quote:
Originally posted by PTTG??:
<STRONG>Now just one moment here.I have no excess of compassion for Scientology. Anyone who willingly believes in the rambling, absurdest tales of a modern science-fiction writer, or insists that the mentally unhealthy avoid psychotherapy with threats of alien mind control, is a dangerous and unhealthy person by his self. The illegal and immoral actions taken by the 'church' have only darkened them in the eyes of myself and much of the world.
That said, 'Hackers' are not folk heroes. They are the very scum of the information age, the source of virus-laden spam and identity theft. There are two differences between the 'hacker' and a back-alley thug; while the thug will take your watch, your wallet, and your keys, and possibly break a bone in the process he will do so face-to-face, frankly risking his life to what could be a well-armed civilian. The hacker, however, will take all of your savings, or near enough, and destroy your personal economy; you will loose your house, your car, your credit rating, and quite possibly your health insurance. And of course, he, with a greasy, acne-ridden grin, do this from his basement, hundreds, or thousands, or perhaps only a few, miles away, and you will not know, will never know who did this.
Recently, the entire country of Estonia was shut down by a cabal of hackers, nay, electronic terrorists. Please note that when I say shut down, I mean that every major business, bank, and branch of government short of the most isolated military segment was cut off from communications with the outside world and each other. And when I say that these people are terrorists, make no mistake; While I would never stoop so low as to compare the merely mild loss of communication, and the resulting stock market crash, to the value of the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world each year, These gutless cowards used the most basic principles of terror to do their work. They caused fear to force those who are more powerful than them to do as they wished.
The Estonia hackers (believed to be private Russian citizens) demanded only that a soviet war memorial statue be moved to call of their assault, by the way.
So all I ask is a little perspective behind that humble emoticon of joy. The enemy of my enemy (or in this case, the enemy of my triviality) is not my friend.
</STRONG>
It seems as though you are somewhat confused about hackers. Not all hackers are bad hackers that can be related to a back alley thug. As a matter of fact the majority of hackers are good people that work to secure the internet and counter the intentions of the hackers that you are referring to. However your confusion is understandable because all that most people hear about or see of hackers are black hat hackers (a term for bad hackers). While in actuality there is a thriving community of white hat hackers (a term for good hackers) behind the scenes that work to keep the internet and peoples computers safe. However you never hear about these people because the media always focuses on the bad. I know this because I myself am a white hat hacker; the worst thing that I ever do with hacking is snooping around a website or computer out of curiosity without harming anything. I have never stolen money, harmed a website or computer, made a virus, or stolen anyones identity, and I find the actions of these internet terrorists nauseating. I say this in the defense of good people like myself that work to keep you safe from black hat hackers, take it as you will.
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Topic: beware the 10th of february! (Read 18817 times)