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Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

reuters.com

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Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#101

Post by txcwpalpha »

js2 wrote: post #46

He named his BBS "TacoLand". He should definitely play up this angle...maybe campaign on a taco cart on every corner. I know people who will vote for him for that alone. This piece is a disaster. It's an excerpt from a soon to be released book, it's light on facts about O'Rourke and is at least equally about Cult of the Dead Cow, it's trying to make things sound more nefarious than they were, and it's playing the gui…

>it's trying to make things sound more nefarious than they were, and it's playing the guilt by association card

Are we reading the same article? If anything this article seems like a submarine PR puff piece to me, made to increase the image of Beto by making him seem "cool" and "hip" by associating him with the typically-seen-as-sexy "hacker" scene. This article is very similar to the pro-Beto stuff that was all over Texas during his senate campaign.

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#102

Post by duxup »

busterarm wrote: post #79

Having been involved in the community for most of my life, my very first thought was "oh that's cool he's one of us" and then I remembered that historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to.

There's a wonderful glamorization of hackers and so forth. It's so appealing to think of some folks fighting the man from their keyboards and doing good things.

So much so we have seen tech enthusiasts fawn over hacking groups from time to time and ignore less desirable behavior ... until we realize in the end they're just not what we want them / imagine them to be.

I still like to think of there being some idealistic hackers one day that will change the world for the better, but I recognize they're still going to be just, people.

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#103

Post by SlowRobotAhead »

shereadsthenews wrote: post #69
microcolonel wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to have any actual policy platform related to the presidential run; at least, the other day when I visited the site I saw only merchandising.

Yes his platform is literally "I'm bored"

He shares the most important thought of any candidate that is running. That guy of a certain color is unethical.

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#104

Post by hi5eyes »

dmos62 wrote: post #94
busterarm wrote: post #79

Having been involved in the community for most of my life, my very first thought was "oh that's cool he's one of us" and then I remembered that historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to.

> historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to Do you have any examples?

hackers generally dont like rules, as a start. the ethos for most is not really in line with positions of authority

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#106

Post by aidenn0 »

Brakenshire wrote: post #71
Fej wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's in the UK. Such a law would run afoul of the First Amendment in the US.

Do texts that contain bomb-making information really fall under the first amendment in the US?

Yes, except possibly when containing classified information.

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#107

Post by gaze »

theli0nheart wrote: post #89
gaze wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell, he’s trying to smush down attention on his voting record by creating as much buzz as possible about how he’s antiestablishment.

Yep, you nailed it. If anything, he's going to milk this for all that it's worth. He's not going to get far in the primaries by being an establishment candidate.

and people wonder why voter turnout is low when we have candidates that don’t seem to actually believe in anything...

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#108

Post by bitlax »

dragonwriter wrote: post #81
charliesharding wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But he's not just nice.. He's pretty, played in a band, and is exceptionally good at hand waving. In debate he masterfully dodges substantive discussion in favor of vast, inclusive, amorphous nicety rhetoric. Unfortunately however, he may be too white and male to appease his party's intersectional hierarchy.

> Unfortunately however, he may be too white and male to appease his party's intersectional hierarchy. Given that the top two Democratic candidates for 2020 by current polling are Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, I don't think there's much reason to think that being white or male is a huge disadvantage. His thin resume, OTOH...

Sanders was the frontrunner last time and they kneecapped him.

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#109

Post by busterarm »

dmos62 wrote: post #94
busterarm wrote: post #79

Having been involved in the community for most of my life, my very first thought was "oh that's cool he's one of us" and then I remembered that historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to.

> historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to Do you have any examples?

The laundry list of drama, infighting, bullying, sexual assaults, forcing people to take drugs, stealing research, etc., probably wouldn't have any context to an outsider.

And most of what happens to people in this community occurs behind their backs.

Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group

#110

Post by stevenwoo »

dmos62 wrote: post #94
busterarm wrote: post #79

Having been involved in the community for most of my life, my very first thought was "oh that's cool he's one of us" and then I remembered that historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to.

> historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to Do you have any examples?

The guy behind The Daily Stormer, Andrew Auernheimer?
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