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ROTC-Like Program for Nerds

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the uncle-sam-really-does-want-you dept.

ThatGuyAZ writes "President Clinton announced this morning that he's proposing to put $91 Million into supporting the college educations of computer science students. I'm wondering how much this might be in response to criticism that too many foreigners were in sensitive positions during the Y2K bug-fix stage. But that's just my guess..."

3 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. What a splendid idea! by konstant · · Score: 5

    Hey, what a marvellous career path for a computer science major - the US. Army!

    It has all the qualities that suit a hackor best:
    *rigid command hierarchy
    *formalized attire
    *shitty pay
    *no respect from the public
    *9-5 workday
    *guns! (thrown in for ESR, I'm guessing - that clever clinton!)

    And on top of all this, you get to work against your ideals by squashing online insurgency! Wonderful! Where can I sign up?

    -konstant
    Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!

    --
    -konstant
    Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
  2. initial image by DarkClown · · Score: 5

    the first thing that sprung to my mind before i read the article was an image of a shaved headed teenager in a uniform sitting in trembling attention at a terminal while being yelled at by a smokey the bear hat wearing mean guy about how he 'just kill -9'd his buddy' by not recompiling a kernel correctly.

  3. ROTC initial impression by Corrinne+Yu · · Score: 5

    // literacy

    More funding to computer literacy can do potential good.

    // "paranoia"

    I remember when the Feds were really obsessed with the "crackers" (literally pirate groups that crack copy protection of software and warez them out) and did these huge and invasive crackdowns that led to the Steve Jackson raiding controversy.

    And that small children (I was one of them) were offered cash per person that they would squeal on who is such a cracker. (FYI, I didn't turn anyone in. :) )

    Not that this is (or is it?) Clinton's idea.

    I don't want to see a "Big Brother" state of teenage computer coders being financially encouraged to turn in and monitor their fellow coders (most of them innocent).

    Much of coding is learning from each other and sharing information and understanding. This involves a lot of trust and friendship.

    I would hate to see government actions accidentally harming this trust, or the programming community.

    P.S. It is not if you are legal what are you afraid of? Government officials/FBI sometimes appear to be ignorant of technology issues, and paranoid of things they don't understand, and many innocent (but suspicious appearing) young children can be harmed by this.




    Corrinne Yu
    3D Game Engine Programmer