326 DEAR HACKER
326 DEAR HACKER
( http://www.lp.org/platform ) is crystal clear and leaves absolutely no doubt as to where they stand.
Ask yourself: do you want real freedom or don’t you? The choice is clear.
Lisa J. You’ve overanalyzed our message. If we wanted to endorse a candidate, we
would have done so in a more obvious way. The cover of 17:3 was a collection of images that summed up the events of the previous months: H2K, the RNC, the treatment of the demonstrators, the rise of the Green movement and the questions they raised, the “threat” of a cell phone, etc. We don’t care who you vote for and, as events have shown, it doesn’t really matter anyway. And that is what you should
be focusing your anger toward.
Dear 2600:
I have noticed as a reader on and off over the last few years that 2600 has become more of a political and social platform, in certain aspects, than a technical forum. The Fall 2000 issue was good, more techie articles, I felt. Don’t get me wrong, I know what the magazine has been through of late, but it is hard to get my new issues every few months and find it filled with articles about what court cases you are going through and reading about kids in high school who are getting busted by cranky old English teachers and such when I am expecting infor- mation for these kids and myself about computer and phone systems.
I guess my question is: Where do you see the magazine going? 2600 is the place I go to get new ideas about tech issues that are more edgy as well as new ways of looking at them. I hope that isn’t lost in these philosophical and boringly accusational arguments. I really want to impress that I do want to support 2600 in the court cases, etc., but I want a tech magazine as well.
C....
We’ll make you a deal then. We will continue to try and print edgy technical info that others are afraid to touch if you help us fight for a society that will see this as
a good thing. We would like nothing better than to be able to print articles without
OUR BIGGEST FANS
having to worry about which megacorp will come after us next. But as long as that keeps happening and as long as freedom of speech and association are punished instead of embraced, we’re going to have to fight back, in these pages and in other forums. If we lose, you likely won’t have anything at all to read.
Dear 2600: Everyone has responsibilities in life, like it or not. First, let me tell you
about mine. I work for one of the largest consulting firms in the world. When first hired, I had very little job security due to the fact that I was well known as a hacker. Over the period of two years, that has changed. Most of the people I work with are now extremely interested in non-malicious unauthorized security audits. 2600 articles are now everyday conversation material. I feel I have done my part, relative to my responsibility, to clarify to the people in my scope what the word “hacker” really means. You, however have a much larger scope and have voluntarily assumed the responsibility of being the voice of the hacker community. Why then is it that all you can do is piss and moan about the bad connotation the word “hacker” has received? We are hackers, not criminals. It is your responsibility to make this known on the global level. I therefore respectfully request that you stop pissing, moaning, and trying to play martyr, and voice to the world what a true hacker is. We will be extinct sooner than anyone realizes if we don’t take our name back from the irresponsible, adolescent, power-tripper wannabes who just want power and a free ride on our coattails ’cause they literally can’t hack it.
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Trigga Bistro Well, you’ve got us thoroughly confused. You want us to fight for the word “hacker” but
not complain when it’s misused? We’d sure like some specifics on how such a thing can be done. And keep in mind that we have access to, at most, four dimensions.