The 18-year-old Lapsus$ hacker who played a critical role in leaking Grand Theft Auto VI footage has been sentenced to life inside a hospital prison, according to a report from the BBC. A British judge ruled on Thursday that Arion Kurtaj is a high risk to the public because he still wants to commit cybercrimes.
In August, a London jury found that Kurtaj carried out cyberattacks against GTA VI developer Rockstar Games and other companies, including Uber and Nvidia. However, since Kurtaj has autism and was deemed unfit to stand trial, the jury was asked to determine whether he committed the acts in question, not whether he did so with criminal intent.
I mean, he didn’t even get a life sentence. That’s in the headline, I know, but it’s just not true.
He’s in the hospital indefinitely, not sentenced to life. There’s a big fat or clause that completely undermines the “life sentence”.
I’m not really sure what anyone thinks WOULD be just and proper in this kind of situation. I don’t know many details of this particular case, but if there has been due process that determines someone is unsafe to release into society because they lack social capacity, releasing them anyway hardly seems like justice.
I’d like to believe – though I know it basically isn’t true – that the justice system exists for the sake of justice. That it is primarily concerned with making whole the victims and making sure the criminals are rehabilitated such that they can safely rejoin society and even contribute to it in the future. I think that’s how the justice system should work in a fair and just world. But if you have someone who is actually incapable of rejoining society, what are you supposed to do?
If we want to focus on the awfulness of this situation, I don’t think the sentence is the issue. I think the focus would need to be on whether or not the hospital treatment has any chance of being effective – because if it doesn’t, THAT’S the story that matters.
Who exactly was victimized here? Who was harmed and in what way? God the capitalist bootlicking is insane. Seriously arguing for taking away a neurodivergent person’s agency because some game spoilers got released. Not a good look.
Right in the summary. He’s not going to murder people. This is a huge over reach on the use of mental hospitals.
It’s also right in the article that he was violent. That doesn’t really matter though; what matters is whether he’s competent to stand trial and whether it is reasonable to release him back to the regular justice system or general public.
I guess your point is that there’s no safety hazard since his particular behavior isn’t at least murder? Or maybe that cybercrime in particular is actually good and not a problem? It’s not really a coherent framework to discuss these things either way.
Well yeah. A danger to the public generally refers to killing or maiming yourself or others. That’s been the standard for a long time now.
And the judge said why they committed him. There’s no need to go looking for more.
No no no, he’s going to leak more GTA 6 if he gets out. That’s super dangerous stuff that the public shouldn’t see yet.