After doing the readings this week you kind of have to feel for "hackers" a bit don't you..? They've been given a tough time by society after having all these movies like "WarGames" and "The Net" bandied around. Most of us (including myself until this weeks lectures) think of hackers as thieving criminals or destructive intellectuals who hack for financial gain or for the pure enjoyment of seeing people suffer. After reading Thomas' article it becomes clear that actual "hackers" (not "crackers") are actually quite ethical, considering themselves the "watchdogs against industry abuses" and even have their own set of unspoken rules "never act maliciously" and "never hack for financial gain", the very rules I would have thought hackers aimed to break!
As for hacktivism, while it can be damaging, as Lucy said "I think using computers to enhance activism, by 'Hacktivism', is important as it provides a new platform for smaller/subordinate voices to be heard . . .". Computers have given a voice to those with little power to be heard, not just concerning hacktivism but with anything on the internet such as blogs or personal web-pages and this could be a stepping stone towards higher equality in the world.
What also struck me as interesting was the sort of conflict between 'old-school' and 'new-school' hackers. The old-school hackers attacking new-school hackers for violating principles that inspired themselves while new-school hackers taking stabs at old-school hackers for selling out and going corporate with their skills, most becoming rich in the process.
And we thought it was society against hackers... It seems like it is really different generations of hackers who are against each other!
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2 comments:
pheeny we clearly took interest in the same part of the article. i like the way you think
Hi Liv, thanks for the comment, not many people call me "pheeney" so its quite interesting you thought of it! :)
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