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go to: wired.com/register.BOUNDARY BREAKING
In our January issue, Vince Beiser took us inside
a catfishing scam run by prisoners, one that ulti-
mately drove a young man to suicide, and Chris
Colin pondered the limits of billionaire Marc
Benioff’s philanthropy. Lauren Goode traced the
evolution of YouTube star Simone Giertz from
creating “shitty robots” to embracing more
grand designs as an inventor—a transformation
triggered by her brain tumor diagnosis.RE: THE PHONE CALL
FROM HELL
When I was going through a hard time
in a relationship, I was contacted by a
female saying they were of age. They
tried to blackmail me and extort over
$5,000 from me. But when I told
them I worked in law enforcement,
had already traced their IP address,
and had obtained their cell phone’s
mobile equipment identity num
ber and their location to turn over to
my cybercrimes division, it stopped.
Did I do any of that? Hell no. Didn’t
want to suffer any embarrassment by
coworkers. But it stopped. —Anony-
mous, via [email protected]
“Describes methods of smuggling
prison contraband.” —Official reason
given by New York’s Wallkill Correctional
Facility for impounding our January issue,
citing a passage from this story that
describes how prison inmates acquire
cell phones.
RE: THE GOSPEL OF
WEALTH ACCORDING TO
MARC BENIOFF
The focus on the billionaire seems
misguided. Let them win and give
back. It’s long been the American
dream to come from nothing and
build like Bezos, Jobs, Benioff, Car
RE: “BUILD WHAT YOU WANT”
She’s a legend.Period.
—Khian Josh Abesamis, via Facebooknegie, and Sandberg. It seems like the
loopholes that allow people to pay no
taxes or 20 percent corporate tax are
the problem. —Heidi Legg (@heidilegg),
via TwitterCan plutocrats be domesticated to
serve rather than subvert democ
racy? Chris Colin’s long read gives
us a portrait of Benioff, whose cor
porate leadership and philanthropy
reveal a different model of a billion
aire and also the limits of voluntary
domestication. —Rob Reich (@robreich),
via TwitterRE: BUILD WHAT YOU WANT
Your January cover story about
Simone Giertz is the first time that
I’ve laughed (watching “Wakeup
Machine”) and then cried (watching
“I Have a Brain Tumor”) within one
page of a magazine article. Thank you,Simone, for your courage in letting us
in. —Todd Piccus, via [email protected]She inspires me. Play is vital to inno
vation, and that means inevitable fail
ure. The media has a responsibility to
celebrate humanity, not perfection.
—Louisa, via [email protected]Her two videos on dealing with her
brain tumor were inspirational for
those of us who have to deal with
health issues.
—Sanjay Nasta, via FacebookShe made Truckla, which is a hundred
times cooler than the Cybertruck.
—Peter Schmalz, via FacebookShe is an inspiration. I work with a
number of kids’ groups, and the usual
complaint is “I don’t have any ideas.”
I’ve run some of her videos and the
kids come up with crazy things.
—Howard Eglowstein, via Facebook