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Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

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Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#231
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exposure builds resilience. All shielding does is turn people into hysterics who cannot see through the artifice, and assume everyone is duped by it into being murderous zombies.

I have to say, as a kid, all these games and movies were much more harmless than the news. The news had actual blood on the streets, from real people who had actually died there, real violence, real panic, real bombs and real war. If you shut off the TV, it does not go away, it's taking place somewhere out there, in the real world. A game is a joke in comparison.

Imho the real damage from games is the addiction aspect. A secondary problem is the 'Good guy is allowed to do anything because he's good' attitude, but that's shared by a lot of tv and books. The actual violence isnt much of a problem.

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My own plan: shield them until they are old enough to understand the concepts of trust and respect.. then pull back the safety net, but maintain quiet vigilance (like montoring (read only) the dns queries or system logs, and maybe keep access time window restrictions). If that really want questionable content, it will be cat and mouse game. Build trust and respect... Give them enough rope to hang themselves... Occasi…

Depending on how you want to influence your kids interests, a friendly cat'n'mouse game might give them a very real education. "No wifi access until you figure out how to spoof your MAC to this."

Lock down your network so well they're forced to become a l33t hax0r.

'Popular hacker software includes "Comet Cursor", "Bonzi Buddy" and "Flash"', well, technically they were all used to hack, just in the opposite direction.

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#233
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say, as a kid, all these games and movies were much more harmless than the news. The news had actual blood on the streets, from real people who had actually died there, real violence, real panic, real bombs and real war. If you shut off the TV, it does not go away, it's taking place somewhere out there, in the real world. A game is a joke in comparison.

This is a brilliant observation. As a 50+ "adult" I avoid the news media. My parents used to sit and watch the news with us, I would never do that today. It's not that the world is a worse place these days (It's actually safer), just that the media thrives by presenting all the bad in the worst possible way.

Sit with your child and MST3K the media

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#235
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say, as a kid, all these games and movies were much more harmless than the news. The news had actual blood on the streets, from real people who had actually died there, real violence, real panic, real bombs and real war. If you shut off the TV, it does not go away, it's taking place somewhere out there, in the real world. A game is a joke in comparison.

This is a brilliant observation. As a 50+ "adult" I avoid the news media. My parents used to sit and watch the news with us, I would never do that today. It's not that the world is a worse place these days (It's actually safer), just that the media thrives by presenting all the bad in the worst possible way.

Do you have a public broadcaster? I find their news to be good, no hyperbole as they don't need eyeballs for ads. Just a somewhat balanced set of domestic, international and cultural affairs.

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#236

The first few sentences were okay-ish, but the more I read,the more it sounded just plain absurd,border line controlling behaviour+ lots of silly assumptions. Going back to the topic itself, the vast majority of parents wouldn't even know where to start, not even mentioning if a kid has really became a haxor of sorts. Taking away computers, sending them out to the church,or doing others 'let's fix this quickly the ad…

woosh

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#237
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No social media. It destroys mental health of many teenage girls. No unsupervised texting. Let them have friends at your place.

I was that teenage girl. It doesn't have the effect you want it to. My parents weren't "preserving my innocence" or "sheltering me from the bad bad world." They were just teaching me to hide better and to perform for them. I would get cash back at "safe" stores to avoid my purchases being monitored, my boyfriend bought me a prepaid phone, I hung out at the library all the time to use social media, I stayed the night…

What do you think they did wrong and might they have done better?

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s one thing I decided already not to do is spy on them. I could easily view his entire online life and sure maybe it would protect him somehow if he was getting into some really dark porn or talking to some pedophile or something, but it’s such a massive invasion of privacy I think I could never forgive myself and the justification is bullshit. There are no shortcuts to good parenting, spying on your kids traffi…

I guess one approach would be to tell them that you will be able to see their traffic. Even show them that servers have logs etc. After a time, show them how to use computers more privately, and tell them when you stop keeping logs.

Why would you want to do this? I will warn my children (when they are old enough) about pedophiles and let them know how pedophiles might try and manipulate then, by pretending to be friends or by threatening them or even by convincing them to send naked pictures and blackmailing them. I will let my kids know that no matter how deep they go they can always, and should as soon as needed, come to me or their mother for help. I don't see the need to spy on them or see what they might be searching for or looking at.

I could see this changing if I notice bad behavior. If they're hanging out with bad influences or ordering drugs online or something I might intervene electronically. I'm still undecided about whether to enforce electronics limits (I use mine a lot). It doesn't seem like you should default to intrusive parenting though.

Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

#239
post #181

In the early 00s my hyper conservative helicopter parents found my Livejournal where they discovered I was into "hacking" and social activities they didn't approve of. They eventually confronted me and said I must have all internet postings passed through them in the future, or shut it all down. What they didn't realize is the modem PCI card in their desktop was a LAN-over-RJ12 card hooked through the walls directly…

Thanks for sharing, it made me smile. Makes me feel for parents with a predisposition to anxiety. I recently started telling my parents about all the times I snuck out after dark as a child and they were horrified. This is the (very sophisticated) digital equivalent.

I escaped out my window a bit, too. But the digital gaslighting we applied to a malicious teacher in the 90s was next-level and I now I'm infosec-adjacent.
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