Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

justice.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 281 posts

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#191

Post by zlg_codes »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Critically, he is not going to jail for intentionally crashing the plane. He is being jailed "for obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane." Had he cooperated, it's plausible to see him getting away with a license revocation and fine. Instead he did this: "In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location.…

What prior evidence do we have of government honoring such "if you were honest we'd be easier on you" crap?

Zero incentive to trust such a statement. It's backed by nothing.

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#192

Post by mminer237 »

fsckboy wrote: post #118
ipqk wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of things that could harm or kill someone just get a small fine. For example, going 5 mph over the speed limit has likely killed many people over the decades, yet it's still only a $100 ticket or so.

the biggest danger in car accidents is not speed, but speed differentials. going 5 mph over the speed limit does carry an enhanced risk, the danger of colliding with all the other people going 15 over the limit.

That's an increased risk of accident, but not a big danger. In your scenario, you're getting rear-ended at 10 mph. That's unlikely to cause a serious danger, whereas there is a real difference in surviving a crash at 70 versus 75.

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#193

Post by fbdab103 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #26
foobarian wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but is it a felony-20-years-in-a-FPITA-prison illegal, or a giant-fine-and-revocation-of-pilot-license illegal? :-)

> is it a felony-20-years-in-a-FPITA-prison illegal, or a giant-fine-and-revocation-of-pilot-license illegal Probably the latter unless someone gets hurt. (Agree with you that this was a dumb cover-up. Particularly when he seems to have done the cover up before posting the video?)

When does it become a cover-up vs "oopsie, didn't know"?

If he had dismantled the plane before the FAA knew about the crash, would that still qualify as destroying evidence?

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#194

Post by jahewson »

fxtentacle wrote: post #8

For me, the really interesting question is not if he's guilty - I had assumed as much - but if he will come out financially successful. That video had millions of views and a sponsorship deal. Call me a cynic, but it seems that some companies will deliberately break the law and pay the price if it's worth it, so why not independent hustlers.

Demonetized.

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#195

Post by zer00eyz »

fbdab103 wrote: post #189
JeremyNT wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are numerous counter-examples to this claim. In many cases, it's obvious because the cover-up is of a civil infraction. Indeed, people go out of the frying pan and into the fire all the time. I think the kernel of truth in the parent post is that the subjects might genuinely believe that the revelation of the original "crime" alone would be impossible to recover from, so they might as well go all in on trying…

I probably watch too much popular media, but I am only thinking of bigger crimes where it seems like the rational choice is to attempt a coverup. Murder? Check. Stealing a Snicker's bar? Probably just leave the evidence in place. What is the threshold where you have to make the call? White-collar crimes feel the only place where you could make the argument that further action on the scene is likely to leave behind mo…

>White-collar crimes feel the only place where you could make the argument that further action on the scene is likely to leave behind more evidence.

Nixon tapes, Iran Contra paper shredding, Enron paper shredding (we got Sarbanes Oxley out of that.) There are plenty of places where further action likely prevented far far worse things.

I think white collar crime is harder now, as evidenced by recent political scandals (fucking up your secure messaging app, bungling PDF's). I dont know of any one who has the technical acumen to fully cover their tracks.

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#196

Post by mannykannot »

throw0101b wrote: post #15
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Critically, he is not going to jail for intentionally crashing the plane. He is being jailed "for obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane." Had he cooperated, it's plausible to see him getting away with a license revocation and fine. Instead he did this: "In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location.…

> Had he cooperated, it's plausible to see him getting away with a license revocation and fine. Reminder of the quotation from Howard Baker (R-TN): “It is almost always the cover-up rather than the event that causes trouble.” Though some would disagree: > There's this old line the wise folks in Washington have that 'it's not the crime, but the cover-up.' > But only fools believe that. It's always about the crime. The…

In practice, there are examples both for and against the proposition that the cover-up is worse than the crime. Having said that, the argument presented here against the proposition is being justified with a fallacy: numerous cases have shown that cover-ups are attempted even when a full revelation of the underlying crime is survivable (either literally or metaphorically.) In at least some and perhaps many cases, attempting a cover-up may be the statistically-justifiable rational choice even if its failure will bring worse consequences than the infraction being covered up.

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#197

Post by dvngnt_ »

tw04 wrote: post #178
fxtentacle wrote: post #8

For me, the really interesting question is not if he's guilty - I had assumed as much - but if he will come out financially successful. That video had millions of views and a sponsorship deal. Call me a cynic, but it seems that some companies will deliberately break the law and pay the price if it's worth it, so why not independent hustlers.

Is YouTube actually letting him monetize it? I didn’t think you could make money off a video of yourself committing a crime?

the crime was the cover-up tho

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#198

Post by fudged71 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Critically, he is not going to jail for intentionally crashing the plane. He is being jailed "for obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane." Had he cooperated, it's plausible to see him getting away with a license revocation and fine. Instead he did this: "In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location.…

[flagged]

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#199

Post by zlg_codes »

mozman wrote: post #17
duskwuff wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A federal felony and a 6-month prison sentence, on their own, would almost certainly tip the scales to "not worth it". I wouldn't be surprised if there were also a disgorgement involved.

It’s a big black mark on your reputation, it’s rarely worth it. He could have injured or killed someone for a video. Crime doesn’t pay

Tell me what 6 months in a cage and financial ruin will do to teach someone about a victimless crime.

Justice is not in play here. The punishment should match the crime.

Re: YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash

#200

Post by MBCook »

zlg_codes wrote: post #191
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Critically, he is not going to jail for intentionally crashing the plane. He is being jailed "for obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane." Had he cooperated, it's plausible to see him getting away with a license revocation and fine. Instead he did this: "In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location.…

What prior evidence do we have of government honoring such "if you were honest we'd be easier on you" crap? Zero incentive to trust such a statement. It's backed by nothing.

I’m not sure it’s that they’d go easy on you, I think it’s more that they would go extra hard as a deterrent when they catch you trying to cover things up.
Post reply on HN