
The day he was arrested, Anonymous's "Sabu" helped the FBI - iProject
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/literally-the-day-of-his-arrest-hacker-sabu-helped-the-fbi.ars
======
mahmud
I read elsewhere that he is the sole guardian of the two daughters of his aunt
who's in jail. They're aged 6 & 10, IIRC. The kids have no one else and they
would be shipped off to state custody if he ever goes away. Under those
circumstances, I understand him wanting to go home before they come back from
school.

~~~
roguecoder
Except that he was willing to break the law in the first place, including
using home computers where those girls live.

There are other explanations that would cover both his initial Anonymous
activities and his rapid cooperation with the police, like enjoying the
attention and power that comes with getting one over on other people.

~~~
billpatrianakos
People don't really think of the consequences until shit gets real. His
reaction is totally understandable. I know a lot of us would try to be tough
and claim we wouldn't cooperate with the Feds and sellout but when the FBI
busts in and you're in cuffs lets see how tough we all are. I know I'd take a
deal in a second.

In the same way that trolling forums posting racist, awful things is easy from
behind a computer screen the same is true for "cybercrime". I once committed a
pretty serious felony and it was easy to do because it wasn't a violent crime
and it didn't feel like theft. It felt like a victimless crime. Crimes that
seem victimless are really easy to commit. Anyone who meets me cannot believe
I'm anything but an upstanding respectable citizen but I also didn't think of
consequences before I did what I did. So I can understand how he could not
think of his kids before he started hacking. When I got caught I took a deal
too. It's something you just can't understand until you've been there.

~~~
mahmud
Some crimes I would commit in a heart beat, out of principle, because laws are
sometime white and it's moral obligation to disobey them.

~~~
mahmud
Android aut-corrected "shite" to "white". I swear ;-)

~~~
billpatrianakos
Haha I believe you. But you would really disobey some laws on principle? Which
type? I can see people smoking pot and saying its on principle. But in a lot
of cases it seems more like people don't break such laws on principle but
simply because they want to do something that's illegal. For example take pot
smoking and pirating media. I've done both k owing they were illegal. It was
easy for me to break those laws because they seemed victimless and the
likelihood of getting caught and the way I perceived the seriousness of the
crimes to be minimal let me ignore the potential consequences. If I were to
get caught I wouldn't protest to the police and judge and try to make a stand.
I'd pretty much say "fuck. I shouldn't have done that" and try to get out of
trouble. Now, I'm not saying this describes you but it seems like the whole
"on principle" argument is an excuse for many. Most people don't smoke weed
because they want to protest the law. They just want to get baked. Most people
aren't pirating media because of their stance on copyright. They just want the
new Justin Beiber single. There are laws that need to be broken in protest
then there are first world laws that are conflated and compared to fights for
freedom but are really just petty. Again, this is not directed at you
specifically but I've heard this from others for whom it would apply - an
individual breaking a law in protest does not help matters. Even if there
massive amounts of people doing the same thing it still makes no impact. You
have to unify, organize, and get active to truly change something that's wrong
in the world. Getting a bunch of people together to smoke pot or pirate the
new Dark Knight film in protest is nothing more than a self-important circle
jerk where everyone pats each other on the back for protesting. Getting
politically active, lobbying representatives (with or without money), getting
out the vote, marching in the streets, educating the people who aren't aware
of the issues are all far superior to creating a Twitter hash tag or getting
together in an online forum. You need to get the attention of the uninformed,
the opposition, and those with the power to execute any plans for change.
Otherwise it just looks like a circle jerk. I would point to the protests
against SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA as examples of the right way to protest. No one
was breaking any laws. They just got the word out, made their case, and
lobbied like hell to get those shut down. In addition the protests weren't
exclusively online. Personally, I would've liked to see more rallies and
physical protests but I wasn't involved so I can't say much. On the flip side,
the "right way" can be equally ineffective. I'd point to the early days of the
Occupy movement. There was a point in the Occupy protests where they just
looked like a bunch of disorganized hippies out protesting that life isn't
fair. They had a complaint but offered no clear solutions that they could
rally behind and push for. They were out there basically screaming "the
economy sucks! Someone please fix it!". These days it seems they have a more
concrete plan and not just a list of complaints.

Sorry to rant. This wasn't directed towards you specifically. It's just that
what you said reminded me of some people I know who like to "protest" but are
all talk and full of BS.

~~~
mahmud
I would happily shelter an "illegal" immigrant.

------
JoachimSchipper
Truly, there is no honor among thieves.

This surprises me, actually: he was willing to invest a ton of time and effort
in this, but rolls over at the first sign of trouble? It's not like it's
surprising that he eventually got caught...

~~~
Anderkent
And it's not surprising that once he was caught, the FBI could easily leverage
his two daughters to terror him into cooperating?

~~~
gregbair
It is surprising that as sole guardian of the girls, he would run the risk of
them going into the state foster system just so he could get (illegal) lolz
online. That's very irresponsible and I have no sympathy for him.

~~~
jinfiesto
I agree, but it seems like the feds would have wanted to keep his status as a
CI under wraps. I question why this is being published.

~~~
inuhj
The publication weakens the whole movement. "See, they don't really care about
those things they say they do...and neither should you. Look at how weak they
are for cooperating with us!"

It supports law enforcement's narrative that Anonymous is a group of criminals
with no honor or allegiance to one another.

