[hkarthik]

Previous discussion was all about whether what he did was illegal or whether he was complicit.

I'm actually most saddened by this part.

When he was 8 years old, Alfred Anaya destroyed his mother’s vacuum cleaner in the pursuit of knowledge. “I took it apart because I wanted to find the motor inside,” he recalls. “I was so young, I thought the motor would work all by itself even after I took it out. I didn’t realize it needed to be plugged in to go.” His mother was upset but hardly surprised to discover her ruined vacuum, for she knew all about her youngest son’s rabid curiosity. Alfred was forever disassembling Sony Walkmans or clock radios so he could fill his favorite junk drawer with circuit boards, which thrilled him with their intricacy.

His childhood doesn't seem much different from many of us hackers. I wonder how different his life would have been if he had been noticed by a technically savvy and connected benefactor who could have sponsored him. I could easily see someone like him being discovered at an early age going on to do breakthrough work with the benefit of a better education and circumstances. His poverty probably prevented the potential opportunities he could have had in life.

This feels like one of the big challenges that needs to get solved. We need to find ways to bring people up like this up out of poverty so they don't end up making bad choices and ending up on the wrong side of the law. Feels like such a waste.

[netsharc]

I wonder if it's an education problem. I would wager there's quite a few of us who would be attracted to legally questionable work for big payoffs. Even FBI higher-ups have sold secrets to foreign countries for money.

And according to the article, he was discovered after all, the stereo shop that hired him were impressed by his installer work.

[alphabettsy]

I agree with you, but also have to say that what he did shouldn’t be outside the law imo.

[kimdotcom]

Did he make a bad choice, or is the law unjust?

Same with the CFAA abuses.