Sweet revenge

We're not laughing with you, but at you

[weeks]

YouTube fame

Bao, you see, might have not done well in leaving his laptop in a lounge at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., allowing an opportunist to swipe it earlier this year. However, he had already embedded a little wisdom inside of his machine by installing BackBlaze software. This, the way CBS News.com tells it, allowed him to enter his laptop remotely and see what might be going on there. Or, indeed, going down...
You'll love it: [news.cnet.com...]

[lawman]

Loved that he was able to track down the thief. I've seen way worse dancing on the internet than that though.

[bhonda]

Love it.

Does open up a debate about privacy though. If someone steals your laptop, is it ok to record what the thief does with it? If the thief accesses their online banking using the stolen laptop, is it ok for the owner to do the same? I would assume not. Maybe it comes down to intent.

I don't know what the legal side of this is, but it's interesting - I've not really thought about it before.

Stroke of genius though, putting this video on YouTube. Brilliant.

[koan]

Does open up a debate about privacy though.

Not really, it's reasonable to think that a thief forfeits all rights to privacy whenever he uses a stolen computer to save or broadcast personal info.

[jecasc]

Not really, it's reasonable to think that a thief forfeits all rights to privacy whenever he uses a stolen computer to save or broadcast personal info.

Actually not necessarily. I know that publishing this video would be illegal in my country. Where I live this video or a picture of the thief could only have been released by the police after getting a court order and only for the sole purpose of identifying the thief. And it would have to be removed from the public after the thief had been caught.

The reason is simple: Punishment for crimes is a matter of the court, and the purpose of the criminal law is not only short sighted punishement, but also to integrate the offender back into society after he has received his punishment. After all we don't want former criminals running around randomly banging people on the head with the purpose of robbing them just because they can't make a living any other way.

Since this video has sucessfuly undermined this purpose of integrating the thief back into society after he has payed for his crime - I think the future victims will be very grateful to the publisher, for example when the thief has turned into a street mugger.

In my eyes this is nothing short of vigilante justice and the guy who published the video should share a cell together with the thief.

[lawman]

Holy cow jecasc, with that line of reasoning we never would have been able to enjoy Techno Viking, the Star Wars Kid, or that lady who fell into the shopping mall fountain while texting.

[BillyS]

In my eyes this is nothing short of vigilante justice and the guy who published the video should share a cell together with the thief.

Banks put remote controlled dye packs that spray the robber with red dye and tear gas. Lojack devices disable cars, what happens if the carjacker gets hurt?

The guy posted a video of the thief dancing. If he came into someone’s home to steal a computer he might have been shot and killed. That’s the risk you take when you commit a crime.
This is a great example of a deterrent. This guy is a thief, he’s not innocent. I know the innocent until proven guilty argument, but we don’t need a court to tell us that fact three months from now.

It’s no different than a surveillance camera video shown on the news. Unfortunately for the thief, he was caught doing something he’s ashamed of…

Justice served.

[jecasc]

Holy cow jecasc, with that line of reasoning we never would have been able to enjoy Techno Viking, the Star Wars Kid, or that lady who fell into the shopping mall fountain while texting.

Actually the Star Wars Kid filed a 250,000$ lawsuit.

I am just not a big fan of public humiliation. As weeks pointed out in the headline - it is the difference between laughing with somebody or at somebody. I don't like laughing at somebody. Put him in jail for the time law dictates or fine him or whatever but let people preserve at least some dignity.

Justice served.

No, justice is when someone steals something, gets caught, is convicted by a court and then serves his term.

Justice is not: A lifetime of public humilation for entertainement purposes.

[wheel]

Put him in jail for the time law dictates or fine him or whatever but let people preserve at least some dignity.

When you rob someone, IMO you lose some of your own rights. Dignity isn't high on my list of things that need to be preserved for criminals.

Vigilante justices has some drawbacks and certainly isn't what we want done all the time. It is however a good counterbalance to the slow moving wheels of justice. It's good once in a while for retribution to be swift and maybe a bit out of balance.

It wasn't out of balance though - they just made the guy look like a fool. That's not the end of the world.

[birdbrain]

A lifetime of public humiliation for entertainment purposes.

...and by what criteria would this be decided?

birdbrain

[edited by: birdbrain at 1:55 pm (utc) on Mar 29, 2011]

[weeks]

Justice is not: A lifetime of public humilation for entertainement purposes.

Serving a term or paying a fine for a crime is not to be compared to getting a job to pay for goods or services, if only because it does not. You will hear that "he paid his debt to society" after a prison term, but in real life there is no "debt paid." The video entertainment value was derived from the context of the performance in relation to his crime for which he is entirely responsible.

It's a difficult question--our need to provide forgiveness and our need for justice. In that the debt created by most all crimes cannot ever be really paid, that leaves us with only forgiveness. We still crave justice, however. Jails and fines are so imperfect, often too harsh, sometimes not harsh enough.

This public humiliation has an appeal to me since his humiliation will not last a lifetime. (Maybe another week.) It's a rare opportunity for some real justice. And, if he laughs at himself and point out to others his lesson learned, expressing regret, he stands to become something of a sympathetic character because, after all, we all do stupid, regretable things and need forgiveness.

[lawman]

>>Actually the Star Wars Kid filed a 250,000$ lawsuit.

You just changed your argument. You sue for damages in a civil matter - criminal penalties do not apply.

[jecasc]

You just changed your argument.

Actually no. In my country certain criminal offenses are only prosecuted by request of the victim (for example violation of privcy rights). So you can choose to press charges in criminal court, seek damages in civil court only or do both. But I didn't want to start a legal debate. All I am saying is I do not like laughing AT other people, even if they are criminals and you should be check the laws before posting such videos because in some countries this might be a criminal offense in itself. I know that it is in my country (on request of the one whose rights are violated) and I approve of it.

And I am saying this as someone for whom being a victim of crime is essentially part of the job description. Theft, fraud, blackmail you name it, I had it all. Fraud even on a weekly basis. You defraud me of 10 EUR I'll press criminal charges and spend 100 EUR on a court order for payment and come for the money the full 30 years until the court order expires. But I won't publish your name, address, picture or surveillance tape on the internet for public amusement.

[Demaestro]

If someone steals your laptop, is it ok to record what the thief does with it?

I would say it is a pretty gray area. If I were arguing a case for the owner of the laptop I would argue that the thief has no expectation of privacy when he brings a camera with a computer attached to it into his home without first taking the time to ask the owner how it works and if there is any special programming on it.

Usually in law it is the expectation of privacy that determines if something violates your right to privacy.

For example if you streak a baseball game you can't complain later when pictures of your willy end up on the news.

In my eyes this is nothing short of vigilante justice and the guy who published the video should share a cell together with the thief.

I am not clear how you resolve a person taking video from his camera of a person willing performing in front of a camera as being vigilante in any sense of the word. It may have been vindictive and maybe even spiteful, but not vigilante.

Then he filmed himself dancing to Tyga's "Make It Rain."

He filmed himself and saved it on someone else's computer. If I take your camera and snap a picture of myself.... who owns the publication rights to that picture? Me or you? If you own it and you aren't publishing it for commercial purposes then why wouldn't you be allowed to post it?

[edited by: Demaestro at 3:36 pm (utc) on Mar 29, 2011]

[lawman]

>>So you can choose to press charges in criminal court, seek damages in civil court only or do both.

You can do either here too assuming there is a violation of the law and provable damages.

>>All I am saying is I do not like laughing AT other people, even if they are criminals and you should be check the laws before posting such videos because in some countries this might be a criminal offense in itself.

You have high ideals and standards. I respect that.

[LifeinAsia]

I think justice was served- the guy will most likely think twice between stealing someone's laptop.

Or dancing.

[frontpage]

It is laughable that people are debating the right to privacy for a criminal. Bleeding hearts.

The laptop is the personal property of the owner, there is not expectation of privacy for a thief who steals the item.

[koan]

Well, for once, I agree with my favorite right winger ;) Too much compassion for the criminal, keep it for the victim.

[jecasc]

Too much compassion for the criminal

I think you are confusing compassion for the criminal with compassion for the rule of law. If I catch a shoplifter in my store I call the police and hand him over. If I put a sign around his head that says "shoplifter" and place him in the shop window I am taking the law in my own hands and deserve to take a seat in the police car right next to the shoplifter.

[incrediBILL]

If I put a sign around his head that says "shoplifter" and place him in the shop window I am taking the law in my own hands and deserve to take a seat in the police car right next to the shoplifter.

My Dad basically did that to all bad checks that bounced in our business, he had a big display case on the wall with every bad check publicly displayed for all their friends and neighbors to see.

Technically, we owned that piece of paper when it didn't clear the bank, we could do whatever we wanted with it according to our local DA, so Dad put it on the "wall of shame". They had the opportunity to buy it back and %99.99 of them not only bought that check back, but never bounced a bad check in our business ever again.

I like the video of the idiot thief, taught him a good lesson of how taking something that doesn't belong to you can end up taking a lot more back in the end.

Object lesson served, he deserved it, caught red-handed, no excuses, no sympathy.

[onepointone]

A lifetime of public humilation

Really? How many people remember this in a month or a year?
Plenty of people get "humiliated" online everyday without even doing anything against the law.

In the U.S. there are many 'stupid criminal' video shows on cable everyday. I bet they get a kick out that.

Or maybe they take offense that their scholarship to harvard might be in danger.

Object lesson served, he deserved it, caught red-handed, no excuses, no sympathy.

Yep, and showing this is the same thing as any news broadcast might do. Just the facts.

[jecasc]

Yep, and showing this is the same thing as any news broadcast might do. Just the facts.

And in many countries this is illegal when the faces are not blurred out and would only be legal for the sole purpose of identifying the criminal - when authorized by a court. A fact, too. So better check your local laws before pulling things like this off.

[incrediBILL]

So better check your local laws before pulling things like this off.

A sane person in those countries wouldn't take credit for posting those files in the first place.

Use an anonymous proxy located outside your country, do your dirty deeds, remove anon proxy, done.