
The FBI Says It Can't Find Hackers to Hire Because They All Smoke Pot (2014) - tosh
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d737mx/the-fbi-cant-find-hackers-that-dont-smoke-pot
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jenthoven
When I was in college, I interviewed for an internship with the CIA. The 2012
interview was for a 2014 summer internship, and they told me I couldn’t smoke
pot between now and then. Given how many talented coders I knew at Stanford
who had smoked pot at least once in a year, that seemed insane to me.

Instead, I went to work at Apple where people practically smoked in the
office.

~~~
JabavuAdams
Given everything that we know the CIA does and has done, why did this seem
like a respectable job to you? I assume you wouldn't work for organized crime.

EDIT> There's a darker part of me that would enjoy working for an intelligence
agency, but I acknowledge that it's not a better part of my nature. Even if
you aren't doing the torturing, or assassination, you're directly aiding the
organization that is.

~~~
iggg
You are funding that organization with your taxes. Don't tell me you have no
choice. You always have a choice.

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boogiewoogie
The reason they can't hire is because it is illegal and opens you up to be
compromised. It's that simple. Drug dealers can put you, your family, and work
in a shitty situation because they need more money because of something
happening to them.

The risk is too high for law enforcement. Once Congress changes the law they
won't give a shit.

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kerpal
FBI is shooting itself in the foot with these sort of policies. I can
understand not wanting to hire someone smoking weed on the way to an
interview, but in your spare time? What about all the law enforcement staff
who abuse alcohol? Alcohol's been proven to be a more dangerous substance but
Congress and the scheduling system are still opposite of the data.

They act like hiring those who occasionally partake in cannabis is somehow the
equivalent of the army laxing physical requirements to enlist.

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mgamache
Well it's against the (Federal) law, right? And it's your job to enforce the
law. Pot bans may not make sense, but it's tricky if you start openly ignoring
a law. I mean it's not like they get people's personal data without a warrant
or anything. :)

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kjdsiheioahef
Weed kills motivation, hopes and dreams, and limits potential. This is true,
but not universally for everyone. Some people truly do function better stoned,
even perpetually as many hackers apparently are.

Numerous studies suggest clearly that long-term marijuana use reduces IQ.

Perhaps in the future we'll have customized DNA-derived profiles that
accurately tell whether someone is better doing no weed, lots of weed, some
weed, and so on and so forth for all chemicals. We all have unique chemical
makeups, after all.

Some background: My father was an extensively published pharmaceutical
(toxicology, pharmacology, brain expert) academic researcher. Drugs are
entirely about dosage. The logic applies here.

FBI policy may be antiquated but does exist for a good reason. Perhaps that
reason needs refinement at a societal level, through technological progress.

I do expect this comment to get downvoted. HN'ed.

~~~
toomanybeersies
Anything that provides happiness can kill motivation, hopes, and dreams.

Whether it's weed, alcohol, harder drugs, gambling, or even video games like
DoTA and WoW.

Obviously if someone is high at work, that's a problem. Same as someone being
drunk, or playing games at work. But what we do in our own time is our own
business.

~~~
gehwartzen
Why is it obvious that someone being high at work is a problem? We're not all
airline pilots, neurosurgeons, and bomb techs.

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staunch
Almost as stupid as trying to hire hackers that will agree to never consume
caffeine.

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anonytrary
> I don't want young people to use marijuana. It's against the law. We have a
> three-year ban on marijuana. I did not say that I'm going to change that
> ban. I said I have to grapple with the change in my workforce.

Do I think pot should be illegal because it _already is_ illegal, and I'm
appealing to an existing authority, or do I have a concrete argument as to why
it should be illegal? Why should the opinion of any one man carry such weight
for any reason other than the content of that man's opinion?

Making pot legal is the simplest way to solve the problem, because it turns an
issue that needs to be solved into a non-issue. What are the consequences of
pot legalization that are unbearable for this man?

~~~
greglindahl
"this man" is a cog in the machine, not the person who gets to decide what
policy is. Because there is no such single person, it's a matter of laws
passed by Congress.

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anonytrary
While true, I think it is also too easy for any one cog to "forget" to oil
itself at the start of the day.

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echo419
This seems to highlight the ever present disparity between culture/society and
laws that are on the books, and this is just another expression of it.

Hopefully the FBI has relaxed such standards since this piece was published in
2014, but I doubt it.

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Avery3R
It's not up to the FBI, it's up to the DEA and FDA. The FBI has to follow
federal law and as long as that law says cannabis is a schedule I controlled
substance there's nothing they can do about it.

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neaanopri
Well, obviously the FBI can't encourage its employees to smoke pot, but unless
there's a federal regulation on drug testing, the FBI isn't forced to drug
test it's employees.

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sdca
The so-called "cybersecurity experts" main task in the FBI is probably running
forensics on narcotics traffickers' devices and data. Using illegal drugs
would be a conflict of interest.

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jackconnor
I'm not sure that I totally agree, but this is the first new interesting point
I've heard on this subject since this article originally came out, well done.

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flukus
Is it really just pot? Theirs the dress code, the location, the secrecy, the
bureaucracy, etc. The entire culture of the FBI is the polar opposite of
typical hacker culture.

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portofcall
Hacker culture in the mainstream workforce doesn’t exist, it’s SV and VC
culture. Free food and casual dress doesn’t change that. The word hacker is
thrown around a lot, as in the title of this site, but like this site it’s
just a name.

~~~
mathgladiator
It's not just sv, I would include most tech driven companies. Microsoft and
Amazon come to mind.

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jiqiren
(2014)

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originalsimba
[[ "I am absolutely dead set against using marijuana," he said at the hearing,
"I don't want young people to use marijuana. It's against the law. We have a
three-year ban on marijuana. I did not say that I'm going to change that ban.
I said I have to grapple with the change in my workforce." ]]

How can you be American and be "against" someone else's lifestyle? You're
missing the entire point of Liberty and freedom and why we have that statue in
New York.

Even if it were harmful, and it isn't, their life is not yours to live. Their
happiness is not yours to dictate.. all real Americans understand this don't
we? The fight is insanity.

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tty7
Put em all to Death, am i right!

