24 June 2011
LulzSec and asking for it
Some Slashdot commenters were up-in-arms about LulzSec "liberating" gaming and bank passwords etc. Their arguments were of two types: (1) the exploits were so simple that LulzSec members are, at best, simpletons and (2) the exploits are threatening the openness of the Internet by inviting the US gov't to create absurdly restrictive laws to stop similar adventures. Regarding #1, Bruce Schneier held up the exploits' simplicity as proof of corporate laziness. If troublemaking scriptkiddies weren't grabbing headlines, no one outside of the tech community would realize just how vulnerable their data is. If simpletons can do it for fun, you know that thieves are doing it for profit. Regarding #2, I'm shocked that anyone would hold up "fear of the government taking away your freedoms" as reason to stop doing something. I'm doubly shocked that such a reason would dominate Slashdot threads. We should blame irrational and reactive politics on those politicians acting that way. The problem isn't what act triggers their reaction, it's the poor logic that informs it.
It's been entertaining following the growth of the SlutWalks around the world. Background: cop talking to university students about crime prevention tells women not to dress like sluts.
Hilarity ensues. Within a few months, women in cities all over are demonstrating against the idea that they should live in fear of having broken some arbitrary dress code and that, having broken said code, they were "asking for it." We should blame irrational and reactive social behavior on those individuals acting that way. The problem isn't what act triggers their reaction, it's the poor logic that informs it.
- Human VMs posted by sstrader on 25 January 2015 at 10:53:46 PM
- The social anxiety posted by sstrader on 22 April 2014 at 5:07:47 PM
- Trends posted by sstrader on 22 September 2013 at 11:20:10 AM
- Repeat posted by sstrader on 6 September 2013 at 8:19:58 PM
- Technology and society posted by sstrader on 29 June 2013 at 12:44:54 PM