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Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

cnn.com

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Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#41

Post by UqWBcuFx6NV4r »

initramfs wrote: post #38

"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…

I didn’t realise that people still fought this fight. it’s time to drop it, dude. It’s truly blatant language prescriptivism at this point.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#42

Post by byte_0 »

neko_ranger wrote: post #3
mseepgood wrote: post #2

Of all the messages they could have sent they chose the most boring.

lets play a game HN, what would be the best alert to send? mine would be something scifi, like "ALIENS HAVE LANDED" or "PLUTO DECLARES WAR"

Wake up, Neo...

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#43

Post by rzz3 »

initramfs wrote: post #38

"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…

At this point, it’s just you misusing the word. You WERE correct; it did mean the builders rather than the breakers. But to greater society outside of the tech industry, hacking is hacking, they don’t need a word to describe builders, and crackers sounds dumb and no one outside the tech industry would know what you were talking about. A cracker is a snack and a dated slang word to refer to white people.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#44

Post by munchler »

Kyselica wrote: post #10
neko_ranger wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lets play a game HN, what would be the best alert to send? mine would be something scifi, like "ALIENS HAVE LANDED" or "PLUTO DECLARES WAR"

“BRAZIL ELIMINATED FROM WORLD CUP”

This would create more chaos than any other suggestion so far. Well done.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#45

Post by zarflax »

neko_ranger wrote: post #3
mseepgood wrote: post #2

Of all the messages they could have sent they chose the most boring.

lets play a game HN, what would be the best alert to send? mine would be something scifi, like "ALIENS HAVE LANDED" or "PLUTO DECLARES WAR"

"Help I'm trapped in a broadcast center"

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#46

Post by initramfs »

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #41
initramfs wrote: post #38

"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…

I didn’t realise that people still fought this fight. it’s time to drop it, dude. It’s truly blatant language prescriptivism at this point.

It's not so much a fight as a reminder of the technical words that actually distinguish one type from another. Are hackers considered ethical in the press today? 40 years of movies and press articles hasn't exactly made the idea of "white hat" a known term. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hat_(computer_security)

It's kind of like Australia or the UK saying kids are "hacking" their PCs to use VPNS. There can be a very legitimate use of tools, but the portrayal of users bypassing blocks could just as easily be painted in a negative light.

One time someone made a joke or observation, 20 years or so ago, that their Myspace page was "hacked" because someone "posted on their wall". It's obviously not that misused, but just labeled that way when misinformed.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#47

Post by gnubison »

initramfs wrote: post #38

"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…

As programmers in programming culture, we have a distinction between hacker and, potentially, cracker that no ordinary person has. ESR’s prescriptivism is pretty much worthless in this respect: words mean what people think they mean and what people use them for, and programmers do not have a monopoly on how people use the term.

OED has the “computer intruder” sense first cited in 1963, and the “enthusiastic programmer” sense first in 1969 (“now much less common than sense 3a”). Cracker first appears in 1968.

Besides, it is easy to disambiguate which meaning people mean. “Hacker attack” can only refer to the common usage of the term, not programming-culture usage.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#48

Post by [deleted] »

lxgr wrote: post #25
p0w3n3d wrote: post #22

TBH phones in Poland allow to call you "from" an arbitrary number (i.e. display it on your phone). Also send SMS with arbitrary source. This is being used by scammers who call you and tell they are from police bank etc

This works in many countries, since the signalling protocols historically assumed a trusted small set of participants, not unlike email – with similar consequences once those assumptions became less and less true.

[deleted]

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#49

Post by initramfs »

gnubison wrote: post #47
initramfs wrote: post #38

"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…

As programmers in programming culture, we have a distinction between hacker and, potentially, cracker that no ordinary person has. ESR’s prescriptivism is pretty much worthless in this respect: words mean what people think they mean and what people use them for, and programmers do not have a monopoly on how people use the term. OED has the “computer intruder” sense first cited in 1963, and the “enthusiastic programme…

Thanks for highlighting the even earlier term from 1963. If that is the case, then why don't journalists use the word "computer intruder" instead of hacker, when it's less a catchall?

The funny thing about these comments is that most of the replies to my comment have been more defensive than my own. I wasn't suggesting a monopoly on the term, and I wasn't suggesting "hacker" shouldn't be ever be used. I just said it's not very accurate, and the average non-technical reader may not know the difference.

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