Heroin, coke, and alcohol. Quickest way to overdose, even if it is fun... RIP mate, we'll miss you.
My worst OD was with that mixture as well, only I was lucky enough to have people with me and live in a country where calling the emergency services doesn't end with police at your door for overdoses. Narcan in the back of the ambulance brought me back. I got clean a month later, and am still clean 20 months later.
Some of my friends weren't so lucky, and neither was Jack, the poor bastard. He did awesome work. Mudge had an awesome talk at Defcon where he told a story about Jack in Dubai, go have a listen, it's well worth it.
Drug abuse (opiates in particular) is more common in our field than we think, I believe.
"Drug abuse (opiates in particular) is more common in our field than we think"
Even opiates aside, drug & alcohol abuse is ridiculously common for people that have a very /public/ and forced extraverted role in any field. The creative field is probably one of the most heavy cases for this sort of thing.
I didn't know him, but was familiar with his work and this obviously is all very sad.
Infosec is a very strange slice of the tech industry/IT. I've been a generalist sysadmin for more than 25 years so I have broad exposure to most of the specialties in the industry. What strikes me about infosec is how the cult of celebrity is very prominent. Maybe it's just where my interests lie, but I can name a dozen high profile "hackers" or infosec researchers. If you ask me to name the names of linux kernel hackers or nginx hackers or whatever and I'd struggle.
Also, it seems like every week there is a security conference somewhere in the world. I guess maybe it's sexy or flashy but the security industry seems to have proportionally way more extrovert-type people in it.
He died in July but the autopsy has only just been made available? Or did the news of his death just fall off the radar so much that no one checked the coroner's office earlier? (coroner reports in newsworthy cases are generally public record)
Both of those deaths may have been more in the news than Barnaby Jack's, but they also involved fiery car crashes. It's possible that Barnaby Jack's death was just forgotten about, which is not unheard of (how many people not related to you can you recall the date of their deaths, a month later?). I guess you can assume that news orgs don't follow up as quickly on non-celebrities, and that tech advocates don't do as much public records requesting.
I remember the conspiracy theories surrounding his death so close to the event where he would reveal how to hack pace makers...
Since his family/friends said nothing and he had drug problems in the past, this seemed like the most plausible reason for his death to me. Incredibly sad.
Sorry for the comment. My Dad had just lost a good friend, he was sad, he was angry, he was sharing his pain of losing someone he cared about due to an entirely preventable cause. I feel the same way when ever someone I care about takes their own life, either explicitly like Aaron did, or implicitly like Barnaby Jack did. It hurts.
I'm not usually one for indulging in conspiracy theories, but if there was ever a shady coincidental happenstance. This "overdose" definitly deserves to be looked at more thoroughly under a metaphorical blacklight.
For recreational purposes most likely? It's sad that this highly intelligent person has died, but drugs are a thing. And people do them, and sometimes it gets out of hand and those people die. There's nothing too unique about this.
I'm certain many a reader here can attest to being awed by his cracks on pace makers and ATMs. I know I was.
Not sure what gets you a black banner. Did Steve Jobs get one? I've never seen one personally. If it's only based upon how well known you are in the tech community than Steve Jobs would certainly deserve one.
What about Aaron Schwartz? Probably less known among the general populace but a minor celebrity within the tech community prior to his death. And much more well know post-mortem like many great and talented persons through the ages.
[+] [-] girvo|12 years ago|reply
My worst OD was with that mixture as well, only I was lucky enough to have people with me and live in a country where calling the emergency services doesn't end with police at your door for overdoses. Narcan in the back of the ambulance brought me back. I got clean a month later, and am still clean 20 months later.
Some of my friends weren't so lucky, and neither was Jack, the poor bastard. He did awesome work. Mudge had an awesome talk at Defcon where he told a story about Jack in Dubai, go have a listen, it's well worth it.
Drug abuse (opiates in particular) is more common in our field than we think, I believe.
[+] [-] drewblaisdell|12 years ago|reply
For those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tPPD0MRX7I
[+] [-] nate_meurer|12 years ago|reply
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/vicodin-oxycontin-drug-deaths-vos-l...
[+] [-] zaporozhets|12 years ago|reply
Even opiates aside, drug & alcohol abuse is ridiculously common for people that have a very /public/ and forced extraverted role in any field. The creative field is probably one of the most heavy cases for this sort of thing.
[+] [-] pclark|12 years ago|reply
Is there something specific about this combination or do you simply mean generally with Class A drugs?
[+] [-] tacoman|12 years ago|reply
Infosec is a very strange slice of the tech industry/IT. I've been a generalist sysadmin for more than 25 years so I have broad exposure to most of the specialties in the industry. What strikes me about infosec is how the cult of celebrity is very prominent. Maybe it's just where my interests lie, but I can name a dozen high profile "hackers" or infosec researchers. If you ask me to name the names of linux kernel hackers or nginx hackers or whatever and I'd struggle.
Also, it seems like every week there is a security conference somewhere in the world. I guess maybe it's sexy or flashy but the security industry seems to have proportionally way more extrovert-type people in it.
[+] [-] danso|12 years ago|reply
For reference sake, Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious", had his autopsy reported on today but he died on Nov. 30 (roughly 35 days) http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/03/paul-walker-autopsy-report-rog...
Michael Hastings, the Rolling Stone reporter who also died in a car accident, died in mid-June and his autopsy report was made available in mid-August: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/21/michael-hasting...
Both of those deaths may have been more in the news than Barnaby Jack's, but they also involved fiery car crashes. It's possible that Barnaby Jack's death was just forgotten about, which is not unheard of (how many people not related to you can you recall the date of their deaths, a month later?). I guess you can assume that news orgs don't follow up as quickly on non-celebrities, and that tech advocates don't do as much public records requesting.
[+] [-] dpifke|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] codyb|12 years ago|reply
Not sure what gets you a black banner. Did Steve Jobs get one? I've never seen one personally. If it's only based upon how well known you are in the tech community than Steve Jobs would certainly deserve one.
What about Aaron Schwartz? Probably less known among the general populace but a minor celebrity within the tech community prior to his death. And much more well know post-mortem like many great and talented persons through the ages.