Accused autistic hacker Ryan Cleary freed on bail

I think

I'm not sure, but I think I saw one report, possibly mistaken, that implied he was examined and diagnosed after he was arrested. I've got it for real but it's probably fairly easy to fake, like being tone deaf. And it's not an excuse.

Yes.

Like depression and OCD if you are a police dog handler.

It shouldn't help him either

Aspergers / agrophobia doesn't mean someone cannot tell right from wrong, nor does it mean the sufferer isn't an immature dick who thinks it funny to attack websites for the lulz.

"Internment? Hang 'em all, I say"

This is precisely why the "oh dearz I've been a bad boy but I'm an Aspie so plz let me off" thing does the real Aspergers/ASD community a great deal of harm.

My son is a genuine, professionally-diagnosed, conscientious and hardworking member of society working in an IT-related job that requires extreme attention to data privacy. Every time another skiddy plays the Aspie card, he wonders how much longer it will be until he gets sacked as a security risk.

Pro-tip for all the pretend Aspies out there: the vast majority of real Aspergers sufferers have an extreme, almost pathological desire to not break the law. They are also as incapable of lying as Spock.

Errrrr...

"AFAIAC their actions are no more reprehensible than that of the French Resistance during WWII..."

Uh, do you actually know anything about World War II?

@Homer 1

Th French resistance thing? You are aware that the sole raison d'etre of the various French resistance movements was to stockpile weapons and ammunition whilst waiting for the allies to defeat the Nazis so that they (the French) could get on with the important business of fighting each other to determine who would rule after liberation.

However, to address the points you so very nearly made: (1) once we accept vigilantism as a valid means of enforcing law and order we have effectively abandoned law and order and (2) the differentiation between freedom fighter and terrorist is determined by two factors: who we like and who wins - anti-government protester in London throws a fire extinguisher at the police = nasty criminal and should be sent to prison, anti-government protester in Libya fires BFG at police = brave freedom fighter.

It's the level of involvement that matters

"He's just a kid who hosted an IRC server. Branding him a "terrorist" is sensationalist hysteria, putting it mildly."

I think terrorist is the wrong word here but if he is an accomplice and possibly even an active participant then why should he be absolved of wrongdoing?

If you let some crims plan their blags in your parlour room, so to speak then you're going to get done as an accessory. His only defence is if his IRC hosted hundreds of legit rooms and could claim to be a carrier rather than a participant. If it turns out his IRC was hosting a handful of chats related to hacking, what's his defence then?

"He just hosted an IRC server"

@Homer 1, I'm not sure why you keep repeating that all Ryan did was host an IRC server.

The allegations are that he was actively involved in DDoS attacks and there are many more allegations and unconfirmed chat logs which go back years, seemingly supporting the allegations.

You're the only one who keeps saying "All he did was host an IRC server". But who knows, you could be right and the hundreds/thousands of people who've written about Ryan and his alleged crimes over the years could all be wrong.

We'll see what the courts decide.

@AC 11:45

Professions attract different types. Why am I in networking and not say, a shop assistant, or actor, or musician or policeman or doctor or whatever? Well that is an important question.

In my case I tended towards IT for a number of reasons, it was the late 80s and everyone thought being a programmer would be a path to easy riches, I wanted a career rather than a job, I wanted to be paid well, I wanted to do something "interesting", I didn't want to have to put in the work needed to become a doctor or chemical engineer or architect or similar and I didn't want a job where I would be dealing with members of the public to any degree. I then ended up in networks because I was shite at programming but good at infrastructure and problem solving.

On the face of it, many IT related functions can be characterised as requiring high levels of analysis, accuracy, quality and logical problem solving whilst simultaneously requiring relatively low levels of interpersonal interaction - this fits very damn well in with people suffering with milder forms of Asperger's type conditions.

I don't think it is IT that reinforces those behaviours as much as those behaviours are either beneficial or non-detrimental to working in many IT related fields - look at teaching (say), it is beneficial to like children to be a teacher but I can't see a few years in an inner-city comprehensive school making anyone like children more than when they started the job.

Why should we (as an IT profession) be responsible for skiddies turning bad? That is as absurd as blaming the gun manufacturers for people committing spree killings or blaming Playboy for rapists. As a society we need a better system of identifying and then supporting people with behavioural problems (and appropriate punishments for transgressors) - but that is something the justice, medical and social care professions need to address really.