Med Check: AT&T Hacker John Binns

This kid is just a self appointed bag holder.

These screen shots are from AT&T hacker John Binns. Apparently he was broadcasting this stuff to anyone who would listen.

What you see here are “bizarre delusions” - a specific term, this means the things he believes are simply not possible. He’s also got “persecutory delusions” and there are signs of “delusions of reference” - the belief that he is instrumental in certain world events, without any plausible reason why.

He IS instrumental in the enormous AT&T intrusion, however, so the seemingly referential claims need to be examined carefully in the full context of the case against him. The nature of his role is, I think, overstated. If this is a representation of his normal mental state I don’t think he’s doing complex intrusions, he’s just a convenient foil for those who did. Whatever systems were taken when he was arrested are evidence, but he is of little use as a witness.

This sort of weaponization of people who are unwell is a very common attribution problem. Those with mental illness get manipulated into conflicts, or disclosures like this one, while there are character disorders involving narcissism that also lead to people claiming things they later come to regret.

This is the 19th century equivalent of lynching the first stranger encountered when a crime has been committed - satisfies the population that justice has been done, at the expense of the real perpetrators slipping away.