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CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

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Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#31
post #20
post #16

Ouch. I'm sure this will destroy him financially and his reputation, but what if he actually turned his life around and is completely ashamed of this past? I don't want to come off like I support his past whatsoever, because I don't, but I feel there's no forgiveness left in our society to give people like this a second chance. I guess I just believe people can change for the better and I want to encourage that more,…

A CEO of a surveillance company clearly has not turned their life around.

That probably has more to do with having been in the military...

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#32
post #16

Ouch. I'm sure this will destroy him financially and his reputation, but what if he actually turned his life around and is completely ashamed of this past? I don't want to come off like I support his past whatsoever, because I don't, but I feel there's no forgiveness left in our society to give people like this a second chance. I guess I just believe people can change for the better and I want to encourage that more,…

Forgiveness falls upon members of the public who read the story, not the press. I have no problem with this past being reported, especially given that he now runs what sounds like a large surveillance company. Being a successful CEO carries extra scrutiny that he might not have to deal with if he took a path with a lower profile.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#33
post #14

It's hard to judge someone for doing something stupid at 17 when there's adverse influences around them. But Damien Patton wasn't 17 when he did this- https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3bgky/banjo-ai-used-secr... That should be illegal. Are there not any laws against this?

>But once users logged into the innocent looking apps via a social network OAuth provider, Banjo saved the login credentials, according to two former employees and an expert analysis of the apps performed by Kasra Rahjerdi, who has been an Android developer since the original Android project was launched. Banjo then scraped social media content, those two former employees added. //

CMA (UK)/CFAA (USA) both make unauthorised access a crime, so, yes there are laws against this.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#34

When reached for comment, Patton wrote: "32 years ago I was a lost, scared, and vulnerable child. I won’t go into detail, but the reasons I left home at such a young age are unfortunately not unique; I suffered abuse in every form. I did terrible things and said despicable and hateful things, including to my own Jewish mother, that today I find indefensibly wrong, and feel extreme remorse for. I have spent most of my…

There is a part of me that wants to extend forgiveness, but then I remember what Banjo does and I feel nothing for him.

I’ve known many who were stupid when they were young. It often is a direct result of malignant or neglecting parents. Some recover and do great things. This guy appears to have “recovered” and then went on to monetize state surveillance ambitions.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#35
post #18

> He says he became a self-taught crime scene investigator and then learned to code. Eventually, Patton helped build the digital infrastructure of what would become Banjo, a company that, in the past decade, has raised nearly $223 million, according to the investment data-sharing platform SharesPost, from prominent venture capital firms such as SoftBank. Interesting and somewhat horrifying. Maybe SoftBank failed to d…

Softbank massively fucked up on this one. Feel bad for the current employees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14783521

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#36
post #31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CEO of a surveillance company clearly has not turned their life around.

That probably has more to do with having been in the military...

It doesn't change the fact that it is fundamentally a bad thing, because it will be used mostly for nefarious ends.

I'd probably have a leg up selling anti-personnel mines to the US military if I were a former officer, but using this advantage would be unethical (because land mines are fundamentally evil).

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#37
post #18

> He says he became a self-taught crime scene investigator and then learned to code. Eventually, Patton helped build the digital infrastructure of what would become Banjo, a company that, in the past decade, has raised nearly $223 million, according to the investment data-sharing platform SharesPost, from prominent venture capital firms such as SoftBank. Interesting and somewhat horrifying. Maybe SoftBank failed to d…

It wouldn't be the first time SoftBank failed to do due diligence on the business that they invested in.

They have an amazing talent for this.

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#39

When reached for comment, Patton wrote: "32 years ago I was a lost, scared, and vulnerable child. I won’t go into detail, but the reasons I left home at such a young age are unfortunately not unique; I suffered abuse in every form. I did terrible things and said despicable and hateful things, including to my own Jewish mother, that today I find indefensibly wrong, and feel extreme remorse for. I have spent most of my…

Can someone verify that he actually has a "Jewish mother?"

Re: CEO of Banjo admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth

#40

This was so long ago and he hasn’t killed anyone or done any thing of the sort since then. Who cares ? It is up to the system to deal with him

"the system" has given life sentences to people for marijuana charges while people who literally helped a hate group shoot at minorities go free. The system is broken, and i assure you, plenty of people care
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