A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss • Hacker News Board

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#51

Post by cryogenic_soul » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:10 PM UTC

rurban wrote: post #45

cryogenic_soul wrote: post #30

For those who are interested in TrueCrypt history, here (it is in Russian) https://news.softodrom.ru/ap/b19702.shtml ( https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... ) author did a small research and came to conclusion that TrueCrypt most likely was created by a Czech guy named David Tesařík. Update: IMHO this research is the most comprehensive one which I saw regarding TrueCrypt authorship

His Wikipedia page explains that connection to David Tesarik: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux In short, Le Roux was the original author (under the name E4M) was later hired by Hafner to write a commercial disc encryption system together with Hollingworth who authored ScramDisc. Later Le Roux released E4M under its new name TrueCrypt, and the commercial team (with Tesarik as its maintainer) sued him.

Thanks, I was not aware that Wikipedia mentions David Tesařík.

From what I can see in Wikipedia article, there is nothing about David Tesařík's legal dispute with Le Roux, actually it says that Le Roux had a dispute with SecurStar (a company which wanted to develop commercial disc encryption system).

Team member David Tesařík stated that Le Roux informed the team that there was a legal dispute between himself and SecurStar, and that he had received legal advice not to comment on the case. Because of this, he was unable to confirm or deny the legitimacy of TrueCrypt, keeping its development in limbo.[13][14] A new version was released in June,[15] but with a different digital signature and the developers now being referred to as "the TrueCrypt Foundation". The project received funding, the source of which is equally unclear.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux

Altogether, it is still unclear how much Le Roux participated in TrueCrypt development (except E4M legacy), but it is clear that David Tesařík was one of the main developers of TrueCrypt

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#52

Post by ivanhoe » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:32 PM UTC

world32 wrote: post #31

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it…

Don't forget a full page about that Filipino garbageman, that ends in him basically knowing nothing, seeing nothing and being completely irrelevant character to the whole story...

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#53

Post by tru3_power » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:48 PM UTC

world32 wrote: post #31

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it…

Yea, it really bothered me too. Seems like the writer was really amped up.

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#54

Post by jordinl » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 7:54 PM UTC

iamben wrote: post #2

Longer version of this story here (2016): https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind -- fascinating story and these articles captivated me. Have had them bookmarked for ages :-)

I'm reading through these. And I'm wondering, the two assassins that killed the real estate agents in the Philippines, how come they were judged in US and not in the Philippines?

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#55

Post by everdev » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

world32 wrote: post #31

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it…

Huge pet peeve of mine is when writers use analogies to describe technology or science instead of writing what actually happened.

I think I read somewhere once, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." which seems to ring true with these artful descriptions of mechanical things.

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#56

Post by Pharmakon » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 8:21 PM UTC

everdev wrote: post #55

world32 wrote: post #31

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it…

Huge pet peeve of mine is when writers use analogies to describe technology or science instead of writing what actually happened. I think I read somewhere once, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." which seems to ring true with these artful descriptions of mechanical things.

I think that’s probably a rephrasing of Einstein’s alleged quote, ”It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” That quote as relayed by de Brolgie seems to have mutated quite a bit, changing the meaning to something more general. Of course it’s also worth pointing out that Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy.

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#57

Post by tannhauser23 » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 8:37 PM UTC

jordinl wrote: post #54

iamben wrote: post #2

Longer version of this story here (2016): https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind -- fascinating story and these articles captivated me. Have had them bookmarked for ages :-)

I'm reading through these. And I'm wondering, the two assassins that killed the real estate agents in the Philippines, how come they were judged in US and not in the Philippines?

It's a U.S. federal crime to conspire to kill a person in a foreign country. I guess they could have been extradited but since they were facing life (and in the federal system there's no parole), the Philippines didn't insist on trying the hitmen themselves.

Indictment: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/file/632661/download

Relevant statute: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/956

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#58

Post by gwbas1c » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 8:59 PM UTC

world32 wrote: post #31

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it…

Because it's an excerpt from a book

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#59

Post by everdev » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 8:59 PM UTC

Pharmakon wrote: post #56

everdev wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huge pet peeve of mine is when writers use analogies to describe technology or science instead of writing what actually happened. I think I read somewhere once, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." which seems to ring true with these artful descriptions of mechanical things.

I think that’s probably a rephrasing of Einstein’s alleged quote, ”It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” That quote as relayed by de Brolgie seems to have mutated quite a bit, changing the meaning to something more general. Of course it’s also worth pointing out that Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy.

> Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy

Maybe because we don't understand it enough quite yet! I'm sure gravity was hard to explain when it was first being talked about.

Re: A Coder Who Became a Crime Boss

#60

Post by hateful » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 9:16 PM UTC

world32 wrote: post #31

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it…

Reminds me of a lot of the science shows on TV. A whole hour of "wow" to let me know 1/6 of what I learned in one youtube video.