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Pirate Bay Founder Warg Being Held in Solitary Confinement
From Torrent Freak comes news that one of the Pirate Bay founders is now being held in solitary confinement after Sweden turned him over to Denmark. From the article: "In a recent letter sent to Amnesty and shared with TorrentFreak, Gottfrid’s mother Kristina explains her son’s plight. She says that Gottfrid is being kept in solitary and treated as if he were a 'dangerous, violent and aggressive criminal' even though his only crime — if any — is hacking. Gottfrid’s lawyer Luise Høi says the terms of his confinement are unacceptable and are being executed without the correct legal process. 'It is the case that Danish authorities are holding my client in solitary confinement without a warrant,' Høi explains, noting that if the authorities wish to exclude Gottfrid from access to anyone except his lawyer and prison staff, they need to apply for a special order."
He should have blown up the world's economy, using criminal fraud. No criminal prosecution, or even investigation, despite enormous harm to millions and likely criminal action. Evil hackers? Give 'em solitary for life.
In the real world, solitary confinement is often used as extrajudicial punishment by unaccountable authorities.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
+1 - Since I have no points :(
Social Engineering isn't hacking... Fortune Tellers and Used Car Salesmen have been doing it for years before networked computers were created...
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
Or suspected (but innocent) gangbanger. Or someone that the authorities don't like but conveniently label as a gangbanger in order to torture. I mean it's not as if authorities would ever be so petty as to apply such punishments to petty crimes like, oh I don't know, (alleged) copyright infringement is it?
But hey, if you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear, right?
Fuck you, you jackbooted apologist.
Or insulting guard. Or protesting against other ill-treatment. Or being targeted by another prisoner looking to start a fight. There's no judicial oversight or accountability involved, as the prisoner is, well, a prisoner. A warden simply announces 'that guy is a troublemaker, throw him into the isolation cell.'
Solitary cells, and prison cells in general, are usually constructed to minimise any form of stimulation. Uniform grey walls, undecorated. Grey bedding on grey beds. Nothing that can be picked up or moved.
The root of the issue is that a large chunk of society really struggle with the idea of 'rehabilitation.' Instead they can only see the justice system as a deterrant - in their view, prisoners need to be made to suffer as much as possible, because the threat of this suffering is what stops other people from breaking the law. Modern decency stops them from openly advocating for torture, but they don't feel much like protesting against it either. Any attempt to improve education for prisoners or provide them with help back into the workforce or support after their release is just regarded as a 'weakness,' lessening the terror that prison is supposed to inspire in those contemplating crime.
So we end up with an industrial system for taking people who commit minor offenses, destroying them socially, destroying their education, ruining them financially, making them all but unemployable... and then we wonder why they turn to serious crime once they get out.