Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It doesn't really seem like his year in jail was related to any bugs in Boeing's software that he discovered [0]. Do you actually have anything that suggests that?

His site was archived. For example this [1], but I can't find anything about what you've suggested.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19488164

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20190326051854/http://www.warpli...




He was writing the article at McDonald's and the police arrested him for saying "If I am not permitted to save this document, an airplane might fall out of the sky." when they wanted to arrest him for being homeless in the McDonalds. It was all on Kuro5hin and K5 users sent him money and items and books in jail.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19489570

He published a lot of stories and articles at K5.


> He'd headed south from the Portland area, wrecked his car in SLO, and was arrested for being a nuisance at McDonald's -- probably for helping himself to free ketchup.

> They dropped the charges and released him the day after my jail visit. He'd been locked up for several months, also spending time at the Atascadero mental hospital

I don't see anything about that, at that link - it provides a very different explanation for the arrest.

Nor do I see anything similar to your suggestion at any of the linked backups of K5 posts inside that link.

So again... Is there anything to confirm this claim, at all?


No nothing left to confirm this claim. Anything that does has been removed from the Internet.


There are (incomplete) K5 backups, with posts like this one[0], which happened around the time he stopped posting. Do you recall any details at all that would point anyone towards finding what you've suggested?

[0] https://atdt.freeshell.org/k5/story_2012_2_24_05715_2076.htm...


The backups are incomplete on Kuro5hin and several of his websites. Anything that might prove what I wrote was not backed up. He was also several nicks like Mr Markup and Repeatable Hairstyle. Because Rusty would ban him and remove his diaries because Rusty got C&D letters from lawyers about Crawford's posts. Then Crawford just came back as another nick.


This [0] is the incident report from the McDonald's. And this [1] is the referenced website post by Crawford. This [2] is the still intact place where he wrote under the pseudonym of "Jonathan Swift" (among others).

The McDonald's incident report clearly points out he believed an officer had a personal problem with him, and points to where he did a write up on it, which would not happen if it was just a cover up. It makes no mention of programming, let alone anything else. Nor do any of his writings after his release talk about planes.

Whilst his other writings are somewhat hard to follow at times, and there are places where he makes claims such Al Qaeda not existing as an entity, there is nothing about planes anywhere.

In point of fact, the only place at all, in any of the archives, or the circle of people who frequently wrote around him, the only place I can find mention of planes is this HN thread, that you have written.

I believe at this point I have been beyond generous at researching, but the simple fact is it was never related to Boeing's software.

[0] https://www.scribd.com/doc/81649240/Crawford

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20120531183316/http://www.softwa...

[2] https://groups.google.com/g/softwareproblem


[0] is not from McDonalds but in Portland when he lived with his mother. McDonalds was in Grover Beach California. [1] Solving the Software problem was a human issue not a machine issue. Bugs in software are created by human beings and management tries to cover them up. [2]Trolls took over that group and began posting sci fi porn on it.

You are mistaking but one incident in which he got arrested in Portland, OR with the Grover Beach, CA McDonalds incident. Using it as a strawman.

Mike was harassed by cops because he was mentally ill. There are several incidents of that. The McDonalds report was buried I wonder why?

So who are you, a Beoing Schill?


Crawford would write the truth about megacorporations like Drobo and Rusty Foster would get C&D emails to remove those diaries or posts. One of his nicks was Zombie Jesus, add that one to the list.


Not all comments and stories were scraped: https://atdt.freeshell.org/comments/2012/2/24/05715/2076?pid...

Does not work, it was a comment by Mumble. Proving that the archive is incomplete.


a) Yes, incomplete means incomplete. I said that.

b) The links are broken because they take a different URL form in that particular backup. All the links are broken.


> It was all on Kuro5hin and K5 users sent him money and items and books in jail.

I don't see that as evidence of truth, whether Kuro5hin or any other internet forum. Think of the things people believe and do on the Internet.


The News Media didn't take him seriously because he was mentally ill. So he had to post on Kuro5hin and other places on the Internet.


What does that tell us about the truth of what they are saying? How do we even know that they contacted media organizations and what the response was?

> News Media

There's no such thing. Look at the incredible, diverse array of news publications. Compare it to operating systems or social networks, for example.


Boeing is exactly the type of company that would engage their army of lawyers and relations in the Justice Department to put a "nuisance" behind bars.

Someone who endangers the holy profit for something measly as flight safety is a prime target for companies like Boeing, Nestlé and all the other fundamentally evil corporations out there. The pretty detailed Wirecard documentaries and books out there are a useful perspective into the world of these corrupt people.


I'm not denying that Boeing is a company that behaves badly, at all. The senate report into the 747-Max shows that they actively manipulated testing conditions, and pressured engineers, so that they could get certification when they knew the plane could be unsafe. Which is unforgivable, and should constitute a whole heap of crimes.

However, that a large aeronautics company would hound a known schizophrenic when it's much cheaper to dismiss them as nuts (and extremely easy to paint them as such), is another thing entirely. And when you're acting out because your symptoms are flaring, you are very likely to become a public nuisance.

Without a single scrap of evidence for one, and some for the other, the statistical likelihood lies in one direction, and not the other.


If he had an episode in McDonalds it is against the ADA to arrest him. He was painted off as a lunatic to discredit him. It is like arresting a diabetic for insulin shock and calling them drunk.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: