The Autistic Hacker: is He at Fault?

[Verlander]

How old is this??? This guy lived down the road from me. He won't get extradited, like most of the people America demands from us, the spoilt brat that it can be.

The story is simple, he's an innocent person who did something stupid, but not dangerous. He isn't malicious, and nor were his actions. The second that "zero tolerance" governments, like the American one at the time realise this, the sooner they will be able to start sorting out the sizeable social problems that they have at home.

And to all of the folk here calling for punishment: seriously read up on this case, and if you still feel that way, you need to seriously sort of your lives and their priorities. Special needs fella does something special. No big deal.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

If it were autism or schizophrenia I would say he should be let off.

I disagree. If you have anything and break the law then the crime and punishment should be treated with the same severity as someone without it. However, you should be given relevant care to make sure that no harm comes to you or anyone else. So yes, the guy should be charged. If he needs treatment or care give it to him; if he doesn't then let him rot with the rest of them.

 

[i7omahawki]

Frankly, yes, he should still be charged.

I don't care if you have ADHD or autism or Asperger's Syndrome, that should not be a free pass for anything at all. None of those conditions are untreatable, nor are they even remotely difficult to treat. We as a culture need to stop feeling bad for these sorts of people with extremely minor mental disorders, and stop letting them use it as an excuse or scapegoat.

Schizophrenia, maybe, would be another story. But certainly not Asperger's.

actually ADHD and Aspergers are untreatable (Ritalin only combat,s the "symptoms")
but I agree people should stop using scape goats when they do stuff.

Assburgers is treatable. A bullet to the head, or locked in a padded room for the rest of your life. Society doesn't tolerate any form of psychopathy other than autistic psychopathy, and that makes no sense. Lock em up. All of em.

Hehe, you sure you don't have some form of psychopathy? You should to have a hard-on for putting bullets in places. Interestingly, Asperger himself had this 'psychopathy' and achieved a hell of a lot, as do many scientists/engineers/doctors who have Asperger's. They'll probably achieve far more than you in your lifetime (Gary already has in a sense), so I think we may as well place that bullet somewhere else eh?

OT: Gary should face the legal consequences of his actions, yes. Having Asperger's doesn't deny you of responsibility as, to my knowledge, they are entirely capable of adhering to rules and regulations. Their difficulty is in social cues, which is fair enough, but doesn't affect this case at all I don't think.

The problem is, he is British, and this extradition business is not fair game. He should be tried and punished in Britain, as that is where he committed the crime and where he resides. To my knowledge he hasn't set foot in the USA, so it is ludicrous to trial and punish him there.

 

[Canid117]

So then, Kiraxa, it should be fine to cull douche bags of the highest order from the gene pool since they don't provide any benefits to the gene pool when it comes to (say) increasing the average IQ factor?

If you are culling low-IQs, yes, that'd be good for society as a whole. But culling douche bags for being douche bags? Nah. Society needs douche bags.

So much contradiction in three phrase. So, now douche bag are not low-IQs?

ElNeroDiablo infered that I was one of the douche bags. My IQ is 130. By definition, that means im well above average. Therefore, not all douche bags are low-IQ. Therefore, there is no contradiction there.

Just goes to show that someone can say stupid things and still claim to have a high IQ. I take it you are either trolling or dont know what Aspergers actually is. Aspergers is characterized by a difficulty in social interactions due to a hampered ability in picking up nonverbal ques and a mild obsessiveness over some subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

In other words it is a little harder to be socially adept and you like something more than most other people. This dog shit... I am not sure where you are getting it.

 

[CJ1145]

Guilty? Yes. Jail-worthy? No. Requiring separation from places where he can continue to cause damage? Hell yes. It's sad that it would result in taking away what he loves most, but anyone who intentionally causes so much damage, whether or not they know the full consequences, has demonstrated they're dangerous to some extent and should not be allowed total freedom over the very same tools that allowed them to cause that damage.

 

[Phlakes]

Fuck yes he's at fault.

This is something very personal to me. My brother has Aspberger's, diagnosed when he was 12 or 13. He never did any work at all in school. He would get home and play games on his computer. Nothing else. He got terrible grades and nearly failed out of school multiple times and never even tried to do anything about it, but he still got put through because he has Aspberger's. And he never tried to do anything about it either. He never too his medicine and my parents knew that but never did anything about it (probably because he would go insane and come at them with a kitchen knife again) and tried to avoid his appointments with psychiatrists, just playing video games and getting everything for free. He graduated high school only because his counselor made it happen. He is a terrible person, and he knows it. He doesn't care about anything except himself and what he wants, and if he doesn't get what he wants he throws a fit like a four year old. Once he heard that people with Aspberger's usually have higher intelligence, he became the most arrogant person I have ever seen or heard of, thinking everyone is below him, even though he can't do a single thing himself except play video games.

Anyway, OT, he knew what he was doing and he should pay for it. Not a single person in the world should get a free pass for anything if it's at all preventable, which this was.

And for everyone saying he can't control it, first that's not true, and second, that's what mental hospitals and asylums are for.

 

[Devornine]

I think he should be punished for sure. People with Asperger's can have varying degrees of the condition. I think it should be taken into consideration, but having Asperger's doesn't mean you don't know the difference between right and wrong.

I have Asperger's and I can function in society and I know what he did was wrong!

 

[darkonnis]

Unfortunately no he shouldn't be treated any differently. Should a psychopath get a slap on the wrist because they don't see what wrong in killing others? After all its the same, they're normal in many respects they're just wired differently at a certain point.
An extreme comparison yes but if you open this flood gate to one, then all will try. And seeing as often landmark cases open appeals to others as much of the law is open to interpretation this is something which will happen.

As a side note, he should be tried here, he wasnt in the US he was in the UK when the crimes where commited. The US won't extradite a national so why the hell should we.

 

[Medimorpho]

Being diagnosed with Asperger's is not nearly good enough of an excuse to hack into the US Military computers. Being autistic does not make you blur right and wrong.

He should totally go to jail

 

[Gametek]

So then, Kiraxa, it should be fine to cull douche bags of the highest order from the gene pool since they don't provide any benefits to the gene pool when it comes to (say) increasing the average IQ factor?

If you are culling low-IQs, yes, that'd be good for society as a whole. But culling douche bags for being douche bags? Nah. Society needs douche bags.

So much contradiction in three phrase. So, now douche bag are not low-IQs?

ElNeroDiablo infered that I was one of the douche bags. My IQ is 130. By definition, that means im well above average. Therefore, not all douche bags are low-IQ. Therefore, there is no contradiction there.

Uhm, ok. But you do know that asperger afected can go way over the 200 IQ point, right? IQ misure your math and logic ability, that is even the actual difference beetwen an utistic and an asperger: asperger have higher IQ.

And in any case, douchebag is an offence. It mean you are a jerk. How can you take pride out of it?

 

[thirion1850]

Justice is blind.

 

[jpoon]

He should be hired by the government, I'm sure this guy could work his way into countless networks for our governments goons.

 

[SaberXIII]

To be honest, I never see mental disability as an excuse for anything, so I think they should lock him up. Makes me sound callous, but I'd rather people be safe than be the almighty herald of that which is socially acceptable to think.

 

[Phlakes]

le snip

People dont take medication for aesperbers you dumbass. that is a total crok of shit.Ive known a guy with the condidtion for the majority of my life and he has never taken medicine for his condition. you are just an incredible liar.

He took antidepressants to control his massive fucking rage that came from having to get what he wanted, which came from the Aspberger's. So he indirectly did.

 

[dannymc18]

This story pops up every few months, read the article in the proper paper IEEE magazine today (yes, they still exist), and, although it did go into the background of the guy more than most do, the first thing that still comes to mind is "The leprechaun tells me to burn things".

 

[Zero47]

Yes.

Hacking into the government isn't some easy task. It takes time to learn that and it would take preparation, information of that kind isn't readily available. So we know he's intelligent. It's a matter of believing his story, I don't.

 

[Jazoni89]

I have high functioning Asbergers (and not all this self diagnosed, attention seeking bullshit), and I say he is guilty.

He should be charged with his actions just like everyone else. Having Asberger's doesn't instantly make you a complete retard with no knowledge, or awareness of what you are doing, and how it's affecting others.

I have made mistakes in the past (us as a human race ain't perfect), and I have learned to live with my actions. Which i'm sure that the hacker can do as well...in prison.

He gives a bad name for people with Asbergers, admittedly it's not our choice that we are born with what we are born with, it's how we cope with it that makes a difference. We are not all attention seeking dipshits, honest.

 

[roflmecopter]

Eh I don't think he should go to jail I mean it doesnt sound like he took anything of monetary worth. I think he probably knew the risks and consequences but felt it worth it to pursue his love *shrug*.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Hes not a vegetable he just genuinely didnt get what he was doing wrong. There is no reason to bring the law against him in the way they are doing because his actions were not malicious as they believe and his condition was the only reason he went so far in the first place.

Entirely irrelevant. They aren't charging him for intent, they're charging him for committing the crime. Whether he knew it or not, he broke the law and ignorance of the law does not excuse one from being subject to it. Like I said, he should still be charged as anyone else would, which he is.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Psh no. There's no way he didn't realise he was doing something wrong. From what I've seen from the people I know with Aspberger's, they don't have much common sense but they can tell the difference between right or wrong.
I think if everyone should be treated equally, they should be punished equally too.
Now I live with someone with Autism and he's like, "I can talk to you like you're shit because I have autism. I don't have to pay bills because I have autism. I don't have to work because I have autism." For a lot of people it's a sloppy excuse.

Le snip.

Oh God, is my house mate your brother?! He sounds EXACTLY like him. I thought the tantrums were mainly to do with his upbringing and not directly linked to his Aspberger's because his parents just gave him and his sister whatever they wanted and now he's an adult and has to work for his stuff, he'll just start smashing everything up because stuff isn't going his way. My cousin also has it; he's 11 and handles it incredibly well. I guess it differs entirely for each person.