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My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

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Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#111

Post by orblivion »

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #110
orblivion wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rapleaf uses the APIs of various services Those APIs expose people's email addresses?

Yes. If you already know someone's email address, you can get all sorts of information about them from twitter, fB, amazon wishlists...anything where the user's account is keyed to an email address.

So... isn't there something in user agreements that avoids this sort of thing? Maybe I should read it closer, but I would expect "will not sell my email address to third parties" would be a common clause. And if it wasn't, I'd expect some sort of consumer backlash.

Sorry for the line of questions, this is sortof a jolt to my view of reality.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#112

Post by Timothee »

Here's my short "Internet investigation" story:

late at night I found a wallet on the pavement and decided to deliver it myself the following day since the address on the driver's license was very close to my place.

Next day I discover the guy moved. But with some of his info, I found the Google cache of an old Craigslist ad he had posted, that gave me his phone number. He was pretty happy.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#113

Post by kenjackson »

_delirium wrote: post #104
kenjackson wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best we can do is lock people up for longer periods of time -- at least for crimes with victims (robbery, murder, assault, rape, etc...).

It isn't actually clear that that reduces crime, though, if you're advocating it from a utilitarian perspective (as opposed to advocating longer prison sentences as morally justified punishment, which is a different argument). For example, doing the opposite, releasing people early under various kinds of early-release and parole programs, generally doesn't appear to increase either crime rates or recidivism rates, at…

I just meant that if we keep people who have demonstrated they are violent in jail longer, that should keep them off of the streets. My assumption was that in jail they'd commit less crimes -- at least on people who weren't in jail.

If every person who commited a violent crime went to jail for life, would that reduce violent crime? I feel like it would, although I have no evidence of it.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#114

Post by pavel_lishin »

tome wrote: post #31

FWIW, this is completely the opposite of what pg suggests: http://paulgraham.com/top.html Turning the other cheek turns out to have selfish advantages. Someone who does you an injury hurts you twice: first by the injury itself, and second by taking up your time afterward thinking about it. If you learn to ignore injuries you can at least avoid the second half. I've found I can to some extent avoid thinking about nast…

This doesn't really seem to apply to theft.

Otherwise, you wouldn't mind if I stole your car.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#115

Post by zackattack »

In April 2009, at a frat party, this guy asked to use my iPhone to make a call. I had seen him at a different party the previous summer, so I let him use it. He walked away with my phone.

He taunted me over the phone when I called and asked to have it back. I updated my Facebook to relate that my phone was stolen; he logged in via iPhone and updated "nvm got my phone back." A real class act.

I remembered his name was "Chase" and he was into music, so I looked through MySpace for all the guys named Chase in Chicago. Through that, I found his Twitter account and sent him an @reply indicating that I filed a police report and would have him arrested at his next gig. A few minutes later he started the trip back to Hyde Park and returned the phone to me.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#116

Post by sublemonic »

OtherMichael wrote: post #61
brc wrote: post #32

I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief was knocking off pot plants and outdoor furniture. I saw him walking up the road several times with these items, but the guy looked like a 'roid rager so I wasn't about to start asking questions and figued he might be moving house locally. But then he made the mi…

Given that you gave a photo of your "pot plant" to the police, I'm going to assume that it was not what I first thought it was....

Seems like the brc meant "potted plant"

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#117

Post by brc »

OtherMichael wrote: post #61
brc wrote: post #32

I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief was knocking off pot plants and outdoor furniture. I saw him walking up the road several times with these items, but the guy looked like a 'roid rager so I wasn't about to start asking questions and figued he might be moving house locally. But then he made the mi…

Given that you gave a photo of your "pot plant" to the police, I'm going to assume that it was not what I first thought it was....

No, a plant in a pot. Not some pot, well, growing in a pot. It was (still is) a Jasmine plant, grown from a cutting taken off some beautiful old gardens that got cleared away in a development.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#118

Post by brc »

T_S_ wrote: post #78
brc wrote: post #32

I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief was knocking off pot plants and outdoor furniture. I saw him walking up the road several times with these items, but the guy looked like a 'roid rager so I wasn't about to start asking questions and figued he might be moving house locally. But then he made the mi…

How civilized to live in a country where criminals enjoy gardening as much as everyone else. I'm guessing that you live in England.

Close, but think more southern hemisphere but still with a love of cricket.

Believe it or not but plant theft is a problem. Easy to sell at a market, no markings, no trace, and people aren't suspicious.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#119

Post by teaspoon »

wooter wrote: post #81
CapitalistCartr wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He committed the crimes; he is responsible for the consequences. He knew he had a pregnant girlfriend, and chose to not care. To let someone continue on a destructive path against the community around him isn't dong anyone any favors, not him, his girlfriend, or his child.

Doesn't mean its not going to piss him and his family off that this woman went to those lengths to make it happen. You can't deny that people have strong, sometimes irrational, emotions. Anonymizing the story wouldn't have made it any less interesting and protected her from any retaliation (from him or friends; even a brick through the window would be a pain to deal with). Not to mention she does take a few jabs at t…

She more than likely took the witness stand and saw this guy face-to-face. You can't really charge someone with a crime without identifying yourself.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#120

Post by cowmixtoo »

Hmm... this story doesn't pass the smell test.

I and many of my friends have been burglarized and then tried to track down the perpetrator. Also I am very active in my neighborhood block watch so I get involved in the details of many personal property crimes. Even with the most well meaning law enforcement officials and other institutions who might have information you need to solve your personal crime, the kind of cooperation this lady received is unheard of. In fact, I would be a little upset all these institutions spent this much time on a crime that is partly her fault. The rest of her details don't add up in my head.

Mark my words: This story will turn out to be more vigilante porn than the truth.

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