In an age of "post-truth", out of control "political correctness" and all the other daemons, it's hard to read this and even realise it is supposed to be satire.
Please don't hijack the conversation to whinge about political correctness.
Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
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Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#92I can't tell if this was legit fear, outright propaganda or satire. Having had a computer in my life since the age of 8, this seems like one hilarious cliche on top of another, the kind of thing you'd expect to see as an ad playing in the background of the 1995 cult classic: Hackers :D
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#93I'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...
> and that you have to send it back to the manufacturer to be replaced just seems so cheeky...
This reads to me like some scripted item a jaded customer service representative reads to a computer-illiterate customer complaining about something on their computer, who of course believes it.
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#94This constant linking to other things is a bit annoying. I found most of them are older books. I clicked the spanking link to maybe find a book on why you should/shouldn't spank your children and instead got a porn site. Who is this guy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adequacy.org#Notable_stories
> The Adequacy authors began as trolls on Slashdot and Kuro5hin, other technology-oriented discussion sites.
It is now official. Netcraft has confirmed: *BSD is dying.
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#95I can't tell if this was legit fear, outright propaganda or satire. Having had a computer in my life since the age of 8, this seems like one hilarious cliche on top of another, the kind of thing you'd expect to see as an ad playing in the background of the 1995 cult classic: Hackers :D
When this first appeared I thought I remembered it had been picked up by the mainstream press, but I can't find a mention of it on news search.
You can imagine how easily the masses would have accepted this in 2001.
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#96"If your son is using Quake, you should make hime understand that this is not acceptable to you. You should ensure all the firearms in your house are carefully locked away, and have trigger locks installed. You should also bring your concerns to the attention of his school." Holy moly!
Having firearms stored safely and appropriately does seem like generally good advice, regardless of whether your child plays Quake.
Plot twist: the article is a stealth PSA about firearm safety
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, but billionaires shouldn’t exist even if they are philanthropic. There’s a reason Bill Gates is a household name and many other innovators are not, and it involves a lot of zeroes. If you are going to be a billionaire, you surrender your life to being on the front page of the tabloids. In my mind the only reason to continue working after making around $10 million is greed. Bill Gates himself cites his busy sch…
The idea that governments spend their money responsibly and according to the wishes of their citizens is... The kindest thing I can say is that it's not a universally held opinion (or even, in my experience, a significant-minority held opinion).
You know, it feels that way to citizens because the government is spending money in ways that other citizens want, but not them specifically. Iowa corn growers love corn subsidies and politicians make ethanol pledges to appease them, home owners love mortgage tax deductions so no politician will dare threaten them, military equipment manufactures love that we spend ludicrous amounts of money on our arguably insanely-too-big military, etc. Sure, there's some straight-up corruption too, but personally I think the waste from that pales in comparison to the waste of politicians simply trying to appeal to as many constituents as possible for votes.
Representative government is, unsurprisingly, a pretty good reflection of the people it governs. What we are saying when we say we don't think that government spends money responsibly is that our society loves to create inefficiencies to exploit for their own gain and don't care about the consequences to others.
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#98Is your son or daughter safe from the Russian menace "Tetris"? Some common symptoms include them attempting to organize their room into well fitting shapes such as neatly fitting boxes. True Hackers use Compuserve or Prodigy.
You laugh, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect
When Call of Duty 4 came out, I played it so much I would have vivid dreams almost nightly of playing "paintball" with friends, suddenly realizing we were using real guns and ammo, and we would continue "playing" even after we realized the death and carnage that was resulting.
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#99I can't tell if this was legit fear, outright propaganda or satire. Having had a computer in my life since the age of 8, this seems like one hilarious cliche on top of another, the kind of thing you'd expect to see as an ad playing in the background of the 1995 cult classic: Hackers :D
When this first appeared I thought I remembered it had been picked up by the mainstream press, but I can't find a mention of it on news search. You can imagine how easily the masses would have accepted this in 2001.
Something being picked up by the "mainstream press" does not mean it is not satire.
There are all kinds of satire and hoaxes that have been reported by the mainstream press as truth and reality...
Re: Is your son a computer hacker? (2001)
#100I can't tell if this was legit fear, outright propaganda or satire. Having had a computer in my life since the age of 8, this seems like one hilarious cliche on top of another, the kind of thing you'd expect to see as an ad playing in the background of the 1995 cult classic: Hackers :D
When this first appeared I thought I remembered it had been picked up by the mainstream press, but I can't find a mention of it on news search. You can imagine how easily the masses would have accepted this in 2001.
I recall thinking back then that hackers were mysterious and cool. Fast forward to becoming a computer programmer and spending my life reverse engineering basically everything to be able to do my job and it seems laughable how much fear people have of basically anyone that spends time understanding anything they don't.
Look! A witch! :D
Also, I guess if you were a girl, you had a free pass, because if this article was anything to go by, hackers could only be boys(?)