Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group • Hacker News Board

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

#181

Post by Uhhrrr » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:23 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #140

txcwpalpha wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

We are in a world where the exact same video of Beto skateboarding was posted by both opponents and supporters and each saw what they wanted in it. I would challenge the idea that being a “hacker” polls well for a presidential candidate. Recall that “hacking” was a bit of a problem in 2016.

This sort of thing where both fans and haters have to talk about the same thing has been very good to AOC and Trump.

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

#182

Post by mruts » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

malvosenior wrote: post #76

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…

I agree the piece isn't very informative and is very scattered. That being said, this is definitely the most questionable thing: > "When he was younger, he was arrested on drunk-driving charges" That will follow him into the campaign far more than his CDC membership.

Is being arrested for drunken driving materially different than having not been arrested while drunken driving?

And hasn’t pretty much almost anyone driven drunk at least once?

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

#183

Post by grayed-down » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

pnw_hazor wrote: post #58

ratling wrote: post #45

I don’t believe this. The GOP is desperate to discredit him because he puts Texas into play a couple years early. This smells like a weak hit job. I’m not sold as Beto as the candidate but this is a weak meme. 2/10 be best.

If Beto had an R after his name instead of a D, you’d hear he was boarding-school-attending judge’s son who dodged serious charges for the DUI & burglary, used eminent domain to gentrify poor Latino neighborhoods & married into a billionaire’s family. https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/brace-yourse...

Yep, that's SOP. Lionize the D's. Brutalize the R's

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

#184

Post by ozzyman700 » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:27 PM UTC

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, however I bet it might fall under 'providing material aid' if provided to a foreign "terrorist" entity.

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

#185

Post by chlvsl » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

Can we please stop calling him Beto? It's clearly intended to try to appeal to the growing Hispanic electorate by making him sound Hispanic/Latino, when in reality he's totally white and Irish. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.

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

#186

Post by burfog » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:29 PM UTC

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…

I think "TacoLand" has a meaning that could be awkward.

The food can be a metaphor for genitalia or for the attached humans. For example a tacofest, much like a sausagefest, is a gathering in which one sex is greatly overrepresented compared to the other. Meat goes in a taco.

So, one can guess what was featured on his BBS.

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

#187

Post by txcwpalpha » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:31 PM UTC

merlincorey wrote: post #177

txcwpalpha wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Society glamorizes hackers hard . Have you ever seen War Games? The Matrix? Live Free or Die Hard? Mr Robot? Blackhat? Any recent spy movie? What about the multitude of other movies/shows where hackers aren't the focus, but are certainly glamorized, a la NCIS, CSI, Limitless, etc. There's an entire genre of film & television about hackers and they are almost always portrayed as cool, attractive, powerful people with…

I'm sad that you failed to mention the original /Hackers/ movie as well as /Swordfish/ -- two staples of Defcon movie nights.

Ah! I had Swordfish in mind but my brain blanked and I couldn't think of the name. For Hackers, I have no excuse.

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

#188

Post by lukewink » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:31 PM UTC

mruts wrote: post #182

malvosenior wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the piece isn't very informative and is very scattered. That being said, this is definitely the most questionable thing: > "When he was younger, he was arrested on drunk-driving charges" That will follow him into the campaign far more than his CDC membership.

Is being arrested for drunken driving materially different than having not been arrested while drunken driving? And hasn’t pretty much almost anyone driven drunk at least once?

> And hasn’t pretty much almost anyone driven drunk at least once?

No...

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

#189

Post by njepa » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:31 PM UTC

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.

~80/90s hackers aren't really the same thing as most post 00 hackers. A lot of people were in it because they were curious about this new thing and the opportunities to explore something and express themselves. The same way you would in other emerging cultures. Those aren't bad qualities.

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

#190

Post by burfog » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 5:32 PM UTC

edaemon wrote: post #131

malvosenior wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the piece isn't very informative and is very scattered. That being said, this is definitely the most questionable thing: > "When he was younger, he was arrested on drunk-driving charges" That will follow him into the campaign far more than his CDC membership.

That will certainly be brought up in the campaign, but it was brought up in his House races and the Senate race and didn't seem to have much of an impact.

It was a close race, and he lost. That seems like an impact.