Respawn - Snap Classic

Summary

Snap Judgment – “Respawn: Snap Classic” (December 4, 2025)

Episode Overview

The “Respawn – Snap Classic” episode dives into stories about getting a second chance—a do-over or “respawn,” like in a video game. The first half features a gripping account of a teenage hacker who upends his life and the lives of others with a boundary-pushing cyberattack. The second segment offers a reflective tale from the world of medicine, where the lines between death and life momentarily blur, highlighting human vulnerability and the desire for redemption or a do-over.

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Segment 1: The Teenage Hacker – Finn’s Story

Adapted from Darknet Diaries
[01:25 – 39:06]

Main Theme

A teenage hacker named Finn recounts how an ordinary day at school became a life-altering disaster when he exposed serious network vulnerabilities and posted private data, igniting chaos that swept through his school and family life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction and Background

• Host Flynn Washington reflects on the concept of hitting “reset,” inspired by video games:

  “A place where you come back from a reset in real life.” [03:01]

• Finn, age 16, identifies himself as a computer hacker who doesn’t fit the stereotype, describing himself as an introverted, anime-sock-wearing African American. [04:37]

Feeling Like an Outsider

• Finn describes his transition to public school as overwhelming and isolating, going from knowing a handful of people to complete anonymity:

  “It was like if you reintroduced the main character back into society... if it can go wrong, it likely will.” [05:32]

The School Day and the Hack

• Bored in class, Finn pulls out a cheap Android tablet loaded with hacking tools, inspired by the TV series Mr. Robot:

  “I was always just feeling alone. I always stuck to myself.” [06:45]

• With a friend, he scans the school’s networks, trying to discover the WiFi password, inadvertently finding open servers. [08:21]

Breaking In

• Through accessible file shares, Finn stumbles on the principal’s personal folders—including a document literally called “password password”:

  “Immediately... I face palm myself, because I was quite ashamed that this is what it had came to…” [10:44]

• “I could go to whoever I can even think of, report this, or I can have a little fun.” [11:23]

Escalation

• Finn tries multiple passwords and eventually accesses the principal’s Twitter account during lunch, then posts and deletes outrageous tweets:

  “All the noise around me just stopped. Oh, this worked.” [12:35]

• Emboldened, he gains control of the school’s website, wipes the principal’s bio, and posts a taunting message. [16:06]

Data Exposure and Hubris

• Finn publicly posts sensitive data—including student and faculty personal details—via the principal’s Twitter account, getting caught up in the thrill:

  “At one point, I was God. And now I'm the devil. In an instant… I had power in my hand and I blinked and it was gone.” [26:41-26:50]

Lockdown and Aftermath

• The school enters Code Yellow lockdown as administrators and police scramble. Finn nearly gets caught in class, narrowly hiding his tablet. [24:23-25:14]
• At home, Finn is consumed by dread and finally shares his anxiety vaguely with his mom, who later is contacted by the school. [28:02-28:44]

Discovery and Legal Consequences

• The investigation links Finn's tablet to the hack. His mother is shocked but supportive, struggling to understand Finn’s motivations:

  “He really didn't have no reason why he did what he did. And I think that was the hardest part…” [30:40]

• Finn is permanently suspended, sent to alternative school, and ostracized by friends. [33:08]

Legal Outcome

• Two years later, Finn is formally charged—the first hacking case in his county. He pleads guilty to a felony; instead of jail, he gets probation, restitution, and internet restrictions:

  “I have to pay restitution... I had six months that I could not be on social media. Every time I'm on the Internet, I have to be supervised.” [35:33]

Reflection and Regret

• Finn acknowledges that exposing innocent people's data was a major regret:

  “That’s probably my biggest regret is bringing innocent people into it.” [37:06]

• He aspires to be a “white hat” (ethical hacker), recognizing the life-changing consequences of his decisions and the line between seeking attention and doing real harm:

  “That hack pretty much made me into who I am today... I don't want to be the black hat... I want to be the good guy.” [37:22]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On being caught between excitement and fear:

  “I'm, like, super excited. At the same time, I'm, like, super worried. And it all kind of hit me. It was like, yo, I could go to jail for this.” [12:57]

• Finn’s mother on the pain of parenting through scandal:

  “Your heart drops because you know that it's something... And then as a parent, there's nothing I could do right now, in this moment to fix it.” [31:24-31:41]

• On long-term impacts:

  “It sucks when one day you're laughing with these people, you're talking to them, and then it seems like they don't know you... It was back to square one again.” [33:28-33:56]

---

Timestamps for Key Sections

• Introduction and “respawn” concept: 01:25 – 04:37
• Finn’s teen hacking adventure: 04:37 – 29:41
• Investigation and aftermath: 29:41 – 39:06

---

Segment 2: The Doctor’s Mistake – Mark’s Story

From The Nocturnists
[40:01 – 49:25]

Main Theme

A young doctor shares a story about being tasked with pronouncing a patient dead—a routine part of medical life that unexpectedly turns into a lesson about humility, uncertainty, and the humanity behind clinical detachment.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Duty of Pronouncing Death

• Recounting intern experiences, the doctor (Joe Sills) expresses anxiety about making mistakes in pronouncing patients, fearing the rare but mortifying error.

  “I was terrified of getting it wrong, that later in the morgue, the patient would unzip herself out of the body bag…” [40:35]

Mark’s Crisis

• Emergency resuscitation is performed; Mark’s pulse is lost and regained multiple times before it appears to vanish completely. [42:06]

Delivering the News

• The doctor describes the importance of breaking death news with rhythm and composure:

  “I have terrible news. Pause. Your husband has died… It's the part that you must not stammer.” [43:18]

The Unexpected “Respawn”

• As Mark’s wife sits beside him, the doctor notices a subtle movement and then, incredibly, finds a faint pulse:

  “I now felt a weak and slow but undeniable pulse.” [44:11–45:05]

• The doctor quietly reassures the patient’s wife while dealing with internal panic about what to do next.

Letting Go

• Despite the faint pulse, the doctor gently tells the wife, “I think we should let Mark die,” which brings relief after so much uncertainty. [47:06]

Aftermath and Reflection

• The doctor contemplates the humbling contradictions of working around death:

  “The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead, and that's as terrifying as it is forgettable. That contradiction is as much a part of working around death as it is just simply living.” [47:55]

• On the drive home, he finds himself thinking less about life’s big lessons and more about past mistakes, both big and small.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “These were always patients who had been expected to die... but at the time, I was terrified of getting it wrong.” [40:35]
• “... I already felt his pulse becoming weaker in my hands. But I had never told the wife that her husband was not really dead... I just never learned how to do something like that.” [46:23]
• “The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead, and that's as terrifying as it is forgettable.” [47:55]

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Timestamps for Key Sections

• Medical “respawn” mistake: 40:01 – 49:25

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Overall Tone and Style

• Narrative voice: Personal, cinematic, dramatic, laced with humor and tension—consistent with Snap Judgment’s storytelling ethos.
• Finn’s segments: Candid, confessional, and sometimes brash or irreverent—matching the adrenaline-fueled world of teen “gray hat” hacking.
• Doctor’s segment: Humble, introspective, and gently self-deprecating, carrying reflections on mortality and fallibility.

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Conclusion

Respawn captures human longing for do-overs and redemption, whether in the impulsive chaos of adolescent hacking or in the quiet, weighty moments of life and death in the ER. Through personal narrative, humor, and raw emotion, the episode gives voice to those navigating the thin line between disaster and renewal.

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For More

• The episode encourages listeners to check out Darknet Diaries for more in-depth stories of hacking, and The Nocturnists for gripping medical narratives.
• Full source stories and resources can be found at snapjudgment.org

Transcript

[A]

Snap Studios.

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When I was a kid, I spent most afternoons riding a flying ostrich around, trying to knock other people off their flying ostriches with my lance while occasionally stopping to pick up eggs. And of course there was a pterodactyl occasionally show up and attempt to crash me out of the sky. He could try, but I had that pterodactyl's number. Still, it was dangerous, dangerous work. Not for the faint hearted. And I was good. Very, very good. A champion of the realm.

[B]

Good.

[A]

No one could beat me. No one could take me. Not for the high score anyway. But every once in a while, some clown did manage to briefly unseat me from my flying ostrich, resulting in my temporary absence from the action For a brief moment in time. I was no more.

Kind of backstage being less, body less. And I always loved this part.

Because then a brand new me generated itself on another part of the playing field.

No scars, no hurts, no pains. My trusty steed and I would leap back into the air, rejoin the fray, find the maggot who knocked us out of the sky and extract sweet revenge.

I loved playing Joust. I loved it. My favorite video game by far. And I always wondered what it would be like if there really was a backstage. A place where you come back from a reset in real life.

Well, today on Snap Judgment, we're Gonna find out if such a thing exists. From the Snap Judgment's underground lair, we proudly present respawn amazing stories from real people who start over again. My name is Flynn Washington. You can beat the unbeatable flying pterodactyl just by pointing your lance in its direction. If you know what you're doing when you're listening to Snapchat.

We begin, and we are so excited to present a story adapted from the podcast Darknet Diaries. It's a day in the life of one teenager who goes by the name of Finn. It turns out not to be just any other day, and the boy's real name isn't even Finn. Listeners, please note this piece does contain some explicit language.

[C]

My name's FINN, and I'm 16 years old, and I'm a computer hacker. I do not look like your stereotypical African American.

[D]

I'd say, from obviously the way I talk to the way I dress. I mean, I'm wearing Naruto socks right now, so.

[C]

But I'm pretty, pretty sure one day.

[D]

I'll probably show you my face.

[E]

Finn won't show his face because of something he did during his first year in high school. For him, that first year was a major transition. He'd been to private schools, he'd been homeschooled, but he'd never attended a public school.

[B]

I went from having, say, around four, five kids in my class that, you know, I would become good friends with, where Now I have seven different classes, 20 different students.

Nobody that I know. It was like if you reintroduced the main character back into society, like, anything can go wrong. I think it's Murphy's Law. If it can go wrong, it likely will go wrong. And in this case, it actually did.

[E]

So the story begins one Friday in the fall. It was right before Thanksgiving break. Finn woke up and began his usual morning routine.

[B]

My day started off with me watching the show Mr. Robot. Hello, friend.

[E]

Finn's on the bus watching Mr. Robot on his tablet.

[B]

I watched it before, after school. It was back then. Mr. Robot was like the coolest thing to me.

[E]

Was there a certain character you connected to in Mr.

[A]

Robot?

[D]

I would say Elliot the most, dealing with loneliness.

[E]

The main character in Mr. Robot, this guy Elliot, is an introverted computer hacker in a dark hoodie. He tries to save the world from corporate greed. He also talks to a voice in his head.

[B]

That's a slippery slope. You're only in my head. We have to remember that.

[D]

Yeah, I'd say we both are lonely in our own ways, if you will, but I know for me, it's like going through high school. I was always just feeling alone. I always stuck to myself. Never really talked to anyone.

[E]

Finn gets to school, throws his tablet in his backpack and heads to class.

[B]

My first period was my computer class. I was failing my computer class, Ironically.

My second period was math, and Lord God, did I hate that period.

Third period is health. So I'm sitting in that class and we're watching this video called Supersize me guy eats McDonald's. I'm not into seeing a guy eat. That's kind of, kind of weird. And I got super bored super quick. So I whip out my tablet.

[C]

This was a $52 tablet from Walmart.

[B]

I would compare it to your average script Kitty's tablet. It had an anonymous wallpaper. The apps on it were from this app, I think Bugtroid. It was an app that had a bunch of the apps used for penetration testing.

[E]

The app on his tablet is a toolkit for finding weaknesses in a network.

[B]

There was another guy who was also a hacker, and we both came up with the goal of finding the WI fi password.

[E]

So while Super Size Me is playing, Finn and his friends start exploring the school's network.

[B]

There's two WI FI networks. So you have the byod, which is the bring your own device policy, and then you have the WI fi That was only for the teachers. So you were able to see what they had downloaded, what they were holding on their computer, certain drives and stuff like that.

[E]

As Finn skims through the files, one specific server catches his eye.

[B]

I was definitely curious as to why was this particular server open as a 14 year old. And I'm like this, this isn't right. This shouldn't be open like this.

That's when I'd started.

I guess what, what I like to call my Hulk mode.

So I went around.

Just looking for any and everything. If something looked interesting, I was saving it. So what I would do is I would get the folder and open Google Drive on like the browser, and I would copy and paste the files into there. That way there was no paper trail of me actually downloading the files.

[E]

So Finn downloads a bunch of files from this shared folder, and that shared folder happened to be the principal's computer.

[B]

I didn't know the guy was the principal. At first I thought there's nothing interesting in this. But I guess I still will take a look. And so I'm scrolling down.

About 180 files.

[E]

Finn finds a copy of the principal's hunting license, his driver's license, and a bunch of the student and faculty information.

[B]

And I'm like, okay, that's what more is there. Like, there has to be more. So I'm at the bottom of the page, and there's this little word documents file titled Password password.

Immediately, I. I face palm myself, because I. I was quite ashamed that this is what it had came to, that someone was saving passwords not only in a word document, but it was unprotected, and it was obviously labeled. So I open the file. I see at the bottom of the text document, he has a Twitter password.

So you've seen Mr. Robot? I would say it's more like the moments where Elliot's kind of, like, talking to himself.

[A]

Please tell me you're seeing this too.

[B]

So I'm in that phrase where I'm like, okay, I've got two options that I could do here. I could go to whoever I can even think of, report this, or I can have a little fun.

[E]

It's now lunchtime. Finn collects his stuff, heads to the lunchroom, and looks for his friends.

[B]

So I'm sitting at lunch with my buddies. You know, I'm still thinking about this passwords folder, because at this point, it's itching my brain. It's like, come on, dude. Like, do something. So I'm like, all right, let's just see if he really is this dumb. I go through the list of passwords. So I tried the first one on the Twitter. Doesn't work. Try the second one on Twitter. Doesn't work. And so I make it to, I. I guess the 11th one. And I'm like, if this doesn't work.

[C]

Then shoot the guys.

[B]

That is unhackable. So I entered in, not expecting anything to happen.

I look up, and my friends are joking. And then I look back down at my. My tablet, and all I see is, Twitter would like to use your location. Do you want to allow this? All the noise around me just stopped. Oh, this worked.

What do I.

[C]

What do I do?

[B]

I've never really made it this far. Like, I. I made deface pages. I didn't get into the website. So this was the first time that I had, like, really, really, like, got into something. I'm, like, at a crossroads. So I'm, like, super excited. At the same time, I'm, like, super worried. And it all kind of hit me. It was like, yo, I could go to jail for this. And that's where.

Hell breaks loose.

[E]

Finn starts posting stuff on the principal's Twitter account and then quickly deletes it right after his friends see it.

[B]

So I would post something like God bless the KKK or something edgy and then quickly delete it. And they were just laughing. Mind you, the principal is no joke. Two, two steps away from us sitting at a table.

So everyone was like, dude, you've got some, like, balls. My little kid self comes out again. He's like, hell yeah. Like, I want to see how far I could really take this. Do I have balls of steel? Next, I'm like, what if I went to the website? So I went to that school's official main webpage.

I first scanned the page using this app called Admin Panel Finder. It looks for stereotypical admin page login. I found the one for the website. I knew the principal's email. Everyone's email is set up the same. So you have last name, dot, first name at school. So this was pretty common sense type of knowledge. So I enter in this email. I realize, what if he's using the password for his Twitter for this? At this point, I'm already pretty screwed. If not, why not? But I'm more pissed at this point because I'm like, this. This is stupid. Why? And how do you allow this to happen? So I click the enter button. I'm like, okay.

And I look up and my friends are like, dude, dude, that's awesome. And then one of my friends, who I. I call him the. The bad luck guy because I. I swear on everything that he jinxed me. He was like, dude, you're going to get in trouble. And then got up and walked away.

I'm now worried, excited, scared, and pissed. I'm not thinking straight. If you were to ask me one plus one at that point, I probably would have said 52. I look back down at my tablet and I'm in.

[E]

Fin now has logged into the school's main website as the principal. And this website has things like announcements and school closures, upcoming events and teachers bios. But Finn's access only only allows him to change the principal's bio.

[B]

I wiped everything. So his picture that was deleted off this website, his biography that was deleted. His email, gone. His phone number, gone. Anything associated with him was gone. So I couldn't upload anything more than an image. So I took his name, deleted it, and I put hacked by handlebar that I used to use. And then I upload this image from the game Watchdog. And I uploaded that as the image of him pretty much flicking off the camera. After I upload that, I start writing. I said the school name.

My principal in the board of education.

After That I click post.

[E]

Lunch is over. Finn heads to his next class.

[B]

I'm walking into my literature class. I'm kind of like in this surreal state. And so there's this kid who I sit next to, and me and him were talking and so I was like, dude, can I like, tell you something? And he was like, yeah, what's up? And so I showed him the school website and he was like, dude, did you do that? I'm like, yeah. He's like, dude, you need to like, don't do anything else, man. Like, chill. Like, don't do anything else, bro. So I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right.

[E]

And then a bell rings out of nowhere.

[B]

I thought they were going to call me up to the office on the intercom. So, like, everything is going off in my head. I'm like, I don't know what to do, like, what?

[E]

But it turns out to be just the second lunch bell, which might have been a wake up call.

[B]

I guess you could say that was kind of like what set me off.

[F]

Again.

[B]

I go into the Twitter again. I go through the procedure, wipe his name, I change his image. Hacked by handle that I used to use.

[E]

Finn proceeds to tweet as the principal.

[B]

Guess who just got hacked? And that was the first post.

[E]

He then posts the principal's Social Security number and other private info.

[B]

Pretty much almost 90% of people who are following him were liking the post that I was posting. So I'm getting a little, a little bit cocky again at this point.

[E]

Finn goes on to post links to Pastebin where he's posting private documents.

[B]

The first is employee data list. It's their name, their birthday, their addresses, their phone numbers, what car they drive, their license plate, their park and where they park. It was super detailed.

[E]

And then he does another post.

[B]

Student's parents name, email location, phone number.

[E]

And then another post of all student emails.

[B]

I posted the list of everybody's email and then everybody's password. And then I think I capped it off with like the board of education and the main IT guy because he was not doing his job. I felt like he. He failed not only me, but he failed my friends, my teachers, the parents, my mom. I felt like he failed everybody. And that, that's which I guess really set me off.

[E]

Okay. Because I mean, in my mind it's like a little bit wanting attention, a little bit flexing. Right. Showing people what you can do.

[D]

Yeah, I'll definitely say a little bit of it was to flex a little.

[E]

Bit what kept you going? Like, there's something in your head that said, I probably shouldn't do this. But then something made you do it anyways.

[D]

That's a very simple answer. It was the adrenaline. It was the excitement. It broke my day to day norm.

[E]

And somehow this whole time, Finn's teacher doesn't notice he's on his tablet.

[B]

Because I was in the back of the classroom, mind you. So she has to pay attention to 20 other students, which is. It's another reason I hate public school. My friend, the guy I was talking to, he's like, dude, put the tablet up. Okay, okay, I'm done. So I put the tablet in my bag, and at that point, we're pretty much near the end of literature class.

[E]

Finn grabs his backpack and walks to the next class.

[B]

I feel like I'm in terrorist. Like I'm carrying a bomb and nobody knows it but me. I felt like at any moment Secret Service was going to pop out of nowhere and like, just black bag over my head and I'm gone. So I'm like, jesus, what did I do? I think I made a up.

[D]

I don't know.

[B]

I just tried to get my mind off of it while I was walking. I'm about two steps away from the door of my history class. This kid who I know, who used to be an anonymous, he passed me and he's like, yo, dude, did you hear somebody hacked the principal Twitter? I'm like, damn it.

I'm like, okay, maybe it's just him. Who knows? I walk into class, everybody's talking about it.

How quick does news get around? I mean, I was scared. This was my first giant, like, hack. This was like hacking. This was like when Dane Murphy hacked the Gibson. Like, no, it's more like when Joey hacked at the Gibson. It's like, whoa, I. I didn't know this is how much I could do. Out of the blue, the intercom comes on. At this point, obviously I'm shaking. And they call Code Yellow. So Code Red is like an act of shooting or there is a definite threat in the school. The Code Yellow is where they're like, we don't know if this happened in the school or out the school. When a Code Yellow happens, all doors are locked. Only the administrators are able to get it. You're locked in.

[A]

Will Finn get caught? Or will he go home like any other day and watch the next episode of Mr. Robot Snappers? It is not over, not by a long shot. When the respawn episode continues. Stay tuned.

So I used to be a Horrible gift giver. I mean, well. But what I think someone would want wasn't what they really wanted sometimes. Then I got the cheat code. Quintz. Guess what my mama's getting this year? A beautiful Mongolian cashmere sweater from Quince. Don't worry. Moms are still going to be surprised. And she's going to love it. She's going to say, I'm such a good boy. And it's just $50 when normally it'd be over 200. How does Quince do it? By working directly with trusted factories that maintain high standards for both craftsmanship and ethical practices. And cutting out the middlemen and the markups. Quince passes the savings straight to you. And frankly, frankly, my plan was to give away my Quint's down jacket as a present. But nah, it's mine now. Fine. Gifts so good you'll want to keep them with Quint's. Go to quints.com snap for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-N-C-E.com snap.

When we left, Finn had hacked into a school computer network. And he didn't stop there. He doxed the principal, the teachers, his fellow students, their parents. And now the entire school is on lockdown.

[B]

They call Code Yellow. When a Code Yellow happens, all doors are locked. Only the administrators are able to get it. You're locked in? Pretty much. So I'm like, okay, okay, maybe. Maybe it's not me. Maybe some idiot called in a bomb threat. And at that point, I hear the doors of the main building open. I hear cop radio. The principal's, like, super pissed. He's pissed. Sad, confused. I could see where he was coming from. I guess you could say I felt his emotion. So they're trying to calm him down. They go through one of the classrooms. You don't hear nothing. It's dead silent for five minutes.

My desk just sitting there. After those five minutes, our door opens. It's the assistant principal. So he goes, and he's like, okay, everyone, I need to see your phone. Press the power button and let me see what you're logged on. He goes through everyone on the right side. And I'm now, like, I'm on panic mode. If I probably looked like a crackhead. I'm, like, visibly shaken. If he sees that I have my towel to my desk, he's going to. So, not even thinking twice, I slide the tablet behind the file cabinet to where I can still get it. Like, when I'm about to leave. Then he's like, okay. He radios in all clear and walks out. After that, 10 minutes goes by, the intercom comes back on, and the lady announces the code yellow is over. Everyone have a nice day.

[E]

Finn grabs his tablet from behind the cabinet, throws it in his backpack, and starts heading for the bus to go home.

[B]

At that point, I'm not only am.

[C]

I just shaking, physically, I'm pretty much in tears. And I get on the bus, and everyone's on the bus is talking about it. Even the guy who I was working with, he was even talking about it. Said, whoever acts the school is a idiot.

[B]

At one point, I was God.

And now I'm the devil. In an instant, it's like I had.

[C]

Power in my hand and I blinked and it was gone.

I up. Whenever I usually make a mistake, I can usually find a way to be like, okay, I'll fix it this way or another way. It's like if you took a sledgehammer to a computer. There's no way I could go back and fix this. This time I just breathed. I guess it was like taking your last. Having your last meal before you go into jail. This is my last time probably being here.

I had my little Olaf tablet, and I. I turned it back on and I plugged in my headphones and I listened to music all the way home. I got home and I. I just sat on my bed, like, just thinking. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't necessarily worried worried, but I was still, you know, like a little bit on the edge. I just sat there and tried to forget.

Every day after school, I always messaged my mom, because, I mean, that's my mom. I want to make sure she's okay. So I messaged her and she was like, so how was school?

[B]

I don't know what in the hell made me tell her.

[C]

I was like, yeah, someone leaked the principal's information.

[F]

I asked him, did you have any involvement in it? I don't know what made me ask him that, but I did.

[E]

And that's Finn's mother.

[F]

Of course, at that time, he lied to me.

[C]

And I think that's when she knew that, yeah, he did something and he's not telling me.

[F]

The school called me and asked me, could I bring Vince tablet to the school. And so I did, because Finn had told me that he had no involvement in the situation.

[C]

So she came into my room. She was like, hey, where's your tablet? And I was like, oh, it's right here. She was like, I need to See it for a little bit. And so I said, okay. I thought, maybe she needs to do something. I didn't think too much of it.

[E]

Finn's mom took the tablet to school, and that's when they told her about. About the hack.

[F]

I stayed at the school while they did their little investigation, trying to figure out if this was actually the tablet that had done had a code on it. So I had to call Finn and ask him what was the code?

[B]

If I had known, I would have.

[C]

Definitely wiped my tablet before giving it to her.

[B]

So the code that I had given.

[C]

Her was to the tablet. Safe mode.

[F]

So Finn gave us some kind of mix up code. I was there for three hours.

[E]

After three hours, the school does determine the tablet was used in this hack because of a matching Mac address I had.

[F]

I had to make some motions. One, my kid did this, like, are you sure we're talking about the same kid? And then the other part of me was, wow, like he did this. I didn't understand why he had done it because it just. It didn't make sense. You would have thought that maybe something would have happened that would have triggered this event. Maybe like he got in trouble at school, went to the principal's office, something of that nature. But none of that had happened prior to this incident.

[E]

So Finn's mom drives home and has a talk with her son.

[F]

Yes.

Yes, we're just gonna go with that. Yes, we talked.

[C]

I'm sitting in her room. My stepdad's in there.

[F]

He really didn't have no reason why he did what he did. And I think that was the hardest part, was trying to understand why and not getting a why.

[C]

That was the first time I think I've ever really seen my mom cry. I would get hit with a nuclear.

[B]

Bomb for my mom.

[C]

I would die for her, but.

I'd hurt her. And I didn't want to ever feel that again.

[B]

We talked. I can't even remember what we talked about.

[C]

A few minutes go by, two cops enter the house.

[F]

Your heart drops because you know that it's something because you just left the school and you're wondering like, dang, how'd they get them here so fast? That was number one. And then number two is like, are they gonna take my child out of.

[B]

My house right now?

[F]

And then as a parent, there's nothing I could do right now, in this.

[B]

Moment to fix it.

[F]

There's nothing I can do to protect him from this moment.

[C]

I was just like, shoot, this happened way too damn quick. At least let me have some time. To think, at least I was worried, not about going to jail, but how my brothers and sisters would be affected by seeing me go to jail.

[F]

So at the time, I was also on the phone with my parents, and then my mom was like, hey, y' all need to stop talking to them. You need to get a lawyer. So at that time, I had to tell them that we no longer could talk to them. And of course, they didn't like that, but they knew that they had to go because they weren't there with any warrants of arrest.

[C]

And the cops leave.

[F]

Now I'm in panic mode. And I knew that this was about to be bad. I didn't realize at that time how bad it was about to get, but I knew it was bad.

[E]

By 10pm that night, the school's website was back to normal and the tweets were deleted. But there were a lot of views to that private information that was posted, so it's impossible to know how many copies were made and who had it. That weekend, the family found a lawyer, and police asked Finn's mom to bring him down to the station. The police took his fingerprints and a mugshot and let him go home.

[C]

I was suspended. I was not to come back at all. I couldn't even be within 50ft of a school computer.

[E]

The school suspended him permanently and informed the family that they would be taking him to court. He now had to go to an alternative school, a place that kids with behavioral problems or who have gotten into trouble can still go to for an education. But all of Finn's friends were afraid to talk to him.

[B]

Yeah, pretty much.

[C]

I was on everyone's blacklist.

[B]

It's.

[C]

I wouldn't even wish it on my own worst enemy. It sucks when one day you're laughing with these people, you're talking to them, and then it seems like they don't know you. So now, with this new supervillain Persona labeled on me, nobody wanted to associate with me. It was back to square one again.

[F]

A year goes by. My lawyer calls, hey, have you gotten a letter? No, I haven't gotten a letter. We thought it was over with. We thought, you know, nothing's gonna come of it, because they had told us juvenile court doesn't take this long to process cases. Another year comes and goes by.

[C]

I come home one day after school, and my sister comes in with this paper. She's like, this is for you. I open it, and it's a court summoning. I'm like, two years, and they're now wanting to send me to jail. I was prepared on day one. Why two years?

[B]

So I called my mom.

[F]

You know, you could tell in his voice. Like, his heart just sunk. And so did mine. I was scared. Like, why wait so long? He was actually doing very good at the alternative school. Like, he's passing all of his classes. He had gotten a job. I mean, all on his own. He was just doing so much better.

[E]

The court date comes. Finn and his mom and his lawyer sit on one side of the courtroom. On the other side was the principal, district attorney, and some members of the board of education.

[C]

From what was said in the court, apparently in my county, I'm the first person to ever been there for computer hacking.

[E]

Finn pled guilty, and the judge convicted him of a felony.

[F]

He didn't have to serve time because of the fact that in that time, the two years, he had gotten a job, maintained that job. They didn't want to interfere with him being productive.

[C]

I have to pay restitution, which is 1300. I had six months that I could not be on social media. Every time I'm on the Internet, I have to be supervised.

[F]

Honestly, you would think as a parent that I would be relieved and happy and like, okay, he didn't serve jail time, but part of me still feels like maybe he should have served a weekend. Just because you need to feel it in order to know that this is a real, real consequence.

[C]

I wouldn't say I felt bad, because that would imply that I feel bad about the entire thing.

[F]

I feel like the principal, of course, is livid because he wanted him to serve jail time.

[C]

So I did apologize for bringing him into the situation, but I didn't necessarily apologize for the hack.

[E]

Do you think it was a success, the hack?

[D]

I'd say yeah. I mean, it did what it was supposed to do, which was bring attention to these security holes and make the IT department more aware that their systems were open.

[C]

Schools are vulnerable just as much as companies are, too. If you wouldn't want Facebook to be releasing your data, why would you want public schools to be doing the same?

[E]

But when you put everyone else's info out there, like, did everyone else deserve to get exposed?

[D]

Looking back on it now, being older and a little bit wiser, No, I think that's probably my biggest regret is bringing innocent people into it. So it's one thing I definitely don't.

[C]

Think I should have done. That hack pretty much made me into who I am today. A computer hacker who's constantly looking for companies who will give him at least an internship to do the thing that he loves the most. Because honestly, I don't want to be the black hat. I don't want to be that guy who's always on the bad side of the spectrum. I want to be the good guy.

[E]

You don't want to be black hat, but you still are kind of gray hat. And even some of the stuff I'm seeing with you online, some of the conversations on Twitter seem to be weird.

Should I be worried about you? Like, are you still doing things that are not smart or that are. That are illegal, perhaps, or just dumb things on online?

[D]

I've done a lot of and said a lot of really, really stupid things to somewhat flex. Yeah, there's definitely times where I'll be in the black hat scene and I'll be like, oh, man, I really want to join you guys. And then I have to, you know, somewhat, like, back off a little bit.

[E]

And what is it that stops you from joining in?

[D]

Um, it's just the thought that I kind of got off really, really lucky. So it's just thinking, like, if I mess up once, it could be fully game over. So just trying not to make that mistake.

[A]

A huge thank you to Finn for sharing his story. This piece was adapted from the podcast Darknet Diaries and produced by Jack Reesider, found [e-mail] we highly recommend this podcast. You can find a link to the full story. It's called Finn. It'll be on our [e-mail] the original score was by Renzo Gorio. It was produced by Jack Resider with assistance from Nancy Lopez.

When we come back, a doctor has to share some news with a patient's family. News that turns out to be completely wrong. Stay tuned.

From Snap Judgment's underground lair. Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Respawn episode. Amazing stories from real people who get to press some sort of do over button. And now we're going to enter the world of medicine to present a story from the podcast Nocturnist. We're going to go live on stage to hear the doctor take us in. Inside a hospital emergency room.

[G]

When I was an intern, sometimes I'd be asked to go to a room and pronounce a patient dead.

Later on, I realized that this was one of the least important jobs, which is why it was assigned to me. These were always patients who had been expected to die and they didn't want to be resuscitated. And all that was really needed was it was a doctor's signature for the paperwork. But at the time, I was Terrified of getting it wrong, that later in the morgue, the patient would unzip herself out of the body bag and I would end up in the news.

So I once listened with my stethoscope on this 100-year-old woman's chest for five entire minutes until the nurse finally came over and lifted up the diaphragm of my stethoscope and said into it, is this thing on?

But since then, I've called the time of death for lots of patients that have died in my emergency department. Which brings me to Mark.

On the day that I met Mark, the day that he was brought to my emergency department, he didn't look so good. His skin was gray and sweaty, and I could see that it was hard for him to breathe. But he made eye contact with me, which is enough for me to at least try and quickly introduce myself before going about the rapid work of keeping someone alive. Hello. Was about as far as I got when Mark's heart stopped.

Mark's nurse started chest compressions, and I intubated Mark to try and help him breathe. And we went through the typical sequence of resuscitation until Mark's pulse came back, and then it was lost again. And then it came back and was lost again. And after a few more episodes of that, I searched for Mark's pulse and found nothing and used an ultrasound probe to view his heart up on a monitor where I could see its musculature had gone. Still.

No one plans to die in an emergency department, but I've become used to giving that news to the families of those who have. By now, I was comfortable with it. Sometimes it bothered me how comfortable I could be. I once had an attending compare giving that news to tossing a subpoena through a door that's about to slam shut on your hand. But now I tend to think of it more as a refrain with three beats that must be sung correctly.

I have terrible news. Pause. Your husband has died. And there's a lot more to it than just that. But that's the rhythmical core of it. It's the part that you must not stammer. And that's what I told Mark's wife, Samantha, when she arrived. I led Samantha down to Mark's room where he lay, and I pulled up a chair for her, and I stood beside her while she cried. And then I waited for a calm moment to excuse myself from the room. And while I was waiting, my attention wandered up to the clock, and I calculated the hours I had left in my shift and thought about What I might make for dinner at home when I got there. And that was around when Mark gently extended his neck.

As if reaching for the surface of a lake.

What's that? Samantha asked me.

And I explained to her that this is what's called an agonal movement. And it's a brainstem reflex of the dying process, and it's normal. And then I asked her how she and Mark had met. I had never asked anything like that in a situation like this. And I wasn't really sure why I had. Maybe it was to help Samantha remember Mark differently from how he looked now. And. And maybe it was also to distract Samantha while I quietly reached my fingers down to Mark's wrist, where I now felt a weak and slow but undeniable pulse.

[B]

Yeah.

[G]

So I stood there with Mark's pulse flickering in my hand. While Samantha, me told. Told me that she had met Mark 15 years ago while at a park. And by that point in their lives, they were each in their 50s and had become used to the idea of being single. But three months later, they were at their own wedding. By now, Mark had been physically unwell for a long time. And Samantha said that she had begun to imagine the ways in which Mark might die. Maybe she would find him in bed one morning. Maybe they would be out on a walk together, and he would have to take a break and catch his breath and just be unable to get back up.

She hoped that by imagining his death, it would somehow make his actual one more bearable. As if she could pay off some of that grief in advance rather than having to bear all of it in one lump sum. But now that it was here, it felt unreal, as if this were just another version of his death that she had thought up. And she looked up at me and asked, is that normal? Normally, by now I would have left the room.

Now I knew that there was nothing that I or anyone could do to save Mark's life. And I already felt his pulse becoming weaker in my hands. But I had never told the wife that her husband was not really dead. I had just never learned how to do something like that. And by now, I think Samantha must have noticed a dent in my composure. And she asked me, is something wrong? And without knowing if what I was saying was the right thing, I told her that I feel a weak pulse and it's getting weaker now, and I expect it to disappear soon. And she asked me, what do you think we should do?

And I said, I think we should let Mark die. And she seemed relieved by that. And I felt more grateful for that reaction than I'd like to admit.

Afterwards, when I was able to excuse myself, I walked down the hallway into the bathroom and closed the door, unlocked it, and stood there for a long time, or at least as long as the department would allow. There were already other patients waiting in other rooms and more tests for me to order, and I could hear another ambulance backing up into the entryway, and I worried about what I'd say next to Samantha, but by the time I'd gotten caught up, she had already left for home, and eventually Mark's body was collected for the morgue.

The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead, and that's as terrifying as it is forgettable. That contradiction is as much a part of working around death as it is just simply living. So on my better days, I'm mindful of the details and the people around me, and on that day, on my drive home, I reflected on none of that and instead worried over all the other mistakes that I've ever made in my life. I have a really long commute, and so I got as far back as preschool when I tapped on the panels of the class ant farm and collapsed all way the of the diligently excavated tunnels.

But by the time I'd gotten home and parked my car, my anxieties had mostly burned themselves out, and I thought about Samantha and that Mark had been a pretty lucky guy and walking back up to my apartment where my wife waited, I felt lucky too. Thank you.

[A]

That Stories performed live in San Francisco at the medical storytelling show the Nocturnist. For more stories from the world of medicine, Check out the Nocturnist wherever you get your podcast or visit the [e-mail] find them on social media. We love this podcast. Special thanks to Anna Alerstein, Ali Block, Adelaide Papazolu, Marina Poole, and the storyteller Joe Sills.

Oh yes, you can get your own research spawn moment. If you missed even a minute of this show, the whole program, it awaits your listening pleasure. NAP judgment.org.

On team snap the union representative, producers, artists, editors and engineers are members of the national association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications Workers of America, AFL CIO Local 51. Snap is brought to you by the team that Never Runs out of Lives. Hit the reset button if you would for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Ristich, Anna Sussman, Nancy Lopez, Renzo Gorio, Shayna Sheedy, Liz Mack, Eliza Smith, Tedcock, Marissa Dodge, Flo Wiley, Renzo Goriot, Pat Mercedes Miller, Leon Morimoto, Nikka Singh and John Facil.

You might see it, scroll across the screen that this is not the news. No way, Sisa news. In fact, you can put your quarter in to play a game of Pac man only to realize you're not moving the Pac man around. No, you're moving the Ghost. And you would still, still, even then, still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is pr.