

Ex-Hacker Adrian Lamo Institutionalized for Asperger's - edw519
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/05/lamo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

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matt1
You guys might like this autobiographical profile of Adrian's from 2001 when
he went by the handle Magus: [http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-
files/downloads/people/...](http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-
files/downloads/people/magus.html)

Quote: _its amazing how many security guards will escort you up to the roof of
a skyscraper if you only ask, or won't even stop you if you look like you know
where you're going_

This is taken from an archive of an AOL hacking website called AOL-Files.com
that I ran back in 2000/2001. We had a section called AOL People where the
site's visitors could submit profiles on themselves. The full list of profiles
is here: <http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-files/downloads/people/>

Mine, which is hilarious now, is here: [http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-
files/downloads/people/...](http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-
files/downloads/people/tau.html). So much for being an astronaut and not
sitting in front of a computer all day...

~~~
xtac
tau, go fix mine please

[http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-
files/downloads/people/...](http://www.mattmazur.com/archive/aol-
files/downloads/people/xtac.html)

;(

~~~
matt1
Will do tonight.

------
jrockway
Interesting. I clicked through to a related article about this guy, and his
last run-in with the law was because he refused to provide his DNA to the
federal government. Because apparently hacking web pages leaves a lot of DNA
evidence, and they want to get him for sure next time, or something.
Frightening.

~~~
jacquesm
Sounds like he's pretty sane to me.

I'm considering not renewing my passport because they want my fingerprints
too, apparently to stop terrorists from getting passports.

Maybe I've got Aspergers?

~~~
benologist
You should try being a foreigner ... I've had my fingerprints taken 5 times
now entering the US.

~~~
jrockway
FWIW, I would never visit the US. The immigration rules are insane, and I
wouldn't want the legal liability of accidentally not crossing a T or dotting
an I on an immigration form.

Fortunately, I suppose, I'm a citizen, and other countries aren't dumb enough
to inflict such terror on their guests. If they did, I wouldn't visit those
either. (It's really and interesting case study in what a great idea the
Constitution is. It doesn't apply to immigration and customs, supposedly, so
those agencies act like a mutant Hitler-Stalin lovechild. The rest of the
government, though, does a pretty good job. They pass a retarded law, and the
Supreme Court strikes it down.)

I apologize. I consider myself personally at fault for allowing my government
to do this. It's a shame that non-citizens are not given the same "freedom
from government" that citizens are. It's what makes America great, and it's
unfortunate that we don't share it.

Oh well, when I overthrow the government one day...

~~~
benologist
It gets worse really... I'm from a first world, priviledged country and a
member of the visa waiver program which means it's actually _easy_ for me to
enter the US. I can't even imagine what it's like for citizens of many
countries.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Waiver_Program>

~~~
electromagnetic
Agreed, I'm from the UK but have immigrated to Canada (I believe finger prints
are only ever required by the police when performing a full criminal history
check when applying for citizenship; there was no such mention of it during my
PR application process) and the thought that a 5-hour drive can land me having
to be finger printed _just to visit_ is very barbaric. I've walked past police
with machine guns in airports and that doesn't cross me nearly as unnerving as
having to give my finger prints.

It's not that I'm worried for anything I've done, I have had police checks
performed (twice from the UK) and I come up clean because I've never had a
problem with the police and I've never committed a crime. What worries me is
that our governments have data sharing policies, as soon as I'm finger printed
entering the US I have little doubt that they've been entered into a database
back in the UK as well.

I dislike the thought that someone will be capable of checking up on me behind
my back. I can understand why the US would want it, even if it seems
exceptionally barbaric, but it's that the UK and possibly Canadian or other
governments will be checking up on if my fingerprints have appeared anywhere.
Precisely because after the Madrid bombings an Oregon based lawyer was
arrested on an 'incontrovertible match' by the FBI based on prints lifted and
arrested him, however completely ignored the fact (for two weeks!) that he
hadn't left the country - he matched because he was an Islamic convert and his
wife was Egyptian born, his fingerprint never matched at all.

My figuring is that the longer my fingerprints stay out of any national or
international registry, the less chance I have of being hassled during my
lifetime because of a government screw up with the data.

~~~
menotu
Why do so many feel this is _exceptionally barbaric_?

More like exceptionally emotional. Really, I'm not trying to start an
argument, but this tangent seems both off-topic and unappreciative of the fact
that no country (AFAIK) is obligated to permit foreign visitors. That said, to
the extent the US can encourage well intentioned, law abiding foreigners to
visit, I believe that it significantly adds to the culture, economy and
general health of the society. Besides, isn't the information exposed by a
fingerprint a far cry from that exposed by DNA?

~~~
benologist
It's barbaric because it's pointless and invasive. You're worried I _might_
commit a crime? I don't recall seeing tourism cited as the reason your prisons
are overflowing.

But beyond that visas themselves are stupid. There is no humanity behind
visas, just mindless and impersonal bureaucracy designed to protect us and our
countries from nobody - they don't stop anyone with bad intentions, they don't
stop anyone intending to stay illegally. All they do is artificially limit you
whether it's in your exploration of a foreign culture or you're the founder of
graphic.ly.

I travel a _lot_ , I love the world and I love seeing and being a part of as
much of it as I can afford to. But I hate visas.

~~~
jacquesm
And visas are a total waste of time to apply for and get as well as of money.

~~~
electromagnetic
Doing things the legal way left me unemployed for over a year and a half,
however if I had done things the illegal way I could have been working that
full year and still gotten in as a legal citizen without any consequences and
it's that hypocritical bullshit of penalizing the _law abiding_ immigrants as
to why there are so many illegal immigrants.

Someone from an economically poor background, from a country with a corrupt
police system is never going to abide by an immigration law if it makes them
poorer and looks more corrupt. It's asinine.

It's also worth pointing out that Citizenship and Immigration Canada is
currently facing a class action lawsuit for profiteering off of issuing visas
when _by law_ they can only serve them at cost.

------
switch007
Did this not scare anybody else?:

 _Something about his halting, monotone speech, perhaps slowed by his
medication, got the officers’ attention.

An ambulance arrived. “After a few moments of conversation, they just kind of
exchanged a look and told me to get on the stretcher,” says Lamo._

We are going to see more of this. The more we label this kind of behaviour,
the more people will be institutionalised.

He obviously has the support of his family, so who made this decision?

 _...where he was placed on a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold under a
state law allowing the temporary forced hospitalization of those judged
dangerous or unable to care for themselves._

~~~
devinj
It scares me. It reminds me very strongly of the way things worked back in the
50s and 60s. I thought we were past forced institutionalization for disorders
that didn't cause serious danger.

------
davidmathers
I didn't know there was such a thing as medication for Asperger's. Does anyone
know what it might be?

~~~
neurotech1
There isn't. There is medications that help tangentially only.
Antidepressants, Anti-Anxiety & anti-psychotic medications are commonly
prescribed to treat the symptoms.

~~~
davidmathers
I'm just very curious to know which medication is being referenced here:

 _Now, the new medication prescribed in Woodland has made a positive change in
his interactions with other people.

“Talking to strangers was really hard for me,” Lamo says. “I had to script it
all in my head and act out normal behaviors in a very conscious way.
Essentially, I had to learn how human beings act.”

“Now I no longer feel there’s a surface tension that I have to break through
when I talk to somebody, like I’m a fish going after a particularly tasty bug
and I have to break through the water to get it,” he continues. “I just talk
to somebody, like it’s a natural function.”_

Any guesses?

~~~
peterwwillis
geez. this makes _me_ want to take some anti-anxiety meds. talking to
strangers is very nerve-wracking.

~~~
neurotech1
Actually, you may do better with qEEG-guided neurofeedback.

The problem is that its hard to for a lot of people to be fully functional
after taking a Valium. Social meetings are one thing, but business meetings
are another.

------
milkshakes
“I have always maintained that what I did isn’t necessarily technical, it’s
about seeing things differently"

Him and Michael burry. Who else?

------
akadien
Give them medicine so they conform. Wouldn't it be beneficial to society to
find a way to productively harness the way the brains of those with this
condition are differently wired and let them solve problems, rather than
killing their natural instinct with drugs?

~~~
devinj
Drugs don't kill the analytical mind, they just make socializing easier.
"Drugs" are not ipso facto bad.

~~~
zackattack
akadien may have been confused by A Beautiful Mind

------
rbanffy
Is that a Commodore 65 or a 128 Lamo is sitting next to?

~~~
hachiya
Looks like it may be a C64c. That later model was more attractive looking than
the first.

~~~
rbanffy
You are probably right. I forgot completely the 64c existed.

An 8-bit Commodore is something that's missing from my collection.

edit (for the retro-curious):

the 64c <http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=998>

the 128 [http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=...](http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=96)

and the 65 [http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=...](http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=273)

