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Comment by ben_w | Hacker News Reader

Criminals are unlikely to be better with computers than the general population. The general population is worse than most people on this site realise: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/

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I must say from my observations the past few years - they are pretty quick to share with each other and change things based on things.. eg - the proliferation of video cameras everywhere - I now see much more petty crimes being done with hoodies / hoods up, hair, ear, and face covering is a thing today that was not so much a few years ago from the surveillance photos I've been seeing.

There was a time when you could say that seniors cant use tech or smart phones.. I've seen really old people using iPads better then me recently.

Streetwise wisdom changes faster today I think than it did in the 90s.

I think the biggest story was the Aron Hernandez(?) to show them that leaving a phone behind is the way to go.. and 'the wire' exposed the groups using burners only forever ago.

So there will always be dumb criminals, it does not mean as a whole they will refuse to learn.

'criminals' have been paying for extra-private versions of phones for years ( https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/fbi-u... )

and some connected folks are even making their own phones now https://www.insider.com/pablo-escobars-brother-roberto-escob...

change is certainly faster today then I ever remember.

There is strong selective pressure on criminals to become good at computers though, more so than the general population.

There's a big difference between "people who commit crimes" and professional criminals. If you make your living committing crimes it pays to do it properly, but most "people who commit crimes" aren't professionals.

For some perhaps, but crime is hard work and criminals are lazy almost by definition.

Depends on the type, dealing drugs is like any other sales job, except way higher risk. Distributing cocaine is as complex as any other distribution job but you're not allowed to use established transportation methods and people might shoot at you. You've got to be a real self starter and creative thinker if you want to be good at it.

Then there's the contract negotiation where nothing is legally enforceable and personnel management where your employees could become addicted to stealing from you. It sounds way harder than my job.

I submit that is it lazy, because you are taking very high risks in order to achieve extraordinary margins. It's a shortcut taken by people who don't want to put the work into a dedicated career in legal sales. Obviously there are exceptions, but the majority of people who become drug dealers are doing it for quick cash.

More often it is because the person belongs to a community that is excluded from traditional carriers.

Yo mean like those in the sinaloa cartel who built submarines, drones and erected their own cell towers?

Are you claiming the most competent 0.1% is representative of the entire category?

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