Although the details of this story are interesting and compelling, my initial read of this story left me thinking, "Six years is lengthy, eh? I don't think that's considered 'lengthy' in the USA."
Our prison system terrifies me.
Our prison system terrifies me.
This is the main issue I have with "jail the bankers!" narratives: Just take away their money, putting them in jail doesn't accomplish anything.
This seems to be a big issue with American mentality in particular though. Such a big thirst for vengeance.
Really? Have you any studies to back that up or did you just extract it from your arse?
Seriously, this "do you have studies" BS is getting out of hand. He made an argument (which btw includes more context than what you quoted), and stated his opinion of what would happen in a hypothetical situation. And it's also obvious to everyone who has ever casually conversed that "everyone" in this context means "many people", not literally everyone.
You can disagree and say "That's not what's going to happen because ...", or even "Study such and such shows that this not necessarily happens...".
Asking for studies to back up his thinking is BS. This is not some peer reviewed journal, nor is he writing a thesis. This is a simple conversation. And even if he gave 4-5 studies there would be absolutely no guarantees that those studies aren't crap, aren't invalidated by subsequent studies, aren't only describing what works in some specific cultural context, etc.
This is sociology and human behavior, not physics or math to have some be all end all studies answering specific questions.
Prison, on the other hand, means that society spends a lot of money to make your live worse without any obvious advantage, at least for non-violent crimes.
Yes, and that's a nice solution.
Think about that for a bit.
Google: [popehat whale sushi]. One reason you're terrified is that our system (idiotically) goes out of its way to deceptively terrify people. It is in practice not as bad as it (idiotically) tries to make itself seem.
Six years is a long time for what this offense appears to be, though.
('at-fates-hands has more or less refuted this comment, though the whale sushi post is still very much worth reading.)
Here's a list for you: http://www.fierceitsecurity.com/story/hackers-chains-13-bigg...
Up until this week it was Albert Gonzalez for got 20 years for his role in the TJX retail break in. Remember, these are federal sentencing guidelines so no time off for good behavior. You get sentenced to 20 years, you do 20 years, period.
>>> Six years is a long time for what this offense appears to be, though.
This guy is also a repeat offender. In the US, I'm pretty sure with prior offenses with computers, they'd go for a 20-30 year sentence.
Even for completely BS stuff due to the "3 strikes" thing. So in general his fears are not unsubstantiated.
That's not correct. See 18 USC 3624. You can get up 54 days credit for good behavior toward your sentence per year served.