258 DEAR HACKER

258 DEAR HACKER

didn’t know what a hacker in general was. They all agreed he was a very bad person who wanted to rob and defraud you.

I asked if any of their parents copied their DVDs so they could have their own copy to put in the DVD player themselves. Indeed, a couple did. At a three- to five-year-old level, I explained fair use and DeCSS.

“Why don’t they want me to have a copy of Finding Nemo to put in when I want?”

“Because they want your daddy to buy two so they can have more money.”

“That’s silly, they should share.” The kids learned a valuable lesson: that their parents and they were in

a hacker conspiracy to independently watch movies that they legally own. They learned that people who do bad things are bad people whether they do them on a computer or in the physical world. You should always treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Mark It may seem thoroughly appalling to manipulate the minds of toddlers until you

realize that it’s already being done every day through television and other less subtle forms of propaganda. A little debriefing is definitely in order.

Dear 2600: Why is it that evil can only be replaced by those more evil? Jack Valenti

was bad enough but now Dan Glickman, the new MPAA head, wants to impose RIAA-style subpoenas. The new Corporate America we see today is no longer based on what the general public wants, but rather what is in the interests of big business! The people who really run the country are the directors of national security, big tobacco, pharmaceu- tical companies, but most of all mass media! The mass media spreads its propaganda like it was true. Now the only place you can go for non American-biased news is the BBC or maybe PBS! If the MPAA and the RIAA can throw their weight around in the legislature and the courtroom, how is that different than al Qaeda in Afghanistan? They

T H E M A G I C O F T H E C O R P O R AT E W O R L D

are panicking because people have another choice rather than to pay outrageous fees for entertainment. Damned be the DMCA!

Monkey Minister The whole corporate/media thing really isn’t all that new. You shouldn’t be sur-

prised when these entities act like this. That’s what they’re there for. Instead, viable alternatives need to be encouraged wherever possible. You can’t stop P2P tech- nology nor prevent the spread of alternative media—unless people allow it to hap- pen. Also, comparing the MPAA/RIAA to al Qaeda probably won’t wind up being the most convincing method of getting people to see the wisdom of your opinion.

Dear 2600:

I work for the telephone company here in British Columbia. Telus has put GPS units on most of the trucks used for installation and repair. Telus apparently bought the Geomatics company that manufactures these devices which are supposed to be able to show in real time where

a vehicle is. These devices are mounted on the driver’s fender of the vehicles we drive with other electronics boxed under the dashboard in- side the vehicle. The satellite antenna is a hockey puck size and shaped device with a cell antenna molded into it which sticks up about three inches. A couple of small wires feed down from the hockey puck and enter the engine compartment and feed through the firewall to a black box about the size of a cigar box. I can see lights on this box through the cracks where the molded pieces of the dashboard fit together. This is what I know and understand. All our managers have the ability to access the GPS program from their computer. They can tell when we start our trucks in the morning, when we drive away (and there is a detailed map associated with this that shows our route), our speed, and idle time. This information is sent via cell or 1X data transmis- sion. If we get out of cell range the GPS information is compiled and sent out when we do reach cell communication. Telus has only stated that this is used in case our trucks are stolen. However, an upper