Hacker News Reader

Comment by pjc50 | Hacker News Reader

Another possible moral is don't be a freelance security researcher as a hobby. You should at least get paid for it and get some organisational cover - not only are you potentially at risk of crossing organised crime, but you can very easily be framed and end up raided by the police.

View on HN

> Another possible moral is don't be a freelance security researcher as a hobby. You should at least get paid for it and get some organisational cover - not only are you potentially at risk of crossing organised crime, but you can very easily be framed and end up raided by the police.

Alternate reading -- the best way to extricate yourself from a dark web scam is to pose as a freelance security researcher as a hobby and turn on your co-conspirators. Explains why you have admin access to the the site and all its email correspondence when the police come looking for you.

Except this guy had proof that he contacted law enforcement multiple times and provided them with data (which they mostly ignored).

Yeah - when you get cold feet that’s how you inoculate yourself.

“I got this stuff cause I’m a random security analyst, not cause I’m an admin for the site”

Great point. They say eat veggies, exercise etc., but the best thing for longevity is to "mind your own business," when it comes to organized crime and tens of million$ at stake.

Because of John I may lose $4 million and go to jail for 20 years=lots of incentives to 86 John.

For others who didn't get the 86 reference: apparently US standard graves are 8 feet long and 6 feet deep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)

When I saw this comment I was confused, because I get the reference (from restaurants) and hadn't heard this origin. Then I followed your link and got more confused, because it doesn't mention graves at all.

I think perhaps someone made up an origin, passed it on to you as fact, and you assumed that wiki would agree without checking?

check this: https://www.stlmag.com/dining/Ask-George-Where-Does-the-Term...

No one really knows what the story is behind 86. Here is an article outlining a bunch of different back stories: https://www.stlmag.com/dining/Ask-George-Where-Does-the-Term...

That is almost definitely not the origin of the term. It was used to refer to absent menu items (1936) decades before it was first used to refer to people (1959).

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/59996?rskey=44dnw9&result=1#ei... (paywalled, but your local library probably has a portal for you to view it)

Know your contacts' contact information.

"Monteiro says that, as he didn’t know his NCA contact’s full name and he didn’t have access to his devices while in custody, he could not immediately prove his dealings with the agency."

I'd say "Do anything remotely shady anonymously" would be more practical advice. People do things because they're somehow motivated and that motivation won't go away just because they could get into trouble.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com