Slashdot Mirror
Hackers: Uncle Sam Wants You!
scraemondaemon writes: "A new TV public service announcement targets U.S. computer hacktivists with a blunt message: Uncle Sam wants you to help fight the war on terrorism. They demonize you and criminalize you and then ask for your help. What's a hacker to do?"
Let me just start by letting everyone know I live (and am currently typing this) from Manhattan.
I used to dislike cops. THey harassed me, the were disrespectful to me, and messed with my friends.
I take it all back. All of it.
I have a new respect for all police in New York City since the attacks on the world trade center. They, along with the firemen all risked thier lives to help get people out of the buildings as quickly as they could. But, as you know, the building collapsed, trapping thousands (literally) of New York's finest men and women, who selflessly gave thier lives to help the rest of us.
Now, when I see a police man on the street, I smile at him. He is ensuring my safety, and the safety of others.
Now, its our turn. Sure, the government may have "demonized" us before. But times are fundamentally different now. This is not about image, or public policy, this is about honest to god people. People's lives, thousands, mabey millions of people, are at risk. I for one will do ANYTHING, yes ANTHING, the government needs done. (And yes, if they have enough tech people, I will gladly go to the front line in Afganistan, or Iraq, or wherever).
It is now our turn to step up, and help defend our country.
Make no mistake, our society, our values, the very things that allowed us to achieve such levels of science and technology, is under attack.
Lets show those bastards they messed with the wrong people
--Alex Fishman
MafiaBoy is planning a DOS attack on "Yahoo! Afghanistan". That'll teach 'em.
"Shake yur bon bon"
what about if you quit? they'll arrest you because you'll be in the public eye again ;) they'll think you left this "great job" (they being really anyone who beleaves stuff on tv all the time) to go hack some website (your oun! ahck ti's php really but they won't know waht that means from "pgp") basicly i think that you'd get in trouble or just get watched all day long if you joined and left.
-(F+o(x*6-4)) == Foxx =]
If i was you, you'd be me and we wouldn't be having this conversation
My advice is that as many people in the hacker community that can, should help out the old .gov people in winning this 1st war of the 21st century and/or help out the less technically inclined NGO's doing disaster response in NY and DC. It is the patriotic thing to do. It is the right thing to do, and that should be enough reason.
.gov groups are the same ones that have misunderstood and/or demonized technology and the hacking community in the past. So what. It's still the right thing to do to pitch in and help, even if you don't like some of the people who will be on the team. If hackers are magnanimous here, then maybe some of those old political adversaries could be educated and shown that hackers are not criminals (those would be crackers). This could be an opportunity to win the "hearts and minds" of some local .gov people in addition to the ones we'll be fighting for in Afghanistan, the Sudan, and Iraq.
.gov how patriotic and productive the hacking community is. Ask Dr. Gerald Bull about the hazards of doing favors for the gov't in secret. Joe and Jane Sixpack need to be won over as well. Buy a book on public relations for small organizations; befriend a reporter; do a little of that social engineering to make sure that when the media is talking about what groups are doing what to help out, they mention your work as well. I am not suggesting that PR should take priority over actually helping out, but rather that with a little extra effort this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. An opportunity that may not come again soon.
Many of these
But don't just take this opportunity to show
And besides, even if no one but you ever knows what you did... donating time and effort to help the war efforts and/or disaster victims is still the right thing to do.