Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999) • Hacker News Board

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#161

Post by tortue0 » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:37 AM UTC

thatoneguy wrote: post #31

I was a "broadband technician" around then and AT&T Broadband did not give AF if you were stealing cable or not. I only handled cable modem installs and quit after a year to go major in philosophy and because: - Getting quietly threatened once (with AR-15 up against the customer's front door) on a troubleshooting call that I wasn't able to leave until "the internet started working". - Having to increasingly go do cab…

When I worked at an ISP in the 90s the amount of threats and verbal abuse from customers was wild.

One guy who ran a event ticket operation (selling tickets to events) we installed a T1 for the phone company wouldn't go out unless they could bring a security guard. The same guy once came to our office and waited outside in the parking lot and followed one of my coworkers home demanding that she fix his internet. Her father came out and confronted him and he took off.

Another time someone was mad that his address didn't qualify for DSL because "the man was keeping him down from getting fast internet".

Later in life I worked at the phone company and linemen told me stories about being high on a pole in rough neighborhoods and being accosted by folks on the ground brandishing pistols demanding to know whose phone line they were tapping (they tried to explain that stuff is done remotely but they didn't understand).

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#162

Post by bryanrasmussen » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:37 AM UTC

thomquaid wrote: post #144

diogenes4 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just watched someone do a sale of a fully loaded glock for a zip during a smoke sesh. Loaded straight into fairly skinny jeans without checking the safety. Bear in mind that handguns are by far the largest contributors to domestic gun-related homicide (intentional and unintentional) and that most gun control safety targets "assault rifles" and other scary shapes. I don't think this is a nightmare we can exit any ti…

There is no safety to check on a glock.

The glock safety is on the back of the grip?

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#163

Post by Ekaros » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:42 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #66

extraduder_ire wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that one is actually "malicious prosecution", as described in the article.

That might be true, but good look keeping your girlfriend, if you sue their parents (even if the parents are jerks).

I think early inheritance is in order in that sort of case. Couple million or whatever surely fixes the feelings against parents. And then you can live easy live with the girlfriend.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#164

Post by puchatek » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:43 AM UTC

wkat4242 wrote: post #89

thatoneguy wrote: post #31

I was a "broadband technician" around then and AT&T Broadband did not give AF if you were stealing cable or not. I only handled cable modem installs and quit after a year to go major in philosophy and because: - Getting quietly threatened once (with AR-15 up against the customer's front door) on a troubleshooting call that I wasn't able to leave until "the internet started working". - Having to increasingly go do cab…

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

In some European countries there's a recent trend to attack people perceived as "the state", such as firefighters and paramedics in certain situations. Afaik, this is usually done by low income, uneducated people that good stone grudge and then lash out. You can indeed be happy that they don't have access to firearms.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#165

Post by b112 » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:44 AM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #151

Zuiii wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it can't be theft unless the service provider lost the channel being "stolen" to the "thief" which makes no sense. Things quickly become silly when we insist on using the wrong concept where it doesn't apply. Charges like disrupting business operations or unauthorized access I can see, but theft? nah.

"Theft" doesn't just mean "physically taking something away from someone else, who now no longer has it". As much as you might like it to mean that, that's not what the law says.

On top of that, it takes equipment, hardware, personnel, infrastructure, power to deliver cable. The OP literally has no idea what they are talking about, and could use the same logic for electricity theft.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#166

Post by MobiusHorizons » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:44 AM UTC

owenmarshall wrote: post #16

I feel like this story could be titled “In Which a Smart Person Overestimates Their Competency With The Legal System” Always get a lawyer.

What are you talking about? Everything turned out pretty much exactly as it should, albeit with a silly amount of beaurocratic overhead (as should be expected for the legal system).

Not saying you shouldn’t get a lawyer, but I don’t see how you can claim she “overestimated her competency”

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#167

Post by OhMeadhbh » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:45 AM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #111

wkat4242 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

The rule of thumb is you are still way more likely to be killed by other things before being killed with a firearm. It’s not really that bad. Once you graduate from school your risk of being shot dead dramatically lowers and other normal causes of death take the top spot.

[flagged]

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#168

Post by Gud » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:49 AM UTC

puchatek wrote: post #164

wkat4242 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

In some European countries there's a recent trend to attack people perceived as "the state", such as firefighters and paramedics in certain situations. Afaik, this is usually done by low income, uneducated people that good stone grudge and then lash out. You can indeed be happy that they don't have access to firearms.

This is not done by “low income, uneducated people". This is done by 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants from the middle east and africa. Please be specific, otherwise these problems will never be resolved. I come from a low income neighborhood but native parents, this was unheard of up until the 2000s.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#169

Post by Humboldtsnee » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:52 AM UTC

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #162

thomquaid wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no safety to check on a glock.

The glock safety is on the back of the grip?

The person holding the Glock?

Because a Glock doesn't have a safety lever. It's built into the trigger mechanism.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#170

Post by psunavy03 » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:54 AM UTC

nojvek wrote: post #133

noduerme wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a gun owner and I believe in the rights of citizens to be armed, but I'm still not sure this is a good argument. On principle, anything that causes unnecessary deaths should be curtailed unless the benefits somehow outweigh the damage. We still have people driving cars who kill each other every day by accident, but there's a general feeling that it would be better to do away with that if we could find a way to el…

As someone who moved to the US and finds the gun culture absolutely bonkers, I get the gun culture and why they had it in the constitution. I don’t get the obsession behind open carry though. What good is people walking around in shopping malls with large semi automatic rifles on their back?

Almost no one actually does this, and most sane gun owners think those people are attention whores at the very best, dangerous nuts at worst.

This is a phenomenon I've head described as "nutpicking." Take the absolute worst of a demographic and then go "why are you all like THAT?"

Claiming US gun culture is all about going to the mall open-carrying a semiauto rifle is on the same level as claiming gay men all prance around in assless chaps and leather. No, they don't, and it shouldn't be any mystery why claiming that is so offends people.