"Hackers"-- brief review and anecdote...

I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
is curiosity." Given that a major studio is spending beaucoup bucks to
spread this tag line, I think it is safe to say that cyber issues are very
mainstream by now. Still edgy enough to be exciting to many, but definitely
comprehendable.

The characters are just a bit too cool for school and some of the notes
ring false. The evil one, a corporate computer security officer, would have
been better served by someone who is not as laughable as Fischer Stevens. I
could probably hit the escape key on my computer here and he would cringe.
Jeremy Irons or Klaus-Maria Brandaur would have been more inspired. But
they can't skateboard.

I also stopped by the Department of Motor Vehicles yesterday. The lines
were long and I soon found myself grousing along with the guy behind me. He
was about 60 years old and not part of the cyberpunk generation in any way.
After I said some libertarian thing by wondering aloud about why we even
needed to have such a huge bureaucracy centered around cars, he said,
"Yeah. Have you seen all the land they have down in Fort Meade. Beautiful
land and they just spend their time down their spying on the people." He
lumped the NSA in with the DMV. To him, it was just one big bureaucracy.

-Peter

>I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
>very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
>is curiosity." 

It may not be a crime, but it's not nice to steal a title.

> 
> >I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
> >very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
> >is curiosity." 
> 
> It may not be a crime, but it's not nice to steal a title.

 I think there's a high probability of someone independently inventing
the title "hackers" for this movie rather than steal it. It's not
very original. Besides, the content of your book has very little
to do with this movie. The movie would be more appropriately
titled "crackers" or "phreakers"

-Ray

On Sat, 16 Sep 1995, Ray Cromwell wrote:

> > 
> > >I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
> > >very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
> > >is curiosity." 
> > 
> > It may not be a crime, but it's not nice to steal a title.
> 
>  I think there's a high probability of someone independently inventing
> the title "hackers" for this movie rather than steal it. It's not
> very original. Besides, the content of your book has very little
> to do with this movie. The movie would be more appropriately
> titled "crackers" or "phreakers"
> 
> -Ray
>  
> 
> 

Or maybe Bruce Sterling should object.

>I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
>very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
>is curiosity." 

I know companies who have spent millions cleaning up after a hacker breakin. 
I've been up at two in the morning trying to stop a person with known mental 
problems breaking into a site with some very dangerous computer controlled 
machinery. I've dealt with people trying to get rich quick by defrauding others. 
I've met some real evil bastards who simply want to ruin as many other peoples 
lives as they possibly can, including people that thought they were their 
friends.

To me teenagers who break into computer systems are not funny at all, its like 
joyriding, its funny until someone gets hurt. I know people who have got hurt 
real bad.

I like having privacy, part of the cost of that privacy is respecting the 
privacy of others.


	Phill

On Sun, 17 Sep 1995 hallam@w3.org wrote:

> I like having privacy, part of the cost of that privacy is respecting the 
> privacy of others.

And that's where we, the cypherpunks come in, by advocating strong 
cryptographic protocols and tools, we can keep every machine safe from 
intrusion; it's not just Uncle Sam's evil minions that should have total 
privacy; normal citizens need privacy too - the spooks shouldn't be the 
only ones with it.  :-)

This message has been brought to you by the Cypherpunks.  Use only 
Cypherpunks brand software ;-D

==========================================================================
 + ^ + |  Ray Arachelian | Amerika: The land of the Freeh. |   _ |>
  \|/  |sunder@dorsai.org| Where day by day, yet another   |   \ |
<--+-->|                 | Constitutional right vanishes.  |    \|
  /|\  |    Just Say     |                                 |    <|\
 + v + | "No" to the NSA!| Jail the censor, not the author!|    <| n
==========================================================================

On Sun, 17 Sep 1995 hallam@w3.org wrote:

> 
> >I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
> >very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
> >is curiosity." 
> 
> I know companies who have spent millions cleaning up after a hacker breakin. 
> I've been up at two in the morning trying to stop a person with known mental 
> problems breaking into a site with some very dangerous computer controlled 
> machinery. I've dealt with people trying to get rich quick by defrauding others. 
> I've met some real evil bastards who simply want to ruin as many other peoples 
> lives as they possibly can, including people that thought they were their 
> friends.
> 
> To me teenagers who break into computer systems are not funny at all, its like 
> joyriding, its funny until someone gets hurt. I know people who have got hurt 
> real bad.
> 
> I like having privacy, part of the cost of that privacy is respecting the 
> privacy of others.
> 
> 	Phill
> 

Phill obviously presents one point of view, vigorously and well.  What do 
the rest of you think about a teen who, say, busts into a .edu site, 
plays with the files, and ultimately brings the system down entirely for 
36 hours?  Fun and games?  Send him to his room, sans modem? Prosecute 
him?  Have a TLA hire him???

Not an easy answer for me for "mere trespass," but as damage mounts, it 
becomes easier. 

I'll try to post later tonight on my prior key escrow question.

EBD



Not a lawyer on the Net, although I play one in real life.
**********************************************************
Flame away! I get treated worse in person every day!!

On Sat, 16 Sep 1995, Steven Levy wrote:

> 
> >I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
> >very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
> >is curiosity." 
> 
> It may not be a crime, but it's not nice to steal a title.
> 

Well, it IS kinda a common word these days.  The Beatles and Madonna both 
have a song called "Rain" -- this doesn't mean madonna stole it, does it?

Jon	
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Lasser                <jlasser@rwd.goucher.edu>            (410)494-3072 
          Visit my home page at http://www.goucher.edu/~jlasser/
  You have a friend at the NSA: Big Brother is watching. Finger for PGP key.