Jay Leiderman has died | Hacker News Reader

Jay Leiderman has died

gizmodo.com

190 pointsleotravis1026 comments

Sounds like he personified the term “quixotic.”

I can appreciate folks that put skin in the game, doing what they feel is right.

It sounds like he was a fun chap to know. Probably pissed off people that take themselves too seriously.

I can appreciate that, too.

He passed way too young. There aren't enough people out there defending people who need defending and aren't easily palatable.

> Leiderman’s hacking clients had a nagging habit of openly admitting to the things they were accused of doing. One spent a decade fleeing authorities in several countries, giving interviews, all the while on the lam.

A great reminder that everyone deserves a good defender, even if they are an idiot (or behave idiotically).

A great reminder of the classic law professor talk "Don't Talk to the Police" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE).

"A life-long Deadhead and punk music fan"

I just picked a quote from the article that resonated with me now. He is my age too.

"The cause of Leiderman’s death has not been declared and will likely take months to certify, the medical examiner’s office said."

I do not understand. Is this a hint?

May have been foul play given his reputation.

You're suggesting the U.S. is in the business of assassinating citizens, and possesses killing methods that will pass as heart attacks to coroners, and that the U.S. government wields this awesome and evil power to target... lawyers for hackers.

Pure conspiracy theory, baseless, and inappropriate for this forum.

> the U.S. is in the business of assassinating citizens

> methods that will pass as heart attacks

When you put it that way, it sounds confirmed ;)

(jk)

Not gonna lie, I could go for a burger right now.

The full quote:

> Leiderman, who’s survived by his nine-year-old son Lydon, died of an apparent heart attack on Tuesday, his brother Craig said in a brief statement. Ventura’s medical examiner said an exact cause of death would likely take months to certify.

https://www.military.com/video/guns/pistols/cias-secret-hear...

Yup

Wait this actually fucking exists, I thought it was a joke

Yeah I had a similar reaction. Spread the word, though. Those people have tons of our money and they use it.

Probably just a hint that the Ventura county medical examiners office is understaffed.

Sounds like it was a heart attack.

Unfortunately, with all the noise about virii and cancer, good old-fashioned heart disease is the biggest killer of Americans in his age range (and I'm almost a decade older than he was).

A "heart attack" could have many causes (including a CIA heart attack gun, I guess). It could be congenital, or exacerbated by lifestyle.

He could have dropped dead of a congenital MI, during his daily 10-mile run, or after a "heart attack hit" on a crack stem. It could be a number of reasons.

I seriously doubt that he was selected for assassination. It seems he lost a significant number of his cases, and was probably more of an annoyance, than a real threat to anyone.

From Wikipedia > The Atlantic Magazine called Leiderman the "Hacktivist's Advocate" for his work defending hacker-activists accused of computer crimes, or so-called "Hacktivism" especially people associated with Anonymous.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Leiderman

My kind of lawyer.

RIP.

"After a city in California passed a law criminalizing homelessness, the same client knocked one of its websites offline for half an hour. Where the FBI saw a felony computer crime worth up to 15 years in prison, Leiderman saw a peaceful protest against an unjust law—a protest, he noted, that had caused no perceptible harm."

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