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Comment by oh_sigh | Hacker News Reader

How much is the expected upside for crimes like this for the individual?

Basically, even if you make this alleged crime punishable by life in prison, will people still attempt it because the upside is so much?

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The guy who stole the wind turbine software and gave it to a Chinese competitor was promised a 5-year $200k/year employment deal. Although, it sounds like he may not have gotten it in the end. (Maybe there was a clause about getting caught.)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanlappin/2011/09/27/american-...

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/06/626683457/judge-orders-chines...

I suppose the guy was outraged by the poor ethics of the Chinese competitor when he didn't get the job.

5 years @ $200K a year? This guy could use some negotiation advice from Anthony Levandowski.

The guy was an idiot. No Chinese company would stick to such a deal. Promise the world, deliver nothing.

You’re thinking about this the wrong way. These people are on a mission for Mother China. It’s patriotism and loyalty. It’s why militaries everywhere get people signing up for a “glorious death” protecting the assets of billionaires.

Humans are still very barbaric in large masses. Tribalism persists in our very psyche.

Now that we have multiple hypotheses (patriotic motivation and materialistic motivation) we should think about how we could tell which one it was. I can't think of any way that we could ever know the difference.

Spying isn’t new. There’s always a combination of the two.

Chinese people in general aren’t really like that. They aren’t especially patriotic or loyal when compared to Americans (most will eye roll at the above accusation). A lot of it just about money and opportunity that isn’t otherwise present in the states (corporate espionage is less common in the USA because it is prosecuted aggressively).

Likewise, most soldiers don’t do soldiering for the glory or death, they do it for the money/opportunity.

It might just be money. You will get paid more if you have worked for a well known company.

If you are asked to swipe some IP of your employer, with a subtle reminder you still have family in your home country and they know where to find them, what would you do?

Note: I am only talking about the military part.

So they will only protect billionaires? No, that doesn't drive people to make sacrifices. In my opinion it's just about protecting what you love. There are some things worth fighting for even if it means a “glorious death”. Soldiers aren't stupid, I know some. They just can't not take the responsibility. In my eyes they are heroes.

What a joke here.I think there are no patriotism and loyalty. Those just in dreams and stories.

MICE:

- Money

- Ideology

- Compromise/Coercion

- Ego/Extortion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motives_for_spying

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Talents_Program_(Chin...

There are also local level derivatives.

That guy who edited babies no long ago is one of it, apparently he raked in hundreds of millions of both government and private investment, claiming he invented an industry-leading gene sequencing machine that in fact is a failed US product he bought from his professor.

Also, Huawei in their early ages stole one of Cisco router's source code and priced out Cisco with an exact same product compatible with Cisco systems, one Chinese academic invovled in modifying admitted it in an article. One of the role model stories.

> Also, Huawei in their early ages stole one of Cisco router's source code and priced out Cisco with an exact same product compatible with Cisco systems, one Chinese academic invovled in modifying admitted it in an article. One of the role model stories.

Source?

Internet stories

There's probably more than just a financial upside, but I imagine someone like this would pretty much be considered a hero at home (even if not publicly admitted as such). It seems like this issue is pretty systemic/coordinated by a centralized party.

Status is a powerful motivator.

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