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Escaped Convict Continues To Update Facebook

Craig "Lazie" Lynch has been on the run from a U.K. prison since September. However, he continues to taunt police by updating his Facebook status. Now he is threatening to quit. From the article: "It seems, though, that late Sunday, Lynch began experiencing a little emotional pain. In what must have been an almost teary update, he posted: 'right I'm coming off this page as I have better things to do.' Who might have imagined that, in his mysterious hideaway, Lynch had something better to do than continue his run as a Facebook attraction?"

27 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. wired has really upped the ante by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/08/author-evan-ratliff-is-on-the-lam-locate-him-and-win-5000/

    i guess finding a missing writer wasn't that exciting, why not go for finding a missing convict?

    i suggest wired take it to even the next level, and just go and challenge us to find osama bin laden

    not a bad idea, since the combined might of the world's governments can't seem to do the job of neutralizing that symbol

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:wired has really upped the ante by LOLLinux · · Score: 3, Insightful

      i suggest wired take it to even the next level, and just go and challenge us to find osama bin laden

      not a bad idea, since the combined might of the world's governments can't seem to do the job of neutralizing that symbol

      But capturing or killing him won't do anything. He'll just be a martyr and someone else will take his place.

    2. Re:wired has really upped the ante by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would think you would be encouraging people to help find your MISSING SHIFT KEY!

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  2. taunting? by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sometimes it's not taunting -- sometimes it's a guy who's just tired of running. Sometimes it's a person who has no choice but to keep running, but wants to get caught. Before you jump to conclusions, let me share--

    True story:

    There was someone once upon a time who had gotten in with the wrong crowd. As it turns out, there's quite a demand for computer geniuses in the underworld and after being noticed and blackmailed, this person was in the unenviable position of having to assist an organized criminal group in defeating the electronic and physical security of various operations. S/he couldn't go to the authorities directly because s/he was being watched constantly by the co-conspirators and if s/he tried to leave s/he would be killed. So this person started leaving subtle clues behind in the equipment that s/he tampered with and elsewhere at the scene. This group was later responsible for clearing out several floors of a skyscraper and police were able to follow the clues left behind (or as you would call them "taunts") to eventually locate the person behind it and shut the group down. That person served a few years in jail, and later became best friends with the arresting officer. This individual now works as a consultant to the agency responsible for the arrest, helping them to gather electronic evidence.

    Even the dumbest criminal knows by now that posting online under your own name when you're wanted by the cops is stupid. I'm forced to conclude there's a non-obvious motive for this behavior.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:taunting? by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You do know there are countries where you can run to that you cant be extradited from. Problem is 99.99785% of all criminals are too stupid to do that. Hell this specific dork cant stop posting on facebook.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:taunting? by girlintraining · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You do know there are countries where you can run to that you cant be extradited from. Problem is 99.99785% of all criminals are too stupid to do that. Hell this specific dork cant stop posting on facebook.

      *face palm* There's one of you in every discussion like this.

      1. This guy did an armed robbery. Do you really think there's a lot of countries out there that are going to welcome that with open arms? Reason for citizenship application: "I luv my gun and robbin' shit." Request granted! He didn't do it for political reasons, or because he has dual nationality and the country he's fleeing to doesn't consider it a crime, etc.

      He could flee to a relatively isolated area and probably rest easy knowing that the authorities have better things to worry about than him. But then, that's what bounty hunters are for -- these people can take the risks required to grab him and get him to the border because they're not agents of the government paying them for the collar. You think those "$100,000 reward for capture" posters don't look appealing? A plane ticket, a little bit of research, and a criminal's ego is all it takes to bring home the bacon.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    3. Re:taunting? by girlintraining · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are naive. Many crooks are monumentally stupid. Many are too stupid to live, in fact. They die, stupidly. The 'master criminal' looks great in the fiction media, but he doesn't appear in real life that often. I doubt that this dirtbag is any Einstein, given that he is STUPID enough to bring a weapon along during his burglary.

      Stupidity and desperation are two very different things. And very smart people in history have done very stupid things. It's naive of you to assume a person's intelligence is the only, or even an important, factor in their behavior.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    4. Re:taunting? by PRMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A low-security US prison may be preferable to most of those locations...

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    5. Re:taunting? by Dishevel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Intelligence is not a good predictor of criminal behavior -- socioeconomic status is.

      Right. Because Madof was a poor black man from the ghetto with no way out but crime.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    6. Re:taunting? by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bounty hunters are an American thing. In other countries you cannot just walk in somewhere with a gun and kidnap people just because you post a sign over your door saying 'bounty hunter', and get a $50 license from the local sheriff. They will be arrested for kidnapping if they try. American bounty hunters have been arrested for kidnapping for grabbing people from countries outside of America. Daniel Kear was convicted of kidnapping in Canada and sent to prison after he grabbed a fleeing felon from Toronto and taking him back to the U.S.A. And Dwayne Dawg Chapman was charged by Mexican police for a similar incident down there.

      --
      -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
    7. Re:taunting? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Girl(intraining), there’s no need to hide it. We know it’s you. ^^

      What gave it away? The “s/he’. :)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    8. Re:taunting? by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You do know there are countries where you can run to that you cant be extradited from. Problem is 99.99785% of all criminals are too stupid to do that. Hell this specific dork cant stop posting on facebook.

      Armed robbery indicates we're not dealing with a brain trust in the first place. Any smart criminal knows you steal more with a pen an briefcase than any gun. And if you're really good your thieving is all legal. Guns are for idiots.

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  3. he's a symbol by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the idea would be to capture him and try him. i doubt that is possible though, not because he is impossible to find, but he would probably kill himself if he saw his capture as imminent, well knowing himself that his status as a martyr is preferable

    and of course other people will take his place, but no one with his fame/ infamy. that matters

    the point is, you shouldn't just kill the man. you should kill his name. and you can only do this with a trial. the chance of that ever actually happening though is unfortunately very small, but it would be wonderful if osama bin laden were alive, in custody, and ready to be tried for his crimes

    let him speak freely even. so you can slay his thinking directly on the stand. that's way more important than killing the man: killing his ideology

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:he's a symbol by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Insightful
      ...but he would probably kill himself if he saw his capture as imminent, well knowing himself that his status as a martyr is preferable

      Preferable to whom? If "martyr" was his preferred status, HE'D be the one with a bomb tied to himself. People who want to BE martyrs do it. People who talk a good martyr status send others out to die in their place.

      the point is, you shouldn't just kill the man. you should kill his name. and you can only do this with a trial.

      Yeah, Charlie Manson's name is so dead. Jefferey Dahmer, too. No, the real way to "kill his name" is to find him the same way Hussein was found: hiding in a little hole in the ground. Which is how he'll probably be found.

      that's way more important than killing the man: killing his ideology

      The concept that "freedom of the press" will allow wide dissemination and discrediting of nutballs requires a press that is free enough to report what the nutball said and unbiased enough to report it in nutball context. While our press may meet those requirements, it is unlikely that the press in many other countries do, and highly unlikely that the people who are the prime candidates for recruitment into extremist groups will be served by a free press.

    2. Re:he's a symbol by daveime · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Or better still, accuse him of filesharing, then we can fine him for 300 million or just shoot him for being a potential pedo terrorist insurgent.

    3. Re:he's a symbol by Moridin42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No, not preferable to whom. Preferable under which conditions. If the choice is between becoming a martyr or capture and trial by western law, which do you suppose is preferable?

      Very few people who have actual goals desire becoming a martyr. Its sort of a least worst alternative status.

      capcha.. confine. /. made a funny.

      --
      I don't expect morality, equality, consistency, or justice from the law. I expect only legality.
    4. Re:he's a symbol by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the point is, you shouldn't just kill the man. you should kill his name. and you can only do this with a trial. the chance of that ever actually happening though is unfortunately very small, but it would be wonderful if osama bin laden were alive, in custody, and ready to be tried for his crimes

      How do you think a trial would do this? Even though such a trial would be 100% by the books, with no room for error, do you think those who follow him would believe that it was anything other than rigged from the start?

      let him speak freely even. so you can slay his thinking directly on the stand. that's way more important than killing the man: killing his ideology

      The problem with attacking ideology is that it's a lot like attacking religion. Believers won't hear a word, no matter how logical and persuasive your case may be. And non-believers don't need convincing in the first place.

    5. Re:he's a symbol by Idiomatick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      After witnessing the sham that was Saddam's trial I'm certain that any trial Osama gets will be laughable at best. Anyone that followed the Saddam trial in any detail nearly ended up rooting for the guy at the end.

  4. Slow news day is every day at Slashdot by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Some guy gets fed up with facebook and states, as his last update, that he has better things to do with his life. How many thousand times did that happen every day in 2009?

    PS after the initial escape, authorities don't really pursue fugitives that hard. They'll hit the system sooner or later, and when they do the long arm of the law will reach in and grab them. Living the rest of your life off the grid sounds cool, but in actuality it sucks. Most modern people won't stand for it and prefer a modern prison to a pre-modern lifestyle.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Slow news day is every day at Slashdot by Renraku · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Truth.

      As soon as you get an official paycheck (if you even make it through the hiring process because damn near everyone does background checks), they'll know where you are. As soon as you open any new accounts, they'll know where you are. As soon as you apply for a loan or line of credit, they'll know where you are. Can you really survive with no available credit, no official job (or at least, a really low-paying job), and no way to get utilities/services?

      Sure, you could live in a tent in the woods, shower in gas stations, etc, but all of that is a pain in the ass. People will realize that it's easier just to leave the country or return to prison and serve out their time. A few years in jail is much better than being imprisoned by exclusion from the rest of society and most of its benefits.

      --
      Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
    2. Re:Slow news day is every day at Slashdot by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Can you really survive with no available credit, no official job (or at least, a really low-paying job), and no way to get utilities/services?"

      Ii is a trick question, because you are assuming people have no way of doing it, when in fact many people have figured out a way. I assure you that people work "under the table" and get girlfriends or others to subscribe to services like utilities etc. all of the time. In many cases this has nothing to do with trying to hide from the law. They simply have bad credit and can't get hired by anyone else, or make more money working that way. I have known hundreds of such people in my lifetime.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  5. That list... Yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Soviet union is on that list so I would question how up to date it is. ;)

    That said, then there are a lot of countries that only extradict criminals if the crime is serious enough. (I think that Dutch-USA treaties are like that). On the other hand, there are a lot of countries that extradict only if the crime isn't too serious (For example, constitution of Finland doesn't allow extradicting in cases when there is potentially any chance of death penalty in the target country).

    So yeah, there are countries like that. Turns out - however - that moving to another country is difficult. You don't know the language, don't know anyone there, need to leave your family behind, will likely be illegally in the country -> No citizenship, no rights, nothing... That is when you ignore the problems in actually getting there, etc...

  6. One problem with this though... by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This guy is ENGLISH! Come on man, "UK". That means United Kingdom. He escaped from a prison NE of London. England. What has extradition to the United States have to do with anything? Anyway, most of the places in your list look worse than being in a British prison.

    --
    -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
  7. Easy Catch by Tehrasha · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tell the MPAA that he downloaded a cam'd version of Avatar. He'll be located, and his butt will be in jail by the end of the day.

  8. Facebook?!? by gardel999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    This Birdman of Alcatraz ought to be tweeting, don't you think?

  9. Next... by Tolvor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    (Gasp) Someone escapes prison and starts updating Facebook? And instead he could be doing something unconstructive like lifting some unwatched goods and running some simple 419 scams. But noooo... this guy updates his Facebook page. Who knows what comes next - World of Warcraft raids, and watching endless YouTube videos? Geez, someone get him a gun before it's too late.

    If not he might become something worse, like a web developer. (shudder)

  10. RIAA by DrugCheese · · Score: 2, Funny

    This guy better not download any illegal music. They'd find him and fine him quickly.

    --
    *DrugCheese rants*