I've been paying a little attention, but it really doesn't surprise me. Kids these days who learn about computers have grown up seeing "hackers" in the news. The media is right to portray them, because hackers are great role models especially for the younger computer users who want to learn more.
The problem is, the media focused their portrayal on the negative sides of the hackers of old, and their definition of "hacking" has lost its focus. They have started to call people who should be referred to as "crackers," "criminals," or "vandals" as "hackers." While I'm ecstatic that young ones today are learning, they are learning in the wrong way. Now that we have volumes of free software to learn from, we don't need to attack closed systems. Stop protesting against Sony, a proprietary software manufacturer, and start supporting free software developers that don't have even the potential to attack your freedom. Problem solved. Anyway, I hope someone sees this and decides to *not* fight for the good guys. The days of cracking for educational purposes are over, so stop it. -- Mark Holmquist Student, Computer Science University of Redlands [email protected] _______________________________________________ LinuxUsers mailing list [email protected] http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers
