350 DEAR HACKER

350 DEAR HACKER

security when all they did was figure out a way to defeat it. The media portrays them as the threat to your privacy when in actuality hackers do much more to protect it.”

You’re wasting your breath. The media’s definition of the word “hack- er” isn’t going to change any time soon. Why don’t you just accept their definition and choose a new name for yourselves? Otherwise it seems futile. The energy you spend trying to defend hackers could be used to promote yourselves.

Mannequin If we did such a thing, do you honestly believe it would end there? Any word used

to describe us would wind up being subverted by those who continue not to get it. So it’s best to continue fighting to educate people.

Dear 2600: Picked up your mag for the first time in a year or so and laughed at

the articles written by rich white boys (Hilton hacking, Cruise hack- ing, Mercedes hacking, Adelphia hacking, etc.). Maybe you should change your mag’s name to $2600k. And stealing is still stealing (re article on “bypassing website security”). Those same frustrated white boys taking images belonging to other people. Maybe another cruise will cool them off.

Juan in Aztlan

Let’s get this straight. People shouldn’t talk about manipulating technology that you consider to be available only to a privileged few? That certainly serves the interest of those companies that would prefer we keep their security holes secret. We won’t even address your racial problems as it would be a waste of time. But equating copying an image on a website with theft only minimizes what real thieves do.

OUR BIGGEST FANS

Dear 2600: I’ve been reading your magazine on and off for a few years now, and I’ve

noticed that you tend to be a little too hard on “big corporations” and

a little too easy on “harmless explorers.” The fact of the matter is that if you were ever successful in your at-

tempts to put the RIAA out of business, you’d be putting several thou- sand families out of business at the same time. While we all agree that the prices for CDs have gotten a little too high in some cases, we need to remember that we live in a capitalist environment in which we have the choice to voice our dissatisfaction by simply not supporting ideas and organizations that we believe to be overcharging or corrupt. This does not mean that we need to hop on the local P2P network and start downloading the newest Jay Z album, but we need to simply not listen to the new Jay Z album.

The MPAA has also come under fire from your organization, and I find it a bit odd that you seem to have trouble seeing past the “outra- geous” copyright protection schemes when all you have to do is view the end credits of any film you see in the theaters. Look at the hundreds of names that are attached to these products. Remember those names when Internet piracy seriously endangers the prospects of profitability for future releases.

I understand that you don’t advocate stealing movies and music as a way to get back at these corporations, but openly supporting decryp- tion packages and security bypass measures allows people to continue pirating new media. Is that your intention? I don’t know, to be honest with you. I know you’ll feed me the line about open systems and how people have the right to explore, but far, far more people are stealing as opposed to exploring, and that’s the problem. It’s unrealistic and unpragmatic to write off the potential for theft and loss when you promote these supposed altruistic efforts and programs.

And on the flip side, maybe I’m ignorant of all the facts, but it seems that you are too willing to forgive and forget when computer hackers are charged with serious crimes. Mitnick was imprisoned for a long time, and there’s no doubt that the government should have handled his situation a little bit more efficiently than they did, but don’t forget