News Latvian 'Robin Hood' hacker leaks bank details to TV

[Bj]

the hacker claims he wants to expose those cashing in on the recession in Latvia. He is slowly passing details of leading Latvian firms via Twitter to the TV station and has its audiences hooked. The Latvian government and police are investigating the security breach. Data leaked so far includes pay details of managers from a Latvian bank that received a bail-out. It reveals that many did not take the salary cuts they promised. Other data shows that state-owned companies secretly awarded bonuses while publicly asking the government for help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8533641.stm


Whats worse? Having a Hacker break into a banking system, or him finding out data about the company?

Who wants to bet a good chunk of banks all around the USA or world even are doing the same thing? Sickening.

 

[TSPenguin]

What I find disturbing is that it takes a hacker to bring these things to light. No one who knows about it feels compelled to make it public themselves...

 

[Urwumpe]

What I find disturbing is that it takes a hacker to bring these things to light. No one who knows about it feels compelled to make it public themselves...

Exactly. And these people are actually damaging the banks more than they can imagine. Banks are built on trust. If you start stealing tax payers money from the bail-out, people will have to wonder if you would also steal money from them. This is not just a tiny case of bad ethics, this is acute.

As bank you would have to be as integer as possible, and that includes in such situations to punish those who damage the trust. Even if it means firing a veteran manager.

The bail-outs become more and more a bad idea, not because of fact of helping the banks from collapsing completely, but because of the missing control of the process. Maybe some more collapses would have been better today.

 

[TSPenguin]

I am also thinking that letting the banks fail and helping their innocent clients out instead would have more of an impact. Especially on how the remaining banks conduct business. Not only did those a better job than the failed banks, but also won't they go seeking to make the same mistakes again.
I heard on Real Time, that one U.S. Bank is doing the exact same things as before the crash. Yay to learning from mistakes...

 

[Urwumpe]

I heard on Real Time, that one U.S. Bank is doing the exact same things as before the crash. Yay to learning from mistakes...

Yes. It punishes the banks that did serious business. There had been banks that had not been affected that much, some even not at all, by the credit crunch. They never reached 20% profits, but on the other hand, the profits they made seem to have really existed.

The managers in reality got their bonus for money, that did never exist. They should not be rewarded, they should be punished and be forced to repay the unjustified bonus payments.

Otherwise, we really will get a failing capitalism...

 

[jedidia]

Who wants to bet a good chunk of banks all around the USA or world even are doing the same thing? Sickening.

Hell, in switzerland they are doing it openly. They call it a "means of resolving the crisis in a very short time". Just that the means are exactly the same that led to the crisis. The UBS got 10 bloody billion francs gov support, now they are putting people on the street and paying their managers just as much as before. They haven't learned anything. Probably don't want to, because it pays out for the people making the decisions.

 

[Ark]

Good. Sometimes this is what it takes to make the public aware of the backroom, corrupt dealings that banks like this engage in.

 

[Urwumpe]

Good. Sometimes this is what it takes to make the public aware of the backroom, corrupt dealings that banks like this engage in.

If you want to see another nice example, large banks like the Deutsche Bank are not just giving expensive loans to Greece, they also "bet" on Greece not being able to repay the loans.

 

[Bj]

I am also thinking that letting the banks fail and helping their innocent clients out instead would have more of an impact. Especially on how the remaining banks conduct business. Not only did those a better job than the failed banks, but also won't they go seeking to make the same mistakes again.
I heard on Real Time, that one U.S. Bank is doing the exact same things as before the crash.

I used to think that instead of giving how many billions of dollars to the banks and companies, it should be given to the people. Now though I see that debt is what makes our economy go around.

Their was an article I read a while ago that says if every single USA citizen paid every penny he/she owns to the Fed, the government would 'still' not be able to pay back it's debt.

Yay to learning from mistakes...

Indeed

they should be punished and be forced to repay the unjustified bonus payments.

Otherwise, we really will get a failing capitalism...

Even if they where to pay back their 'bonus' unfortunately, they will still manage to get the money one way or another.

In my mind, no being should get more than 150,000/year (not including benefits like health insurance ext..) otherwise taxes for anything above 150,000 should be like 90% or some fool thing.

It makes me wonder, of the $700 billion how much of it went to bonuses?

 

[Ark]

If you want to see another nice example, large banks like the Deutsche Bank are not just giving expensive loans to Greece, they also "bet" on Greece not being able to repay the loans.

Pfft, the US practically invented that scam. We get the World Bank to loan a few billion dollars to some 3rd world country, get them to pay the money to US firms in exchange for development programs, then simply wait for them to default on the loan. After that, it's a simple matter to coerce the leadership into selling out their labor or natural resources to pay the debt. Indonesia, Panama, Nicaragua, it's happened over and over.

 

[Urwumpe]

That does not make this kind of business better, it is a interest conflict.

 

[Blacklight]

Heck. Here in the US, the vast majority of the bailouts ended up going directly into the bank CEO's pockets. And they STILL aren't loaning.

 

[Andy44]

Then the banker who got all the money goes through the revolving door and becomes the next Treasury Secretary, never forgetting to take care of their old friends.

 

[Ark]

Then the banker who got all the money goes through the revolving door and becomes the next Treasury Secretary, never forgetting to take care of their old friends.

And this would be the biggest problem with our financial system, the people responsible for regulating it are the very people who ran banks that prospered on lax regulation.

 

[Donamy]

lawyer is being replaced by banker in all the jokes , such as ...

What do you call one hundred bankers at the bottom of the ocean ?

A good start.