I'd expect a large percentage of high talent adult developers to have done exactly this at 15 years old if not more.
Pathetic of journalists to be reporting on essentially totally normal 15 year old nerd and neurodivergent things from 20 years ago.
I'd expect a large percentage of high talent adult developers to have done exactly this at 15 years old if not more.
Pathetic of journalists to be reporting on essentially totally normal 15 year old nerd and neurodivergent things from 20 years ago.
It does seem to me that some people in this thread are condoning unauthorized computer access (which is a federal crime).
Yeah I'm condoning it, if you're young, just doing it for fun and not causing any real damage. I think that's fairly normal among computer nerds even if it is a federal crime.
What does "real damage" even mean here?
"Real damage" means exactly what any reasonable person would think it means, I don't even understand the question. If you break a door or window to gain access, that's real damage. If you SSH into a server there is no real damage. If you delete files, there is real damage.
"Real damage" means more than that. You can enter a building without breaking a door or a window, not sure where you got the notion that is not possible. If you enter a building there is no physical damage but the reputation of the security company managing the building gets damaged once it's found out.
Just because you don't see it, does not mean that the damage is not there. Similarly, if you SSH into a server, the company handling the security gets its reputation tarnished. In both cases, there is a financial penalty that those companies will suffer. Someone in some company will be under crazy stress because of your actions. Just because you don't get to meet that person does not mean that the damage is not real. Similarly, accessing someone's private cloud and viewing their files will cause someone emotional distress. Again, you won't see it but does not make it any less real. Imagine, someone spying on you while you sleep (whether online or in person) or while you are in the toilet, again there is no "real damage" according to you but the emotional distress is very much real.
All those people hacking web cams for "fun" without causing "real damage" are indeed causing emotional distress which very much falls under real damage.
I suggest you review your definition of "real damage" as it is likely to get you into trouble one day. You should not be condoning federal crimes.
> You are still condoning unauthorized computer access.
Not at all, literally the opposite. You need only to read past one sentence in my post to see: "Yes of course they're both wrong"
> You can enter a building without breaking a door or a window, not sure where you got the notion that is not possible.
Not once did I say it wasn't possible. I was using that as an example: "If you break a door or window to gain access, that's real damage." If. As in, it's not required to do this, but this is an example of "real damage."
> Similarly, if you SSH into a server, the company handling the security gets its reputation tarnished.
If you tell people, yes. And that constitutes real damage. If you SSH into a server to prove to yourself you can do it, and then log out, you have still committed a crime but you have not committed any real damage.
There are absolutely people in this thread making the arguments that you're responding to. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them.
Ic someone aligns with the hacker hacktivist then that person is good. (All the Anonymous activity a decade back), if they don’t like their politics then they want to bring the weight of federal regulation down on them.
People are hypocrites.
For example, Manning, Schwartz. they are typically seen in good light.
Then there is the scourge of those who hack for money (ransomware) that just about everyone hates.
Stanley was hacking Paypal and defacing other people's forums and websites, for the lulz.
While I think it's safe to say both committed crimes, I'm a lot more sympathetic to Swartz than to Stanley. Anonymous is a bit more grey: they perhaps exposed things that needed to be exposed, but they were often indiscriminate and hurt people in the process.
This isn't politics or hypocrisy; it's thinking critically about different circumstances and applying common-sense ethics and morality.
Didn't he mention he hacked other people's PayPal accounts?
I dunno. People change a lot as they grow up. But it says something that he was committing computer crimes as a teenager. And now he's participating in the dismantling of a democracy. So I feel like his current actions do actually reflect the crap he pulled as a teen.
Being honest could you even have done it at 15, hard to be virtuous about not doing something you're not capable of.
I used to boast about hacking stuff to my friends at that age, couldn't actually do it though, wasn't smart enough was just teenage bravado.
I am a good shooter and never in my life I fired a gun in the general direction of another living thing. I simply don't see a point in doing it.
This individual might be highly talented and completely trustworthy, but because of how the administration is operating opens everything up for scrutiny including things that should have a bit of scrutiny.
What evidence do you have that DOGE (which is just USDS that everybody loved during the Obama administration) has bypassed any vetting for its employees?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/trump-temporary-secu...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/trump-cabine...
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/22/judge-extends-doge-...
I don't see how you can seriously compare him to someone hacking Paypal and defacing people's websites for fun. Well, unless you're just trying to argue in bad faith, that is.
So if you don't think Swartz's crimes were justified, you're just talking about two people who both committed crimes. You don't need to be arguing in bad faith to think that they're comparable even if their motives were different.