Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#21

Post by tptacek » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 8:43 PM UTC

nihilocrat wrote: post #14

I'm sad to think that they would have cut him out of the process if they had known. I sort of hate our culture which demonizes anyone who has ever been prosecuted by the justice system and quickly shuffles them into a corner of "people who we can't legally round up and gas but are just as worthless". It's really unhealthy to think that decent, worthwhile people can't ever make mistakes in judgement (and learn from th…

Rehabilitate people? He was sentenced this week. The investigation started in 2005; he didn't even cop a plea until 2007. I'm all for rehabilitation, but if you can't make a judgement call not to put a convicted computer felon in a sysadmin role when he's still pending sentencing, when can you? The relativism here is just dizzying.

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#22

Post by cmos » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 8:44 PM UTC

Actually, people with a criminal past (or general oddities that are looked down upon by corporate americal) are often a good choice for a small startup trying to save money. My company often would be someone's 'opportunity' to prove themselves after a major setback in life.

They are motivated, willing to work for cheap, and appreciate the opportunity so much more than someone 'willing to take a paycut' to join your startup. And when times get tough they will be your most loyal employees.

In a startup where cash is tight and the outlook is 'hazy', an employees loyalty is priceless.

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#23

Post by chris11 » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 8:48 PM UTC

henning wrote: post #4

Turning a hiring mistake into linkbait -- you stay classy, JCal.

I would consider this smart P.R. John Schiefer was sentenced yesterday (3/4/09), and the story seemed to break today.

John was actually convicted for identity theft, fraud, and stealing bank account info. So the charges were pretty serious. Infoworld makes it sound like he just used the bank account info to pay for domain registration and web server space. It seems from the report the biggest victim was a company he scammed 19k out of for installing software on people's computers. So while it looks like the damage could have been a lot worse, the charges are very serious.

But anyway, for whatever reason, Jason decided to keep John on as an employee. People deserve second chances, so I'm willing to believe that John might be a good guy who just really screwed up. So I could accept that Jason might have good reason for keeping John on.

Since the story just broke, the information is pretty basic, and right now the only link between Mahalo and John is from Jason's blog. But of course that would change. Soon journalists are going to be mentioning that John was employed at Mahalo. And now Jason has taken charge of that bit of the story. He has been relatively open and defended his decision. So I see the blog has a good attempt to minimize the negative P.R. from John Schiefer getting convicted.

Info World:http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/17/50FE-busted-botmen...

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#24

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 8:48 PM UTC

whatsreal wrote: post #13

Calacanis' reaction is an interesting one. As he states himself it was the risky, not socially acceptable, decision to make. His telling of the story makes it seem that he made the right decision. I would agree. A little grace, which by definition can only be shown to someone completely unworthy of it, is encouraging. I am fascinated by my own reaction when I read stories like this. Why is it that justice waived prod…

[deleted]

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#25

Post by alaskamiller » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 8:51 PM UTC

allocativeeffic wrote: post #10

henning wrote: post #4

Turning a hiring mistake into linkbait -- you stay classy, JCal.

Ok, that was completely unjustified. How did he turn it into "linkbait"? He has stopped blogging except for the occasional post which he deems enough to re-post to his blog. It seemed like a very insightful entry showing compassion and understanding for others -- something your comment was not.

The title is misleading. I had thought he was explaining how people should give felons--something I can relate to personally, though I'm not a felon--a second chance. But like the OP said, it really was a story about a hiring mistake bordering on fraud.

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#26

Post by okeumeni » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 8:59 PM UTC

Bravo Jason, I’m glad you let John keep his job; we need more understanding and forgiveness in this society. We’re all human we all make mistake.

Just one question, Why use John real name in your post? That is one more Google entry into poor John record book.

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#27

Post by jonknee » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 9:06 PM UTC

Humorous that a search company doesn't run a search on their hires but still believes they have a "rigorous hiring process".

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#28

Post by jasonmcalacanis » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 9:10 PM UTC

chris11 wrote: post #23

henning wrote: post #4

Turning a hiring mistake into linkbait -- you stay classy, JCal.

I would consider this smart P.R. John Schiefer was sentenced yesterday (3/4/09), and the story seemed to break today. John was actually convicted for identity theft, fraud, and stealing bank account info. So the charges were pretty serious. Infoworld makes it sound like he just used the bank account info to pay for domain registration and web server space. It seems from the report the biggest victim was a company he…

Obviously I didn't write the post in order to get PR. This is NOT the kind of thing you want PR for.

We decided to submit letters to the judge in order to have John's sentence reduced from 60 years to something more reasonable. In order to do that we had to go on record, and those records came out yesterday at the sentencing which I attended.

The Register called today and I thought it would be best for me to explain our position in an honest and upfront way, rather than just having one quote posted here or there.

Yes, my CTO screwed up the hiring process by not doing a basic Google search.

Yes, the easy choice would have been to fire John.

However, after getting to know John I thought the best thing for John and society would be for John to work until he went to jail. He's a good person who did very stupid things.

My only goal at this point was to help reduce John's sentence and help him become a functioning member of society.

all the best, Jason

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#29

Post by comatose_kid » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 9:10 PM UTC

cmos wrote: post #22

Actually, people with a criminal past (or general oddities that are looked down upon by corporate americal) are often a good choice for a small startup trying to save money. My company often would be someone's 'opportunity' to prove themselves after a major setback in life. They are motivated, willing to work for cheap, and appreciate the opportunity so much more than someone 'willing to take a paycut' to join your s…

'My company': Care to share which company that would be?

Re: Why Mahalo employed a felon hacker

#30

Post by tptacek » Thu, Mar 05, 2009, 9:11 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #8

Not that I am against giving people a second chance (and hey, abused youth and all), but to explain it by saying we are all criminals anyway so it is no biggie doesn't really raise my level of trust.

Every year, more than 130,000 people are convicted on felony charges for basic drug possession, a crime that hurts nobody and which is by a commanding majority of surveyed public opinion regarded as a crime that should not actually be a crime. All of these people are going to fail the criminal background checks applied across a good swath of the Fortune 500.

That's a clear injustice.

Is this?