Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

[Greyhatter]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

In an attempt to be totally pedantic and annoying as those at /. it's 'segue'.

/waits for the coming wrath.

Oh, for the love of Pete, I practice the Old Testiment, and I has no clu what uz talkin' about! Dumb in down for the restofus plzz..

[CP99]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

This is a rant.

The problem that begets all of these public misconceptions is simple, ignorance.
Ignorance is causing fear and misunderstanding towards hackers, this is not new, and is something we already know.

When a computer criminal commits a crime, he/she is referred to as a hacker, which in part is not incorrect.
When someone commits crimes with a car, he/she is referred to in context of the crime, not as a driver.
Why do you think this is?

Public misconception and ignorance is something looming over the community, growing as fast as we do.
This Palin deal is nothing more than another incident in a string of ignorant "news" reports being read by ignorant people (Bill O'reilly) to the ignorants at home.
It's aggravating when ignorant news personalities misrepresent us in the news, but sadly there are people in our own community who use the term hacker solely to describe computer criminals publicly, where is the thread on that?

I have stayed mostly quite on this topic until now, giving time to reflect upon what has been under our collective skin for some time.
It's not news to people like streaker69, but there's a problem for us as a community, as Hackers.

What I am trying to say, I think, is that while we discuss this here and now, the ignorance out there grows with every Fox News at 11 report about The Hackers.
Ignorance just doesn't vanish. Projects like HAPT are great when it comes to informing the misinformed and ignorant.
There's still a large void to be filled, what are you going to do?

Maybe this is relevant, you decide.
A friend once told me about how he wished he could live in a world where he could hack without worrying about the fuzzy distinctions of legal and illegal, to be able to not worry about his freedom if he decides to disclose some fundamental flaw in some system. He later went on to tell me how he didn't feel it was necessary to fix the ignorance on a large scale.
I called him on his hypocrisy, how could he yearn for something so badly, yet do nothing to achieve it.

This is too dynamic for any one approach to make a difference. -ie fix the problems
The term hacker has undergone changes, like christian, queer, and nigger.

It's entirely possible that we all twiddled our thumbs while the media and public abused the term.
It's entirely possible that now, there's no going back.

[converge]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

TheCotMan: Yup.
Streaker69: But the conversation becomes far less mobile in that context.

[bascule]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

The term hacker has undergone changes, like christian, queer, and nigger.

It's entirely possible that we all twiddled our thumbs while the media and public abused the term.
It's entirely possible that now, there's no going back.

I'm sure the Lisp hacker community wants their word back too

[streaker69]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

The term hacker has undergone changes, like christian, queer, and nigger.

It's entirely possible that we all twiddled our thumbs while the media and public abused the term.
It's entirely possible that now, there's no going back.

If this is indeed the way people feel about this, then those hardworking folks that made the "Hackers are People too" movie wasted their time and should have never made it.

I guess that we will also never see another thread like one I previously posted a link to in this thread regarding the mis-use of the term by the media.

My point all along was to see why no one was making a statement about this particular incredibly high profile case and it's upcoming implications upon our futures. It would appear as though apathy again rules the day, it's too hard, we can't do anything.

If this offends, I'm sorry.

[CP99]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

If this is indeed the way people feel about this, then those hardworking folks that made the "Hackers are People too" movie wasted their time and should have never made it.

I guess that we will also never see another thread like one I previously posted a link to in this thread regarding the mis-use of the term by the media.

My point all along was to see why no one was making a statement about this particular incredibly high profile case and it's upcoming implications upon our futures. It would appear as though apathy again rules the day, it's too hard, we can't do anything.

If this offends, I'm sorry.

No offense taken, in fact I agree with your standpoints here.
If you look back at the 2nd post in this thread, I stated that we should use a more correct term for the topic.
I intended my statements to provoke thought on the situation, not remark on its supposed conclusion.

At this point, I think we can all agree that we, at very least, dislike the misuse of the term Hacker.
Now its about finding the people who are willing to put the effort in correcting misconceptions, which in it self is an uphill battle.
HAPT is prime example of a step in the right direction.
All we have to do now is find the next step.

[bascule]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

At this point, I think we can all agree that we, at very least, dislike the misuse of the term Hacker.

My attitude is that at this point its meaning is so overloaded it's pretty silly to try to give it a specific definition which overrides any other ones in common usage.

[Greyhatter]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

Brainiacks.

[xor]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

Xerox had a sort of similar problem. People were referring to making photo copies as "Xerox'" copies. The Xerox company didn't liked the nickname because in their infinite wisdom the nick said to the public that all they did was make copy machines. That's when they changed their name to the Xerox, The Document Copy. Personally I always called them photocopies.

So what we need here is a consistent long term multi-million dollar ad campaign to change the public & medias perceptions of us. Hmmmm anyone got a multi-million dollars they want to give over to this project? Maybe Bill and Malinda Gates can cough it up. I nominate Streaker to run it as he seems to be the most passionate about it.

xor

[streaker69]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

Xerox had a sort of similar problem. People were referring to making photo copies as "Xerox'" copies. The Xerox company didn't liked the nickname because in their infinite wisdom the nick said to the public that all they did was make copy machines. That's when they changed their name to the Xerox, The Document Copy. Personally I always called them photocopies.

So what we need here is a consistent long term multi-million dollar ad campaign to change the public & medias perceptions of us. Hmmmm anyone got a multi-million dollars they want to give over to this project? Maybe Bill and Malinda Gates can cough it up. I nominate Streaker to run it as he seems to be the most passionate about it.

xor

Ok, First, give me the money, and then I will determine the best way to spend it to resolve this issue.

I think here's how we could raise the money. For anyone that wants to proclaim themselves a hacker, a tax shall be imposed. You can pay your tax to my paypal account. With those funds I shall pay myself a salary, as well as lobby the media to change the hacker perception.

Sound fair?

[blauman]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

Ok, First, give me the money, and then I will determine the best way to spend it to resolve this issue.

I think here's how we could raise the money. For anyone that wants to proclaim themselves a hacker, a tax shall be imposed. You can pay your tax to my paypal account. With those funds I shall pay myself a salary, as well as lobby the media to change the hacker perception.

Sound fair?

One Word: EARMARKS

Under the congress approved programs for improving Language and Education of the American People. for the new fiscal year :)

[YenTheFirst]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

Ok, First, give me the money, and then I will determine the best way to spend it to resolve this issue.

I think here's how we could raise the money. For anyone that wants to proclaim themselves a hacker, a tax shall be imposed. You can pay your tax to my paypal account. With those funds I shall pay myself a salary, as well as lobby the media to change the hacker perception.

Sound fair?

Isn't that what DEFCON is? A defcon participant even gets a nice badge proclaiming their hacker-ness. I assume the media lobbying is forthcoming. ;)

[CP99]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

After a long talk with a close friend I came to the conclusion that its not that we hate the current misuse of the term Hacker,
its that we are represented to the public, not as hackers, but as the "posers" and computer criminals calling themselves hackers.

It's not about the term, its about the people.

[microgramme]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

First streaker, I like you and respect you despite that fact you are Amish :-). Second, you only like her because she shoots :-). I know you have those pinups of her and the M16 in your basement. :-)

I'm just gonna leave this here.

[microgramme]

Re: Sarah Palin: hacked by Anonymous

I'm sure the Lisp hacker community wants their word back too

It's never been lost to either group. Hackers are as hackers do.