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Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)

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

#81

Post by endominus »

310260 wrote: post #61
endominus wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other, important, difference being that I am not required to fund the billionaire. If I object to the actions of a billionaire, it's not my money that's being misused.

>I am not required to fund the billionaire. Except, of course, when whatever elaborate mousetrap they used to gain their billions becomes a monopoly and also critical infrastructure.

An excellent point! But that is something that a billionaire may do. And often the answer to that is government action - see how often a government will actually take said action. It is something the government by its very nature will do, and there is no counterbalancing force.

The immediate rebuttal that comes to mind is that the government does not dismantle the billionaire's monopolistic scheme because of regulatory capture, and because the billionaire has effectively suborned the government. If you are about to make that argument, I suggest you introspect a little, as you would only be making my point; the "representative government" is not spending its resources according to the will of the people in any case.

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

#82

Post by ben_w »

Mauricebranagh wrote: post #51
andrewfromx wrote: post #23

At Mark Zuckerberg's school I remember a story about him getting in trouble for PHP. The school had a zero tolerance drug policy and PHP was confused with PCP.

I know some one in Northern Ireland who got into trouble using FTP :-) FTP is common Protestant insult to Catholics.

In reverse, I wonder how well known Irish and British slang is in the USA: “Bumming” can mean to obtain or make use of something that belongs to someone else by begging; “fag” can mean cigarette; “for the craic” (“craic” pronounced “crack”) is “for fun”.

(And thanks to the very early part of my mother’s Alzheimer’s, I also know that an archaic meaning of “glory hole” is a cupboard for miscellaneous items, and the etymology of the sexual reference is that both are where you put your “junk”).

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

#85

Post by ant6n »

wincy wrote: post #62
bamey wrote: post #27

>If your son has requested a new "processor" from a company called "AMD", this is genuine cause for alarm. AMD is a third-world based company who make inferior, "knock-off" copies of American processor chips. They use child labor extensively in their third world sweatshops, and they deliberately disable the security features that American processor makers, such as Intel, use to prevent hacking. AMD chips are never so…

Hah my first computer that I built myself as a teenager was an AMD Duron, right around 2001. Which to be fair, I guess I am a hacker as far as my mother is concerned, so they were right!

I got a Duron 650 together with a Geforce 1 back in 2000. That Geforce was really expensive butw a dud, it was slower than the cheaper/older TNT 2`s all my friends had...

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

#86

Post by devmor »

Oh man, I'm lucky my father never would have believed this stuff. In 2001, I was putting together tens of 486 and 386 based PCs out of a heap of old parts donated by a family friend and the neighbors thought I was some kind of hacker.

I fondly remember dad spending his tax refund to buy me a brand new Dell the next year, and coming home from work to find me at the kitchen table with it in parts. He said nothing at first, but from the look in his eyes, it took him about 30-40 seconds to remember that I knew what I was doing already.

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

#87

Post by abfan1127 »

dangus wrote: post #59
endominus wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other, important, difference being that I am not required to fund the billionaire. If I object to the actions of a billionaire, it's not my money that's being misused.

I’m not? How should I stop using Comcast for my Internet? What other internet browser could I use in the 1990s besides IE on an ActiveX page? What other phone can I use besides a Google or Apple phone? How do I avoid giving Nestle or Unilever money? By avoiding a massive list of thousands of brands? These are just a few examples of the negatives of capitalist consolidation.

Comcast maintains their monopoly through state power. Through licensing, easement access, and other regulations, no one takes on Comcast.

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

#88

Post by aasasd »

moolcool wrote: post #20

Covered by Martin Sargent of TechTV here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkLtXfsPqVQ

You forget to mention that the coverage was in 2002. Which makes me vaguely curious about the content.

Edit: alas it's just a reiteration of the text, pretty much what I would expect from a modern Youtube clip on a channel with a name like ‘TechTV’.

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

#90

Post by g00gler »

tr1ll10nb1ll wrote: post #83

I'm assuming that this is obviously satire. Looking at some of the comments on HN tho, it makes me feel like it might not be. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I thought this was a joke too. I got a kick out of the idea of some high schooler or college freshman’s satire causing a bunch of parents to force their kids to remove flash in 2001 because its a “computer hacking tool”.

The other stuff like “you can’t remove Linux without damaging the hard drive” and that you have to send it back to the manufacturer to be replaced just seems so cheeky...

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