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Latvian "Robin Hood" Hacker Leaks Bank Details
eldavojohn writes "Move over Russell Crowe, an anonymous hacker in Latvia is being hailed as a real life modern Robin Hood. The hacker refers to himself as 'Neo,' claims allegiance with the Fourth Awakening People's Army, and is outing banks that are capitalizing off of the horrible economic status Latvia is currently suffering from. No word on how he is acquiring the information but it is slowly being leaked to TV sources via Twitter and the common people love him. The hacker is thought to be based in Britain but a TV reporter pointed out the fine line Neo is walking, 'On the one hand of course he has stolen confidential data ... and he actually has committed a crime. But at the same time there is value for the public in the sense that now a lot of information gets disclosed and the whole system maybe becomes a little more transparent.' An example of a juicy tidbit he revealed is that managers of a Latvian bank did not take the salary cuts they promised they would after the government bailed them out of economic trouble. You can imagine that taxpayers were upset and thankful they knew this information."
I think it's a good thing that he's doing this. Of course if he gets caught he'll face at least some sort of punishment. He's not being malicious or destructive, so I'd consider it a form of civil disobedience. What I'd like to hear is what kind of punishment the bankers are going to get for essentially lying and stealing from the taxpayers. I bet they get a slap on the wrist at best.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
If there's any indication that Neo has done anything bad (other than choosing a really pretentious and unoriginal alias) I don't see it in TFA.
Then you must not have read this sentence, found in both TFA and TFS: "On the one hand of course he has stolen confidential data... and he actually has committed a crime."
Just because some of the information in some of the stolen documents should be made public doesn't change the fact that he stole the documents. Having a good reason to commit a crime doesn't make it not a crime. It might, in some circumstances, get you leniency in sentencing, but it's still a crime.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
A "crime" is not necessarily "bad".
what kind of punishment the bankers are going to get for essentially lying and stealing from the taxpayers
A bonus?
They won't stop until bankers get lynched in the streets.
Committed a crime and did something bad are not the same thing always. Sometimes the moral or ethical act is against the law. It doesn't take much effort to give historic or current examples. Just a few people off the top of my head who've committed crimes that are morally either ok or the right thing to do: off the top of my head: abolitionists in the pre-Civil War US, protestors in Iran, and whoever gave Wikileaks their leaked documents about Guantanamo.
If the First, Second and Third Awakening People's Army didn't rattle enough cages effectively, what makes them think the Fourth will prevail?
Let's see... the information that this guy is posting came from government tax documents. Meaning, pretty clearly that the government knew all about this and it is no surprise to anyone there.
Some bankers made promises that didn't come true. Boo-hoo. As far as I am aware, unless there is some sort of "contract" involved promises mean, well, nothing. No criminal act, no wrongdoing whatsoever. For example, Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay within one year. Where is his comeuppance? See, promises don't mean much.
There was no lying and no stealing from anyone. Get over it. People make lots of promises every day and they are effectively meaningless.
Hope this guy didn't leave any personally identifiable tracks.
There was no lying and no stealing from anyone. Get over it. People make lots of promises every day and they are effectively meaningless.
Seriously? You don't see telling the government that you will take pay cuts in exchange for financial assistance and then not doing it as lying? This isn't even at all like Gitmo. At least there they've been making significant efforts even though they didn't meet their goal. The bankers just flat out lied because there's no effort involved in taking a pay cut. Lying in order to get money is generally considered fraud, yes?
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
Be warned, you'll lose productivity for rest of the day.
Sir, we are already reading slashdot.
#5 succcks, she basically stops stupid people that put themselves in bad situations from learning any lessons. Stopping drunk chicks from leaving with guys is stupid. To top it off she's sexist:
"I protect the single girl living in the big city," Terrifica told ABC in 2002. "I do this because women are weak. They are easily manipulated, and they need to be protected from themselves and most certainly from men and their ill intentions toward them."
I can see those conversations:
Bank chairmen: "Mr. Obama and Congress, give us billions of dollars of the Public's money, no strings attached."
Politicians: "If we don't do this, your banks will close, the FDIC will go bankrupt, and we will have a terrible deflationary depression, is that right?"
Bank chairmen: "You are correct. Billions of dollars, please. Hand 'em over."
Politicians: "Well we must prevent a depression, but you don't exactly deserve billions of the Public's money. So here's the cash, but there will be strings attached..."
Bank chairmen: "Whatever; thanks for the cash! PS: buy these defaulting mortgages from us too, please. At twice their real value. Good! Bye!" ... one year later ...
Politicians: "Here are the strings we told you about..."
Bank chairmen: "What? Regulation? Penalties? You radicals! We thought you were balanced centrists, not commies! After all our payouts, we still have a few billion of the Public's money left. If you try to force any penalties on us, that money will be used to make sure you never get elected again. Checkmate."
Politicians: "Oh fuck--pwned."
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Heck, America doesn't protect it's whistle blowers. Why should Latvia?
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.