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LulzSec: Why we do what we do

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Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#171

Post by Will_Price »

scythe wrote: post #124
moxiemk1 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like with violent video games, the internet doesn't make people feel disconnected, or turn them into sociopaths. It enables people who would rather be disconnected to disconnect themselves, and gives sociopaths the ability to do far more. The internet doesn't create people without empathy, it reveals that deep down, a lot of humanity didn't have it to begin with. The way society is starting to structure itself,…

>The internet doesn't create people without empathy, it reveals that deep down, a lot of humanity didn't have it to begin with. The way society is starting to structure itself, though, lets that shine through more clearly. A lot? I doubt LulzSec is more than five people. For every pathological script-kiddie there are ten Free Software hackers. The Internet has revealed new ways for people to be destructive, but it ha…

Excellent post scythe, I fully agree with you. The comparison of numbers between gthub and 4chan is a nice indicator that there are more than these sociopaths, When you have lulzsec waving their arms in front of the internet it's sometimes easy to forget they're are millions of great people producing software, for others, for the betterment of humanity.

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#172

Post by Will_Price »

scythe wrote: post #124
moxiemk1 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like with violent video games, the internet doesn't make people feel disconnected, or turn them into sociopaths. It enables people who would rather be disconnected to disconnect themselves, and gives sociopaths the ability to do far more. The internet doesn't create people without empathy, it reveals that deep down, a lot of humanity didn't have it to begin with. The way society is starting to structure itself,…

>The internet doesn't create people without empathy, it reveals that deep down, a lot of humanity didn't have it to begin with. The way society is starting to structure itself, though, lets that shine through more clearly. A lot? I doubt LulzSec is more than five people. For every pathological script-kiddie there are ten Free Software hackers. The Internet has revealed new ways for people to be destructive, but it ha…

Excellent post scythe, I fully agree with you. The comparison of numbers between gthub and 4chan is a nice indicator that there are more than these sociopaths, When you have lulzsec waving their arms in front of the internet it's sometimes easy to forget they're are millions of great people producing software, for others, for the betterment of humanity.

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#173

Post by bwaaa »

LulzSec seems to be just a group of teenagers that have actually nothing special to say. As they want to be like the grown-ups, they try to add a message behind their acts, but there is no message, no morality. If they were real hackers and not only prepubescent teens, they would not justify their action by any manifest, they would just act, no matter what people say or think. Their vocabulary is also proper teen vocabulary : "bitches" "mentally disabled" "evil bastards" "we nom nom nom, we move onto something else that's yummier" "unimpressed zombie""Watching someone's Facebook picture turn into a penis and seeing their sister's shocked response is priceless" "Receiving angry emails from the man you just sent 10 dildos to because he can't secure his Amazon password is priceless.". They don't know how to write, their sentences are full of repetitiveness, the vocabulary is poor.

LulzSec is just a group of teenagers (or someone alone). And they are really really funny. (This is not a compliment..)

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#175

Post by redthrowaway »

hnsmurf wrote: post #170
trotsky wrote: post #104

OK, so for the remaining 3 people out there who were pathologically not paying attention, computer hacking is easy. The state of computer security is poor. Lulzsec deserves a medal and a chest to pin it on for breaking this news to all of the people who don't have a facebook account, have never been on irc, didn't see the movie wargames, don't know anyone who plays world of warcraft, has never read the new york times…

As I mentioned below it does very much show psychopathic tendencies. These people clearly have no empathy for those they are harming. This includes far more than just the Sony executives that everyone hates (despite not knowing). Online security is poor for the same reason airport security is. Good security would take enough time and money to make the whole thing economically unviable.

>Online security is poor for the same reason airport security is. Good security would take enough time and money to make the whole thing economically unviable.

Airport security in the US is poor because the policies are a series of politically convenient patches applied to a broken system. In Israel, where the threat of terrorism is far greater, their airport security is both much more effective and much less invasive. Why? Because it was designed to work, from the ground up. They don't hire legions of idiots at minimum wage or close to it to do their security. They hire ex-military and ex-mossad people to surveil travellers. They have highly-trained people who know how to spot potential terrorists, and multiple layers of security (usually just someone saying hi and engaging in light chatter) that catch the vast majority of problem people before they get anywhere close to an airplane.

The US system is expensive, invasive, and ineffective. That doesn't mean airport security in general is doomed to fail, it means the US is incompetent at it.

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#176

Post by floppydisk »

When it comes to security, you run into IT departments being the red headed step children of the corporation and NIMBY (not in my backyard). It's a lot easier and cheaper to stick your head in the sand and pretend nothing is happening or you have some mitigating factor that discourages people from going after you be it size (miniscule for instance), participating in a niche market, etc. It's a lot easier and cheaper to do an ostrich than actually spend the money on decent security.

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#177

Post by marchdown »

mentat wrote: post #29
edw wrote: post #16

Raise your hand if you're hesitant to write what's on your mind for fear of receiving some special attention from Anonymous, LulzSec, and friends.

The impact of their attacks has more been a strong motivation to "get my house in order". I'd been using LastPass for some time but decided that I should get the YubiKey for two factor auth. I also started becoming quite a bit more vocal at work about the sorts of things it might be a good idea to take a closer look at. This is a wake up call for what's already happening. They just decided to do it and tell the publi…

Isn't YubiKey a fail-closed mechanism? Are you okay with trading a little extra protection from voyers with the possibility of losing access to the portion of your personal data that you deemed important enough to encrypt and vital enough still keep around as opposed to wiping it clean?

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#178

Post by yters »

jarek wrote: post #130
yters wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the foundation of Taliban and Mafia society. You know, it is quite possible to make money by being good. It just doesn't grab headlines as effectively.

And quite trivial to make more money preying on the weak than being good.

At least in the short term. But, that's definitely not the foundation for any functional society.

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#179

Post by drivingmenuts »

dexen wrote: post #109
trotsky wrote: post #104

OK, so for the remaining 3 people out there who were pathologically not paying attention, computer hacking is easy. The state of computer security is poor. Lulzsec deserves a medal and a chest to pin it on for breaking this news to all of the people who don't have a facebook account, have never been on irc, didn't see the movie wargames, don't know anyone who plays world of warcraft, has never read the new york times…

The gunshot analogy fails hard. LulzSec pre-empted at least half of it, by stressing how harm occurs quietly all the time. Data gets stolen or destroyed and we just don't know it. Unlike gunshot wound, where a person lands in a hospital, or morgue, or goes missing, data can be, and indeed is, copied quietly. Of gunshots, people are informed most of the time; of security breaches, barely ever. Cops investigate most gu…

Well, maybe people will start shooting hackers. I volunteer Lulz to be first against the wall.

Re: LulzSec: Why we do what we do

#180

Post by TeMPOraL »

pingswept wrote: post #94
TeMPOraL wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, I've never seen "vote with your wallet" concept work[1], neither in the Internet, nor in real life. When a company misbehaves, there's usually a big group of their customers which doesn't know about it, and another (maybe little smaller) group, that doesn't care at all (or enough[2]). It's an interesting issue I have no idea how to fix... [1] - if you know any examples, I'd be glad to hear them. [2] -…

In real life: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinvestment_from_South_Africa

Thank you for the example.

Still, it seems to have taken a lot of convincing of people and companies before it started to work.

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