Hacker Adrian Lamo Dies At 37 (zdnet.com)
Adrian Lamo, a well-known hacker known for his involvement in passing information on whistleblower Chelsea Manning and hacking into systems at The New York Times, Microsoft, and Yahoo in the early-2000s, has died at 37. ZDNet reports: His father, Mario, posted a brief tribute to his son in a Facebook group on Friday. "With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian's friends and acquittances that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son," he wrote. The coroner for Sedgwick County, where Lamo lived, confirmed his death, but provided no further details. Circumstances surrounding Lamo's death are not immediately known. A neighbor who found his body said he had been dead for some time.
Bad guy. Turned in Manning. A Linda Tripp.
When is this country going to stop passing out opiate pills like candy and threating in to kill heroin dealers while young people die in droves?
He came to the Sac 2600 meeting a few months before his parole was up, carrying a cellphone (under a tech ban as part of his parole!) and schmoozing the group. It didn't last long since another friend of his started shit with the group that remained on 2600's #916 IRC leading to them not coming back after that. I was somewhat annoyed by the whole affair, but didn't have any particular reason to dislike Adrian until after the Manning affair, when it became apparent he was an FBI narc back then too. Good thing nobody left at the time either publicly discussed or was into illegal activities (the OGs had either disbanded or moved to private get-togethers, rather than looking over their shoulders for narcs with n00bs every time someone new showed up.)
Won't miss the guy.
And now to burn some karma with Slashdot's most unpopular opinion...
The world runs on faith. We have faith that people will keep waking up, going to their jobs, and keep society running. We have faith that the people we trust will live up to that trust. We have faith that our observations of the world have been genuine.
Adrian Lamo extended that faith to the government. He had faith that the people in government offices were true to their oaths, and he had faith that eventually a proper justice would be served. He had faith that talking to the authorities would lead to a righteous outcome.
I do not know exactly what considerations Mr. Lamo had when he made his choices. I have faith that he was trying to do what was right for the world, and I have faith that were I in his position, having had his experiences and knowing what he knew, I would also understand his decisions.
Rest in peace, fellow human. From my perspective, I may or may not have agreed with you, but that different perspective is what makes us all important.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.