Gray Hats Re: [WEB4LIB] Re: Jack Valenti: Copyright and creativity

[Matt Theobald]

What relevance do mainstream consumers have to the access and abilities of 
hackers (or those who know the subculture)  It is built into the revenue 
that though 1 billion is lost several billions are made.  I think we ought 
not to confuse knowledge that truly contributes to GNP with entertainment 
that drains expendable income.  Big difference between hacking private 
medical, legal, government info versus someone hacking a DVD 
encryption.  Hackers white and black are pro freedom of information across 
the spectrum of ethics.

Just to play with color theory, both types can have "green" hats on 
depending on their motivation for using the technology.

Links: Gray Hats
http://www.2600.org
http://www.attrition.net

-Matt

At 3/20/01 10:36 AM, you wrote:
>FYI, the story is authored by, and I quote:
>"Jack Valenti is the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of
>America."
>
>So what else would one expect from such an individual but a one-sided,
>right-wing interpretive viewpoint?  These people are part of the same 
>crowd that
>are basically trying to obliterate fair use (that is my sense anyway).
>
>The story also misuses the term "hacker" in the abysmally commonplace way 
>that
>most of the mainstream press *still* does, i.e. characterizing hackers
>mistakenly as 'evil-doers'.  The correct colloquial terms for *malicious*
>computer criminals are 'cracker' or 'black-hat'.  Hackers, by contrast, are a
>time-honoured classs of ethical individuals who are unusually knowledgeable
>about, and interested in, computer technology -- that's it.  The mainstream
>press should certainly know better by now.
>
>I think this fundamental error speaks volumes...
>
>My $0.02,
>Raymond
>
>On Mar 20, "Charles P. Hobbs" <chhobbs at cdrewu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > http://www.msnbc.com/news/546536.asp
> > --
> > Charles P. Hobbs
> > King Drew Health Science Library
> > http://www.cdrewu.edu/kdhsl
> >
> >
> >
> >