@betterunix-- seriously? It's OK with you if they get your private data, no matter how they acquire it? Spoken like someone who has never had exposure of private data used as a THREAT... something weev is known for. If someone uses illegal means to obtain your private data, they can exploit/weaponize that acquisition without having to then use the private data to commit a different crime. (different from the crime -- usually fraud -- in how they obtained it).
Weev has taught many of us that acquiring your private data is enough to make you wonder when, exactly, he will decide to use it. Or in my case, to publish it and encourage the whole WORLD to use it. And don't get me started on medical records... If you honestly believe that acquiring private data shouldn't be illegal until it is used in a crime, you have obviously never been threatened with exposure from someone who did just that. (but again, I don't think this applies to the AT&T case) -- Kathy Sierra
Unfortunately, a big part of "what he believes in" is (to use his words) "make people afraid for their lives" and of course, "ruin lives for lulz". So, yeah, I agree he is willing to be quite bold in standing up for his right to ruin.
That said, as much as I desperately want to see him behind bars for the things he has done, this AT&T conviction horrifies me, and I hope for all of our sakes he wins this appeal. And he has been right about one thing -- this IS about "embarrassing a big company". Because no law enforcement agency is willing to pursue the actual crimes he has committed against powerless individuals... the things he does to people as part of his "performance art".
I have tried every way possible to justify his current conviction and sentencing. But I can't. I support #freeweev but I sure as hell don't support weev. And until/unless you and your family have been victimized by his "work", you really have no idea what he is capable of or truly believes in.
-- Kathy Sierra
Actually I think silence is still preferable to what happens more frequently -- the sexist trolls are actively praised and rewarded in the tech community. Not for their sexism, of course, but for their activism on behalf of freedom of speech, etc. We don't just fail to speak against them, we -- in the tech world -- often hail them as heroes for their other work, while conveniently ignoring the misogyny or writing it off as just "sure, he's not politically correct, but..." or "sure, he can hurt feelings and ruffle feathers but..."
Or the way Reddit is still seen as a "good" place despite a model that not just encourages but needs people like ViolentAcrez. We don't have to speak out about the bad things in order to make a difference... We can start by not speaking FOR the contexts in which it is not just tolerated but subtly, behind the scenes, reinforced.
Stopping support for sites that allow this behavior is a huge step that does not require speaking out. Because most sites that "allow" it are also, one way or another, also encouraging it. We get the behavior that we reinforce.
I mostly agree with Amy's take. And since when did "changing" imply "for the better"? It seems far too many people in our tech world have confused "affecting" with "improving". Yet when I glance around at what we have created -- me absolutely included -- for every world-changing improvement, I see far more products, services, apps with a model that puts the start-up's interests (or their investors, etc.) in direct conflict with "the World's" interests.
Yeah, I am no longer in the "changing the world" camp, unless "change" means a NET improvement. The current example that strikes me the most is the gamification platform vendors that feature success stories including weight loss and health compliance, alongside success case-studies of the same platform used to increase sales of high-fructose corn syrup drinks and beer. And they celebrate the fact that they are not just helping company A take market share from company B, but that through software/data-enabled behavior manipulation techniques, they increased the "units" a given customer would buy. Huge win for companies. World-changing?
I am assuming that most or all of those who are defending Weev have never experienced life after he "drops docs" on you (which he has of course done for years, and as casually as one swats a fly)