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Comment by l0nwlf | Hacker News Reader

I wonder why Valve didn't offered him a job. He was naive but talented and passionate about gaming.

Valve maintains systems that contain sensitive financial information, sensitive internal IP, and a whole library of external IP from other publishers. This wasn't a script kiddie pulling things off bit-torrent, this was an elaborate penetration into a corporate network.

If I was in Valve's position, I would blackball him from working there because he couldn't be trusted, and the damage he caused.

Damage caused was at least time spent cleaning up his mess in their network. Conversely it sounds like Valve had a very weak security setup in their network.

I haven't the faintest clue about how accurate the sort of story I'm about to use as a counter-point is, but what about capable hackers that succeed in breaking into government servers then being given a choice to either work for said government organization, or go to jail for a very long time?

Assuming those sorts of cases actually happen, how is this any different?

A lot of those stories are more in the realm of folklore, and the agencies that are said to have offered such choices have "alternate choices" for reduction in personnel than a private business has if the arrangement doesn't work out.

Probably thinking of something like http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/01/7251...

and if memory serves me correctly, he was eventually caught shuffling credit cards that they captured back out for a tidy profit.

Would you hire somebody that already stole something major from your very company?

If the article was 100% accurate, then I would have due to this particularly unusual circumstance. The kid was too naive and handled the situation poorly. The leak in fact was purely accidental. I think if he had contacted Valve and gave them the source code instead of to the guy who leaked it, the whole thing would have had a very different turn out.

The kid recognized what he did was wrong and regretted it. That was why he came forward and emailed Gabe. If he really just wanted steal and cause harm, he would have never been found or caught. You can tell he truly loved the company and was simply misguided in the way he chose to show it. Yes he made a mistake, but I would have still given the kid a chance rather than beat him down. It's this kind of tragic beat downs that often create villains. (in the worlds of comic books at least. =)

He'd probably be a good hire now, but his confession to Gabe was only a few months after the incident. If you knew it was a naive kid that didn't understand the boundaries, that alone is enough reason to wait a few years before you hire him. People who think it's cool to swap your company's proprietary information with untrustworthy outsiders should be avoided.

Due to their awe for what you created? Maybe.

Once he matured to become a responsible adult, yes.

There's stealing, and then there's stealing.

I don't think what this kid did was actual "stealing". Had I been at Valve in a position to hire, I would have definitely considered hiring the kid (after evaluating how contrite he was, and how good he was, and on the condition that he keep his mouth shut, for fear of spawning copycats). But maybe that's because I've done such rebellious things in the past myself, and have a soft spot for true "hackers".

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