I'd hire Terry Childs in a second because he is clearly very good at what he does. The only thing I would change is that I would make him document his procedures. It was a failure of management that helped him to develop a NetGod complex. Did he handle his grievances correctly? No, but I doubt that there isn't an IT professional in the field that hasn't experienced heartburn at the hands of incompetent management (at least as far as their IT skills and knowledge are concerned).
To some extent, this story reminds me of the first Ghostbusters movie, when the Fed blessed with authority but cursed with ignorance demanded that the Ghostbusters shut down the spirit containment grid. They were thrown in jail until a personal conference with the mayor convinced him of that which mattered most to him; saving millions of VOTERS. That however was a comedy fiction, this is actually a little scary.
I suspect that Mr. Childs' bail is set so high because unlike most of us ordinary citizens, the city is AFRAID of him. He represents an unwelcome check on their power because beyond the normal parameters of the relationship between citizens and their government, or even workers and their employers, the machines only respect those with the expertise to utilize them properly. We've implicitly given the machines a LOT of power over us in this society, and Mr. Childs knew how to talk to the machines. He must be contained because the state cannot have citizens disgruntled with its periodic incompetence doing end runs around its bureaucracy. The amount of his bail reflects the magnitude of the threat he poses in the eyes of the city.
Personally, I think there should be a fund raised (contributions of $1, $5, $10) to bail him out; while he didn't handle his concerns properly, his real crime is embarrassing the city of San Francisco. For that, 2 years in jail is excessive especially given that if they are like any other city I've ever visited, they probably deserved it. I'd bet that there's a little bit of Terry Childs in most if not all IT professionals that take pride in their work. When he gets out, I hope he writes a book and does paid speaking engagements.
As boring as the trial may be, I'm sure his story would be a lot more interesting.
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Personally,
I'd hire Terry Childs in a second because he is clearly very good at what he does. The only thing I would change is that I would make him document his procedures. It was a failure of management that helped him to develop a NetGod complex. Did he handle his grievances correctly? No, but I doubt that there isn't an IT professional in the field that hasn't experienced heartburn at the hands of incompetent management (at least as far as their IT skills and knowledge are concerned).
To some extent, this story reminds me of the first Ghostbusters movie, when the Fed blessed with authority but cursed with ignorance demanded that the Ghostbusters shut down the spirit containment grid. They were thrown in jail until a personal conference with the mayor convinced him of that which mattered most to him; saving millions of VOTERS. That however was a comedy fiction, this is actually a little scary.
I suspect that Mr. Childs' bail is set so high because unlike most of us ordinary citizens, the city is AFRAID of him. He represents an unwelcome check on their power because beyond the normal parameters of the relationship between citizens and their government, or even workers and their employers, the machines only respect those with the expertise to utilize them properly. We've implicitly given the machines a LOT of power over us in this society, and Mr. Childs knew how to talk to the machines. He must be contained because the state cannot have citizens disgruntled with its periodic incompetence doing end runs around its bureaucracy. The amount of his bail reflects the magnitude of the threat he poses in the eyes of the city.
Personally, I think there should be a fund raised (contributions of $1, $5, $10) to bail him out; while he didn't handle his concerns properly, his real crime is embarrassing the city of San Francisco. For that, 2 years in jail is excessive especially given that if they are like any other city I've ever visited, they probably deserved it. I'd bet that there's a little bit of Terry Childs in most if not all IT professionals that take pride in their work. When he gets out, I hope he writes a book and does paid speaking engagements.
As boring as the trial may be, I'm sure his story would be a lot more interesting.