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Thread: Media view of hackers

  1. #1

    Media view of hackers

    I was watching some thing about hackers and how they are evil terrorists worse than Osama Bin Laden on TV the other day. I've seen so much media coverage of Kevin Mitnick and hackers in general and it's all the same story, no facts. They just bable and bable about the "fact" that hackers use illegal means to do EVERYTHING. ex.(exageration)-"evil hacker criminals hack into grocery store computers, disable the alarms and steal milk and cereal for their breakfast!!!!, then they hack into hotel computers and illegaly book reservations for free so they can eat there!!!!"
    Not really but the media gets really wild sometimes. I heard a phrase the other day that caught my interest, "hackers of many different colored hats". Were they trying to allude to Red hat/black hat(as in bad guy) or something? I doubt it, that would suggest that they actually did some research on what hackers do and use to do it.
    I heard some news guy say that hackers use illegal means to acquire source code so they can crack systems. I think they are using the Kevin M. scenario to generalize hackers, most hackers do everything they can to keep their education processes LEGAL! and alot of source code is free BTW. After all, our goal is simply to learn! why would we break the law to do so if we dont have to???
    Any feedback on this or examples of what the media has said about "hackers" in general?
    A buttered piece of bread always lands butter side down;
    A cat always lands on its feet;
    A cat with a buttered piece of bread strapped to its back hovers feet above the ground in a state of quantum indecision

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    484
    Ethical Hackers need to compile something about the truth and get it to the media. People need to know that hackers aren't bad. Crackers are. Script Kiddies are. Lamers are. But unfortunately, its they who get on the news. And since the media calls them hackers they really do get to go around and brag about how l33t they are.
    Why am I still here?

  3. #3
    thank you, and the movie "Hackers" didn't help very much. And they were trying to "appeal" to the underground community. "The Net" did a much better job of that.
    A buttered piece of bread always lands butter side down;
    A cat always lands on its feet;
    A cat with a buttered piece of bread strapped to its back hovers feet above the ground in a state of quantum indecision

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    168
    i am aware of that also... yet i have read it in many newspapers almost everyday. the media is always generalizing things in order to have a good report. but, who cares?! anyway as long as what you know what really "hacker" means there is no doubt about it. as what many programmers are coined... there are the true "hackers" (see jargon files of eric raymond).
    still the media has to know the difference of the "hackers" and the crackers".
    have a nice day people.
    \"The more you ignore me... the closer i get!\"

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    8

    Media portrayals not accurate

    I am here because I know what a hacker is. Hackers are my best bet (and many other newbies) to get help learning new stuff related to computers, networks and programming. To typical users, "hacker" is practically a dirty word and even I only learned the terminology "hacker", "cracker", "script kiddie", "white hat", "black hat", etc. myself not long ago.

    Crackers scare the bejeesuz out of most average users who don't understand what is and what is not possible to do with a computer and internet access.

    Not long ago, I got thrown out of a chat room on MSN (and I don't go back there now) for referring someone to a website that would help them with security issues (the person I was helping claimed a hacker broke into their computer). The moderator warned me by saying discussion of hackers was taboo and then bounced me out. I couldn't believe it.

    But to the hackers who specialize in security for the good of everyone else, just keep fighting the good fight. From what I read about cyberterrorism...security is critical to more than just computer users...you never know, one day someone might thank you for defending national security.

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