The Playstation Network Has Been Hacked

I think hackers, just like graffiti 'artists', should have their asses beaten.

Or, at least, cut their allowance for a few weeks.

Well what sort of activism would you prefer? Protests often inconvenience people - Make them late for work, make buildings and such off limits, cost tax payer money. petitions are largely ineffective. Riots are dangerous and destructive. Consumers who "vote with their wallet" are few and far between because most people are lazy and can't be bothered, so those who do make the effort don't make a dent in the company's pocket. Where I am, the people are typically held hostage by whatever the government wants to push on us so where are people supposed to turn to when they need to be heard?

People were inconvenienced by Rosa Parks. She didn't just bother the bus company, she bothered a lot of people.

- Thomwade I think you missed my point about anon - They made the effort to not go through with their idea because it would have affected the consumer too greatly. Other actions they have taken -have- just harassed the company and not the people. Sure their slate isn't clean, but we're reaching a point where typical methods of activism are falling weak. Personally, if something is going to be a minor annoyance to me in order for a greater message to be made, so be it. Sony isn't listening to anyone else right now and crossing all sorts of privacy lines and they get away with it because no one seems to care to stop them.

The truth is, hacktivism happens but it doesn't get as much press unless there is some reason to villianize them for what they're doing. There isn't many media outlets that want to paint what these guys are doing in a good light but there are many white hats out there.

Not all hackers are bad. There are varying degrees of hacker and lumping them all into one group is wildly incorrect.

Yes i agree, this doesn't look like Hacktivism, this looks like a crude assault. I've never said all hacking was good, I'm mearly saying that Hacktivists have a great potential for social change, as well as a great potential for some serious damage.

In junior high, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I actually got stuck in a typewriting class elective. It was taught on ancient manual typewriters - it took about a pound of pressure to get any particular key to strike.

Anyway, the teacher, for the time, was fancy - she actually had a small monotone green computer, and she used it to keep our grades on. We could login to see our scores, "read only", while her account could edit and add grades.

So, well, one day - I hacked into this monotone green computer under her account. Her password? It was "password". I remember all the other kids thought I was some sort of brilliant computer hacker for figuring this out.

I told the teacher though. Immediately. I was a goody-two-shoes.

Not all hackers are bad!