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The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

eurogamer.net

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Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#51

Post by zacharycohn »

ago wrote: post #50
MisterMashable wrote: post #8

This was an amazing and somewhat sad story. How's Gembe doing today? Based on his near adoration of the Valve developers, it would be fitting if he worked in the gaming industry. Maybe he could set things right by helping to make Half-Life 3?

I worked programming fire alarm systems for a while, embedded device programming and test automation. Now I started doing realtime graphics in Bejing. Working on using the Kinect to do gesture input on presentations on really big screens. Like Powerpoint on steroids.

The article didn't have any information on the person you passed the source code to. I assume they tried to figure out who it was? What happened to them?

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#52

Post by neckro23 »

balls187 wrote: post #34
spacehome wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way? How could that make sense?

The HL2 team rewrote major portions of the Source Engine in response to the hack.

The bigger issue was that (IIRC) the source for Steam, which wasn't yet launched, was also leaked.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#53

Post by codexon »

pandatigox wrote: post #18
codexon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't feel sorry for malware writers. They are not oppressed and deserve what they got. And this guy also stole people's software keys. If they were talented coders, they could've found less destructive ways to make money. But he decided to go the greedy route.

Some of the people behind bars are because they did something that was morally right but condoned by the government. While I can't argue for the guy mentioned in the article, people like Bradley Manning are wasting away their lives. Do you really don't want to help these victims?

This guy doesn't belong in the same category as Manning and Aaron Swartz.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#54

Post by balls187 »

ahuth wrote: post #39
balls187 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The HL2 team rewrote major portions of the Source Engine in response to the hack.

Why would the leak cause major portions of the engine to need to be rewritten? Seems more likely that it was a convenient excuse.

I don't know. Ask gaben.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#55

Post by kenrikm »

ahuth wrote: post #39
balls187 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The HL2 team rewrote major portions of the Source Engine in response to the hack.

Why would the leak cause major portions of the engine to need to be rewritten? Seems more likely that it was a convenient excuse.

it was used as an excuse, the real reason is that Valve is REALLY slow at developing games.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#56

Post by FiloSottile »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #41
FiloSottile wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they were talented coders, they could've found less destructive ways to make money. But he decided to go the greedy route. Let me guess: you are a US citizen, or anyway live in a country where developer positions abound. Well, not everyone is. Some people live in small towns where the cool programming positions are adapting invoice management software for small businesses. Also this was before Freelancer.com, be…

Some people live in small towns where the cool programming positions are adapting invoice management software for small businesses. That's a legitimate programming job. Cool software rarely makes money. Cool software that makes money (game development) doesn't pay very much. Then you stumble upon a IRC channel and a world of challenges opens in front of you. A book is far more challenging, because in an IRC channel y…

I think I should stress I'm speaking about young people.

Peer recognition is critical when starting at that age. Also careful consideration is not exactly common.

I'm in no way alleging that it is a reasonable way to go for a mature professional, but I acknowledge the charm it has for the young high-schooler that is being "taught" Excel at school and being told not to fiddle with that weird black terminal.

These boys and girls should not have their lives destroyed by a harsh punishment for their curiosity, that in a different setting would have been highly rewarded. I can totally picture myself doing the same errors in different conditions.

Btw, management software is a legitimate programming job of zero interest to security people. Just different curiosity fields.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#57

Post by benihana »

"Have you any idea how lucky you are that we got to you before you got on that plane?"

The difference in the way he was treated by police and the justice system (and how different it is than what we've come to expect in America) is what struck me the most about this story.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#58

Post by sillysaurus3 »

ago wrote: post #46
codexon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't feel sorry for malware writers. They are not oppressed and deserve what they got. And this guy also stole people's software keys. If they were talented coders, they could've found less destructive ways to make money. But he decided to go the greedy route.

I agree that what I did was bad, but to say that it takes no talent is just wrong. In fact some of the things were more challenging than anything I've come accross at any of my jobs (programming embedded device firmware, test automation and realtime graphics) in the last 10 years. And no, I couldn't find even a "boring" programming job where I lived. Of course I tried, I tried a lot. Really, you have no idea what kin…

The past is the past. You shouldn't have to run around apologizing for the rest of your life. And I hope you feel welcome in communities like HN. You have a lot of talent.

What have you been up to over the years? It'd be cool to hear about your career and life in general.

Re: The boy who stole Half Life 2 source code (2011)

#60

Post by Tokala »

Unfortunately, I've never found an in-depth discussion about the part about where they attempt to lure him to the United States so that he can be arrested. It always strikes me as a bit excessive.

That Valve worked with the FBI to get him sufficient permission to enter the US with the false pretense of getting a job seems to make this feel like much more personal than anything else.

And I'm left scratching my head as to what it really would have accomplished...

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