Famous hacker suddenly finds himself infamous, in some quarters

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/13/2818601/famous-hacker-suddenly-finds-himself.html

by ukdm • 16 years ago

64 22 16 years ago

lenni• 16 years ago

Am I the only one who finds the narrative of the article, namely the reclusive genius, shunning most worldly possessions, a little cliched?

rbanffy2• 16 years ago

If Lamo is a textbook Asperger, the description more or less fits.

surlyadopter• 16 years ago

No, and whats worse is practically every article about Lamo uses those same talking points.

tomhogans• 16 years ago

you would have trouble finding someone who spends more time manicuring their public image. check the recent edits on the wikipedia article about him if you don't believe me.

peterwwillis• 16 years ago

the entire story breaking was based on this principle. he thought it would be best if he basically made a press statement via wired column through a friend who would say all the right things, a day before an official statement by the military. if anyone wants more examples they are not hard to find. now the story is actually about him and not the leaker in question. this kid should run for office.

izak30• 16 years ago

Seems very, very close to profiles of mitnick.

nzmsv• 16 years ago

While I disagree with what Lamo did, Manning is an idiot for bragging about what he did to anyone, and the "Russian roulette" argument is perhaps sound.

dkarl• 16 years ago

I'm tempted to agree with Lamo. It doesn't sound like Manning was thinking carefully about what information he released or why. He was just a lost soul who found a way to feel important and wield power against a system he felt trapped in. If he really had an agenda to expose U.S. wrongdoing or give Americans a better understanding of the nature of war and the consequences of projecting American power overseas, then I would be all behind him. If he was thinking that carefully, though, he wouldn't have needlessly incriminated himself to a near-stranger.

mcantelon2• 16 years ago

There is no doubt that Manning was stupid, but he's a 22 YO kid. Lamo made no attempt to talk the kid down: he just sold him out to a military that runs secret prisons, tortures, and claims the right to be able to assassinate its own citizens.

My guess is Lamo, despite his argument that there was morality behind what he did, sold the kid out to protect himself. Given Lamo's lax sentence for past crimes (6 months house arrest), I'd guess he made an agreement to inform in the future.

rbanffy2• 16 years ago

> Manning is an idiot

I have to agree with that. I always expected military intelligence to be more careful with who has access to what. I am disappointed a guy like Manning was given access to as much as he claims (specially the diplomatic cables).

That said, I am happy the info was leaked. I only hope there are more leakers. I don't care whether they are patriots or idiots. I prefer the patriot ones, but we can't afford to be very picky.

moolave• 16 years ago

If only Lamo knew how to channel his hacking capability and work with authorities first before performing the breach. Of course, kids with that ability could have done it through sheer excitement. It's hard to judge someone easily when we don't really know what's going on with their lives on a day-to-day basis. What only shows up on the headlines are one of 365 days where they caused social turmoil.

Sukotto• 16 years ago

Why do you disagree with him? What specifically would you have done differently?

sp332• 16 years ago

The effectiveness of agents in his position depends totally on how much people trust him and his department. Betraying that trust reduces the effectiveness of him and his fellow agents.

bh42• 16 years ago

Also the government really threw the book at Lamo for being an Aspergers kid who didn't know better then openly hack into websites. It is quite understandable that he would immediately turn over anything even remotely suspicious after that experience.

lelele• 16 years ago

Boring prose. I couldn't make it to the end. Journalism should not try to engage readers at the expense of telling news. Where is the news in the first sentences?

enneff• 16 years ago

Indeed. Very frustrating.

"Lamo is the most famous computer hacker in the world at the moment"

If he's so famous, then why have I never heard of him? Get to the point.

Aegean• 16 years ago

Not so interesting from a hacking perspective. He chat with a soldier and released information on his findings and now he's a famous hacker?

DCoder• 16 years ago

He didn't get the "famous hacker" label for this incident. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Lamo

Famous hacker suddenly finds himself infamous, in some quarters

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