“Subject: Urgent Warning” • Hacker News Board

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#71

Post by conistonwater » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:17 PM UTC

rakoo wrote: post #68

madaxe_again wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you bellow at a stranger because you don't understand something, you're an idiot, sorry. I'd like to hope an "average" person would not gloss over gaps in their knowledge and jump to a hostile conclusion. In your scenario, say you're the phone company - would you think it reasonable if the customer who called in your example blames you for their having made a call and placed an order, because the phone line must h…

> If you bellow at a stranger because you don't understand something, you're an idiot, sorry. If you think everyone has to know everything before seeking help, then you are the idiot, sorry. The woman probably doesn't know what a software is, other than a "Download" button on a website and an icon on the toolbar. Do you expect those people to differentiate between the software and the libraries underneath ? Of course…

You missed the point of that comment. The emphasis is on bellow.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#72

Post by DanBC » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:17 PM UTC

FussyZeus wrote: post #12

> "I came across this information using my Spotify which has also been hacked into and would love your help hacking out of Spotify. Also, I have yet to figure out how to unhack the hackers from my Instagram" You keep using that word, I don't think it means what you think it means. In all seriousness though, she went to the ToS for help with the Instagram app? Why not write Instagram support directly?

> Why not write Instagram support directly?

She possibly has, and is now being ignored by them, so she's moving onto other contacts.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#73

Post by mwcampbell » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:18 PM UTC

elthran wrote: post #23

elthran wrote: post #6

Definitely agree with one of the comments on the blog - the domain (haxx.se) really doesn't help the author's case here when trying to explain to a layperson.

Also, from http://daniel.haxx.se/blog/about/ >I’m Daniel Stenberg, a network hacker working for Mozilla. Sigh. Why does everyone have to be a hacking rockstar ninja? What's wrong with not using a word that has negative connotations to the rest of the world, and just calling yourself a developer/engineer?

Why all the downvotes for this comment? I think the point is reasonable. It's fine for us to use the word "hacker" in the non-criminal sense among ourselves (for example, the title of this site), but not where the general public is likely to see it and misunderstand it.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#74

Post by grb423 » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:18 PM UTC

I think you are misusing the phrase "nothing to do with." It seems to me that you in fact did have something, however indirect and misunderstood by the emailer, to do with these products. I, on the other hand and for example, had nothing.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#75

Post by rakoo » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:19 PM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #60

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fear you're still overcomplicating it: Daniel is a battery manufacturer. The person complaining bought a camera from Spotify, which came with one of Daniel's batteries inside. Someone stole that camera. (It's not perfect, but it's probably as close as you're going to get)

Most people don't associate batteries with cameras these days..

Daniel built the camera lens that is mounted on your camera; the hacker managed to make your camera send all the photos on his computer.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#76

Post by mwcampbell » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:20 PM UTC

rakoo wrote: post #68

madaxe_again wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you bellow at a stranger because you don't understand something, you're an idiot, sorry. I'd like to hope an "average" person would not gloss over gaps in their knowledge and jump to a hostile conclusion. In your scenario, say you're the phone company - would you think it reasonable if the customer who called in your example blames you for their having made a call and placed an order, because the phone line must h…

> If you bellow at a stranger because you don't understand something, you're an idiot, sorry. If you think everyone has to know everything before seeking help, then you are the idiot, sorry. The woman probably doesn't know what a software is, other than a "Download" button on a website and an icon on the toolbar. Do you expect those people to differentiate between the software and the libraries underneath ? Of course…

But Daniel replied once with an explanation of why his name was in the software credits, and the user persisted in blaming him for her problems.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#77

Post by DanBC » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:20 PM UTC

EdwardCoffin wrote: post #51

JoshTriplett wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyway. When you have a conversation with an idiot, nobody watching can tell which one of you is the idiot. A friend of mine who works as a college professor has a fun approach to deal with the kinds of random cranks who contact him out of the blue seeking someone to validate their wild Time-Cube-style theories and "research": he responds to each one by providing an introduction to the previous one. Apparently, he…

This idea terrifies me even more than it amuses me. The notion of the long-term influence that could be gained by a network of cooperating Time-Cube-style theorists is enough to give me nightmares.

See also the Freemen on the land who pass incoherent legal information on to each other.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#78

Post by woah » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:20 PM UTC

pilif wrote: post #17

vxxzy wrote: post #4

If you desire to respond, I would relate the topic to her field. She claims to be a photographer. Surely she has a vague idea of copyright law. I would explain that you had developed a piece of Intellectual Property and licensed said property in a specific form -akin to taking a photograph. The person who takes a photograph owns the copyright. It just so happens that Spotify and Instagram, "enjoy your work" and have…

or, even easier to understand analogy: Daniel is the person on the photograph, Spotify/Instagram are the photographers and the hacker is the person who just stole the picture.

Or- the user is the photographer, Instagram is making use of the photos, and Daniel hacked her phone

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#79

Post by nkrisc » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:22 PM UTC

I think I might try to explain it this way:

It's like he makes paint. He mades this really cool shade of red paint that everyone likes. One day, some really mean dude used this guy's paint to paint his car red. He then used that car to go on a crime spree. The victims of the crime then went to the guy who made the paint demanding their stolen money back.

Re: “Subject: Urgent Warning”

#80

Post by darkr » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:25 PM UTC

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #35

pilif wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or, even easier to understand analogy: Daniel is the person on the photograph, Spotify/Instagram are the photographers and the hacker is the person who just stole the picture.

I fear you're still overcomplicating it: Daniel is a battery manufacturer. The person complaining bought a camera from Spotify, which came with one of Daniel's batteries inside. Someone stole that camera. (It's not perfect, but it's probably as close as you're going to get)

TBH, libcurl is probably a dependency of a library that they use.

So it's more like Daniel is a supplier of zinc (and just so happens to give that zinc away for free) to a battery manufacturer.. Who sell batteries to Spotify, who manufacture cameras?