Vatican Invites Hackers To Fix Problems, Not Breach Security (apnews.com)

From a report: Computer hackers with a heart are descending on the Vatican to help tackle pressing problems particularly dear to Pope Francis, including how to better provide resources for migrants and encourage solidarity for the poor. The "Vatican Hackathon," an around-the-clock computer programming marathon, starts Thursday in the Vatican, with the full support of the pope, several Vatican offices and student volunteers from Harvard and MIT. Organizers stressed that no firewalls will be breached or acts of computer piracy committed.

Comments

That's not how this works

[ArtemaOne]

That's not how any of this works

Re:That's not how this works

[K. S. Kyosuke]

What do you mean, you can't fix problems without finding them first like everyone else can?

Re:That's not how this works

[hey!]

Arguably this is the ethos that separates hacking from engineering: hacking involves opportunistically discovering problems to solve.

Jesus was a hacker.

[Comboman]

Think about it: unruly beard, no girlfriend, lived with his mom til he was 30.

Re:Jesus was a hacker.

[Anonymous Coward]

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." (1 Cor 1:18)

Some truths are abundantly timeless. This is one of them.

Re:Jesus was a hacker.

[Anonymous Coward]

He was married. Try again. Also, he didn't exist.

Wait, which was it? Was he married or did he not exist? Or was a non-existent being married? I'm confused.

Re:Jesus was a hacker.

[HornWumpus]

False hope is better than no hope?

Re:Jesus was a hacker.

[agm]

I've never understood why Jews were blamed when the myth says he was crucified by Romans.

Re:Jesus was a hacker.

[youngone]

The evidence is abundant for the hope in Jesus.

Evidence? Would you like to post some? Assuming that weird sentence means what I think it means.
It's often difficult to understand the religious, they tend to have a blinkered view of the world.

Re: Jesus was a hacker.

[Anonymous Coward]

And when he actually did something comparable to real work, it was a miracle.

Original sense of hacking

[SirGarlon]

Thank you, Vatican, for using the word "hacking" in the original sense as hackers themselves defined it. Before the mainstream press appropriated it and turned it into a perjorative.

Re: Original sense of hacking

[Monster_user]

But was it intentional?

Verbage of the OP suggests confusion and conflation.

I wouldn't be surprised if they hired a Hack-a-thon veteran to set this thing up, but still couldn't understand the difference between a hacker (A), and a "hacker" (B) (slang).

Re: Original sense of hacking

[SirGarlon]

I think it's the reporter who wrote TFA who didn't know the difference.

Re: Original sense of hacking

[Monster_user]

Quite possible. That would serve to indicate the conflation and confusion was unintentional, and instead demonstrates the poor quality of news sources. Though it probably does so anyway, I haven't had time to read the article yet to see if the author points out the errors in logic to the reader.

Turnabout is fair play Re:if i was a hacker

[Anonymous Coward]

i would expose all the pedophiles

Pedophiles "expose" themselves already, that's the problem.

As a recovering Catholic

[Major_Disorder]

This seems like a very bad idea.
True hackers tend to be very individualistic, and as a group probably have a higher than average number of atheists. If I were qualified, I would have tried to get in on this with my first goal being to open up a back door so I could leak Vatican secrets at my convenience for a long time to come.

Re: As a recovering Catholic

[Anonymous Coward]

While I consider myself Athiest only due to my own ignorance on other terms for deity-free people, I respect peoples rights to believe what they want.

I also respect the current pope only because he's an actual human being with the intent of actually helping people, even if the subtext is that he is doing it in the name of his deity.

Re:As a recovering Catholic

[quietwalker]

- there is no 'True Hacker'
- Individual developers have their own preferences to working alone or in groups, both occur, but it seems that many (most?) prefer teams
- Atheism does not disallow altruism nor require attack on churches
- You didn't read the article, it has nothing to do with the network used by the church, it's a standard hackathon sponsored by the church.

Re: As a recovering Catholic

[agm]

He's trying to help people? Is that why they don't allow condoms to be used in AIDS ravaged African countries? No, they seek power and they use threats of eternal punishment to get it. It's a disgusting sham.

If hackers really wanted to help the poor

[Anonymous Coward]

They could just hack the Vatican's accounts. That would be stealing just like how the popes stole it originally during the crusades. Probably they will just end up showing cardinals how to hide their digital footprints when abusing children, its a long standing tradition in the Catholic church to cover up abuses rather than punish those responsible.

Someone is going to propose a Papal Blockchain

[The voice of Reason.]

Blockchain consultant: "You see - it is all meet and right, for in the beginning, your Holyness, we shall have a Genesis Block. And thus through Proof of Works shall we suffer the poor to mine unto God what is God's for the glory of the one true Fork."

Papa F: "My child, this proposal seems canonically inconsistent with doctrines concerning salvation by faith. Indeed, should we not tempt the poor into the servitude of Mammon by making each the hustler of his fellow man, the wealthy must be persuaded to - what's that word you use - "bootstrap" the tithing with their voluntary contributions."

Blockchain consultant: "Your foresight is without equal, oh primus inter pares, for we deal address this in the next slide deck, "Phase 2: Indulgence Coin Offering"

Papa F: "A righteous solution, but how do you propose we explain all of this to the flock?"

Blockchain consultant: "We shall distribute this wisdom through the establishment of an official education and outreach program, a Center For Decentralization, if you will"

Papa F: "Ah! Complex problem answered by a Holy Mystery; the Eastern Orthodox will certainly be envious. However I have a final inquisition for you."

Blockchain consultant: "By your grace, please ask"

Papa F: "What's Phase 3?"

And before you know it...

[magusxxx]

Project Pope by Clifford D. Simak is a reality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:How Much Are They Paying?

[Dracolytch]

1) It's a charitable act. Charity. As in, you do it for free, because it's the right thing to do.
2) They're not talking about IT systems. They're talking about hacking together solutions for those under-served by the general populace.

Re:May the Lord bless and guide them

[agm]

It's like a bunch of old men who still believe in Santa. I feel sorry for adults who are sucked in by the biggest con on earth.