locking people up is inefficient, ineffective,
and immoral. There are certainly exceptions IMHO; I'm not an absolutist on
this. But I think the actual cases that justify incarcerations are a small
percentage of what we currently have.

~~~
watwut
The argument for not locking up was that "he works hard and has great mind".

Imo, both are weak argument to treat that person any different if that person
really commuted crime that would put less great hacker to prison.

~~~
freedomben
No, the argument for not locking up was that he is a human being and has
rights, and incarceration is a barbaric practice that doesn't work anyway (if
the stated goal is rehabilitation, which it usually is).

Hard work and a great mind have nothing to do with the justification for not
imprisoning him. Those come into play when considering the waste to society as
a result of locking him up. I can see how the two positions were conflated,
but hopefully this clarifies.

------
jasonmaydie
> Brady alerted the staff, and a lieutenant squeezed into the cramped space,
> snapping photos to document what they’d found. A couple of inmates pulled
> down the computers, and carted them away. Brady later told investigators
> that he didn’t realize just how troubling the discovery was. “It didn’t
> click for me that, oops, this might be a crime scene until after we had
> found everything,” he said. “And a couple days later, I went, ‘Ah, shit.’”

really? you found a lowly computer sitting in a ceiling in a prison and he
didn't think much about it?

~~~
olympus
Brady was the IT guy, thinking about crimes wasn't his gig. The inmates
weren't going to say anything. If the lieutenant mentioned is a police LT and
not just a generic term for assistant, then it's the lieutenant's fault for
not mentioning that it was obviously illegal.

I think the distinction that needs to be made is that hiding a computer in the
ceiling is breaking the prison's rules, but not illegal in itself. There is no
law saying that felons can't access the internet- that prohibition only happen
in specific cases related to computers (fraud, child porn distribution, etc.).
It could have been that the inmates were just browsing the internet, which
isn't illegal. Brady the IT guy didn't think that convicts have less to lose
and are more likely to conduct actually illegal activities with their computer
network.

------
feedjoelpie
The buried headline here is that the AFL-CIO apparently used prison labor.

------
Mz
I think one of the takeaways here is that "the virtual world" and "the real
world" are not as separate as many people seem to think. I used this fact to
good effect to escape homelessness. But, like anything, it can be used for
either good or ill.

We should perhaps be more mindful of that then we seem to be, on the whole. It
is a central element of a lot of complaints about things like Facebook. What
happens online has real world consequences, contrary to what a lot of people
would like to assert when they are being assholes somewhere on the internet.

------
scardine
For a minute I thought this was about genetics (I'm listening "The Selfish
Gene"[1] audiobook).

[1] [http://a.co/i5iN6Jm](http://a.co/i5iN6Jm)

~~~
discreditable
An affiliate link? :/

~~~
scardine
No, it is not. I gain nothing from this link, I just like the subject and the
audiobook is very good.

~~~
discreditable
> senderCustomerId=A15Z0B2L8G0ZY

> Let Paulo know I've redeemed this audiobook.

I'm not super familiar with audible but it seems like it could be.

