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The Vatican Lauds Hackers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the papal-soldering-gun dept.

angry tapir writes "Internet hackers have acquired a dubious reputation for piracy, sabotage and the spilling of sensitive secrets, but an authoritative Vatican publication appears to rehabilitate them and traces parallels between hacker philosophy and the teachings of Christianity. The charitable view of hackers was expressed by the Jesuit priest Father Antonio Spadaro in an article for the fortnightly magazine Civilta Cattolica, the text of which is vetted by the Vatican Secretariat of State prior to publication. Hackers should not be confused with crackers, Spadaro wrote, citing a definition penned by technology writer Eric S. Raymond: "Hackers build things, crackers break them.""

13 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Hackers=christians?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hackers are more like heretics. Trying to uncover the hidden truths. The church has a long history of trying to hide the truth.

    1. Re:Hackers=christians?? by AvitarX · · Score: 4, Informative

      FTFA:

      For all the common ground between Christians and hackers over the concepts of sharing, creativity and idealism, Spadaro acknowledged there were problems of compatibility between the Catholic Church's hierarchical organization and its focus on a "revealed truth" and the hackers' rejection of authority and of any hierarchy of knowledge.

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      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    2. Re:Hackers=christians?? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Funny

      Plus hackers use the Internet, which encourages satanism!

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      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    3. Re:Hackers=christians?? by characterZer0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The church has a long history of trying to hide the truth.

      The Catholic Church as a religious organization has a long history of trying to find and understand the truth, theologically. The Catholic Church as a political organization, as with any political organization, has a long history of trying to hide the truth of the politics of the church. In these writings, the comparison is made to the former, not the latter.

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    4. Re:Hackers=christians?? by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 4, Funny

      You can go in the winter, when it's cooler.

    5. Re:Hackers=christians?? by characterZer0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People spend a lot of time thinking about the original meaning of other people's made-up piles of crap. You can get advanced degrees in art history and literature.

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      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
  2. Apocalypse by Talderas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the Vatican gets the difference between hacker and cracker before the general populace...

    We have entered the beginning of the end.

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    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    1. Re:Apocalypse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought "cracker" just meant "white person."

  3. After all ... by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... Jesus Christ hacked Christianity out of Judaism.

    And Martin Luther wrote the open source version.

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    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:After all ... by chemicaldave · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Romans did not approve of his breaking of DRM so they crucified him. This tradition has endured even today.

  4. Interesting by bigsexyjoe · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well the Catholic Church is a large organization and it is good to remember that there is a plurality of opinions in it, even among it's leaders. It isn't just a cabal of child molesters. The Catholic Church has in the past condemned both capitalism and communism in their extreme forms.

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    Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
  5. Re:So who wants to join? by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

    Church of Jesus Christ, Computer Programmer. Free kool-aid and cookies this Sunday.

    Shouldn't that be Mountain Dew and Pizza?

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    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  6. Re:Eh... by Alsee · · Score: 4, Informative

    100 million hours of intellectual work, which is the equivalent of the time the citizens of the United States spend watching advertising on TV in a single weekend,"

    The math works out to about ten minutes per person per day. Considering that a typical one-hour show has about twenty minutes of commercials, the 100 million hour figure is probably about right.

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    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.