[raganwald]

We had this discussion the last time something like this was on HN, so I’ll try to summarize things from my biased point of view. The first thing is, some people (myself included) would say this fellow is a suspect but has yet to be convicted of a crime. Some people would wait until a conviction is registered to publish details like this.

Others take a pitchforks and torches approach. I recall people saying, “publish and let him sue if he doesn’t like it,” which is pretty much the same thing as saying “it might be wrong, but thanks to the difficulties of suing for libel, we can get away with it.”

I guess this is where we peel away all of our nobility and reveal the savages underneath. Some of us strongly believe in the justice system and the importance of treating the accused extremely fairly in theory, but in practice "we know the bastard did it, so there."

[DanielBMarkham]

Must it be the civilized versus the savages? Are you sure that's a fair description?

How about this: it's my laptop, and I reserve the right to use it to take pictures any time I see fit?

I'm okay with running the picture of the guy, and publishing the data, as long as there's a clear disclaimer that this is just information pulled from your own laptop, not presented as evidence in some kind of criminal proceeding. We do this all the time with videos on the news that show crimes in progress. Heck, we did it with the rioters. Local papers ran big pictures of them on the front page. Simply making public video and data that you have every right to have and use isn't the same as calling the guy a crook and demanding he be hanged.

Now yes, the mob will probably take over from there, but that's because the net is full of mobs, not because you've somehow made a mistake in publishing the data. I am very concerned about folks taking justice into their own hands, but I don't think that my concern somehow changes the right of this guy to publish his own data.

There's no "we know the bastard did it, so there" that has to be involved. I load my laptop up with whatever legal programs I like, and I choose to publish the data from those programs any time I feel like it.

[raganwald]

How about this: it's my laptop, and I reserve the right to use it to take pictures any time I see fit?

That statement is like saying “This is my gun, I reserve the right to shoot bullets from it any way I like.” Obviously every action we take with our person and our property has consequences and we are responsible for those consequences we can reasonably foresee.

Clearly there is a continuum of choices from sharing the pictures with law enforcement but not publishing them, to publishing them but being careful to disclaim that this person has not been convicted of committing a crime, to publishing them and asserting this is the thief. You pick where you feel comfortable on that line, I pick where I feel comfortable.

Looking at the commentary here and the last two similar things to hit HN, you must accept that regardless of where you or I might place ourselves, there are definitely people to the far right of the line. You can see people talking about this person as “the thief” without bothering with the inconvenience of a trail. You can see people discussing the publicity as a pubnishment. One comment talks about “naming and shaming” as a deterrant.

You may not consider yourself part of a lynch mob, but seriously, can you deny that such an element is present?

[DanielBMarkham]

You may not consider yourself part of a lynch mob, but seriously, can you deny that such an element is present?

No, and I'm very concerned about it. But the only choices are the ones I have to make. I can't start worrying about everybody else. In fact, once I let the threat of a mob start swaying my decisions, I've already lost. The mob has won. (ugh. hated doing that, but it was too rhetorically easy.)

You get my drift. I think, for me, that I need to think long and hard about what the consequences might be. But quite honestly, here's some guy I don't know using my computer. Anybody know this guy? Perhaps he's being held hostage for all I know. The more information I get out there, the sooner we can have this thing resolved. I don't have to jump all the way to some conclusion simply because I need to solicit information about the location of my laptop. After all, I'm the innocent guy here.

I didn't read the other articles, but it sounds like you are reacting against the mob mentality found here and elsewhere. Yes, this concerns me a great, great deal. The internet was supposed to bring equality and democracy. It's done that, but it's also brought flash mobs robbing stores, riots, and vigilante justice. Not good. We should all speak out against that -- especially when it's a cause that sounds "right" to us.