One of those headlines where I was like "blimey, Uber made a detached head self-drive!"
U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
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Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#32White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.
Yes true, although a big facet is the physical violence or threat thereof
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#33White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.
While this is a fair point (due to the difference in money), there is something to be said about the trauma imposed on people who are witness to a bank robbery, not to mention the potential lives hurt/lost if things go sour. I'm not saying in your above example that the 27mo and 10yr sentences should be shorter or longer, I'm just noting that there are reasons the two aren't equal.
You're right, they're not equal. The white collar crime is capable of so much more damage.
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#34He apparently filed for bankruptcy because he "owes" $179 million to Google? My question is, how is he paying his (presumably very expensive) lawyers?
If he's any smarter than me (and he clearly seems a lot smarter than me), he probably keeps many of his assets in bankruptcy-protected accounts/LLCs.
LLCs aren't protected against bankruptcies. The protection they offer only goes the other way: if someone gets a $170 million judgement against an LLC you own, that liability (usually) does not extend to assets you personally own.
In this case, any (share in) LLCs he may own would be part of the assets, together with shares/cars/cash/etc., subject to be auctioned off with the proceeds being divided among his creditors.
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#35Top comment: unfairly lenient Second-top comment: unfairly strict https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23989857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23989843
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Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#36This is a great example of unequal prosecution. A startup that has its IP copied illegally would be lucky to not be ignored by the feds. Even if it was the proximate cause of a startup’s failure (which is admittedly rare). But for Google and Goldman Sachs which never suffer any real damage in these cases, the feds are their private army capable of raiding and imprisoning anyone who copies some files illegally, even i…
Most startups IP is not worth $200M no matter what they think.
This guy was a grade A jerk too - if he doesn't do time then white collar crime is going to be even more unfairly under-enforced.
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#37White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.
While this is a fair point (due to the difference in money), there is something to be said about the trauma imposed on people who are witness to a bank robbery, not to mention the potential lives hurt/lost if things go sour. I'm not saying in your above example that the 27mo and 10yr sentences should be shorter or longer, I'm just noting that there are reasons the two aren't equal.
I think armed robbery sentences depend on whether it was the first time or this is far down the list of incidents (also rap sheet might have a history of other things), but a fist time non violent robber probably will not get ten years in the klink, though you could if the judge and prosecutor impose maximums.
Most states consider “no priors” in sentencing guidelines.
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#38White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.
>> rob a bank to steal $10,000
Lol. Those that do actually succeed in robbing a bank get away with far less than $10,000. There will be a dye pack if you grab anything more than what the cashier has in front of them. It is most often less than $1000.
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#39White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.
While this is a fair point (due to the difference in money), there is something to be said about the trauma imposed on people who are witness to a bank robbery, not to mention the potential lives hurt/lost if things go sour. I'm not saying in your above example that the 27mo and 10yr sentences should be shorter or longer, I'm just noting that there are reasons the two aren't equal.
Fair point, but the penalties for white collar crime are still very lax even when "everyday" people are affected. Look at the last recession which led to many "average" american families losing their homes. That wasn't possible without fraud especially the ratings agencies that were giving out false ratings and still no one went to prison.
Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head
#40Honest question here. Why are we, the taxpayers, paying for 27 months of free housing and food for this guy? Considering he's not a physical threat to society, only an intellectual one, I'd much rather he be slapped with a financial punishment large enough to be meaningful.
So let's say I did the same thing. I don't have any money, so there is no meaningful financial punishment that can be applied to me. In which case, we'll need an alternate punishment, ie - jail. In which case we've just set up a punishment system where poor people go to jail and rich people don't.
> no meaningful financial punishment
OK, so require community service. That doesn't cost me as a taxpayer, and even benefits me indirectly. Community service is also a far better rehabilitation strategy than locking people up when they aren't a physical threat.
Or delayed financial punishments that are proportional to your earnings in the future.