
Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer - paulsb
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy
======
startingup
This raises another question: how long are we going to fight the losing battle
of reclaiming the word "hacker" from its current shady connotation? After
reading news like this, I would be really ashamed to call myself a "hacker".

Note that I am making a purely linguistic point here. The popular culture has
pretty well defined the word already .... think about explaining to your non-
technical friend that you were reading about the epilepsy episode in Hacker
News!

This reminds me of another word, "liberal", which in America means someone who
advocates what would be classically considered illiberal economics (government
intervention in the economy, protectionism and so on). The Economist still
refuses to accept the American hijacking of a fine word, but somehow I don't
believe a Ron Paul would ever want to be called a "liberal", which he actually
is in the classical sense.

As a counter-example, J.K. Rowling seems to have bestowed a different meaning
to the word "witch", equating it with "wizard". And then I realize PG was
originally a Brit, so may be the Brits can "take English back" :-)

~~~
sfg
The fact you will not use the word due to shame makes me think of Gresham's
law which states: "Money overvalued by the State will drive money undervalued
by the State out of circulation.",(from Wikipedia). In this case the bad
association the word brings pushes its use beyond the comfort zone of those
whose intentions are good.

Also, the positive image of good hackers is no doubt appealing to the more
nefarious computer users and so only increases there desire to use the label.
Combine these pressures with the fact that the negative version has already
captured the popular mind and it would seem you might be right that the battle
is lost.

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abstractbill
I wonder how hard it would be to get a web browser to recognize and block
these attacks. Are the patterns very formulaic?

~~~
xirium
There is a standard gadget, the Harding FPA Machine, to check television
adverts for likelihood of triggering epilepsy. Apparently, it wasn't used to
check London 2012 Olympic publicity material (
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/05/2012...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/05/2012_logo_epilepsy_feature.shtml)
).

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paulsb
Disgusting.

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startupcrazy
Having read Paul's treatise yesterday on the importance of improving our on-
line dialectic, this story also reminds me that it may also be acceptable, if
not appropriate, to occasionally refer to people as simply 'assholes'. A much
better word in this case than 'hackers'.

~~~
xenoterracide
these people aren't merely assholes. They are terrorists (I do not throw this
term around lightly). I generally abhor black hat's (grey hats and security
researcher's breaking the law to prove a point aside) but this is beyond
attacking a network, cracking a web site or even stealing someones Identity.
This is as bad as taking an old womans walker and proceeding to beat her with
it.

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mhb
Snow Crash

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noonespecial
Oh, look. Pure naked evil.

Small now, yes, but give them an RPG and a mask and I assure you it will
scale.

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brett
I was hoping that wasn't going to be as despicable as the title sounded.
That's really upsetting.

~~~
jfalk
Yea, me too. I mean, while I'm not part of the hacker culture, I always
understood the point of it was more for recognition than actually hurting
anyone. This very much goes against that.

~~~
philippp
AFAIK "Hacking" is the creative implementation of any technology to do
something it wasn't designed to do.

Cracking and griefing regrettably fall under that umbrella as well, as do
physical assaults perpetrated with technology.

~~~
tomjen
Definition of creative (ditionary.com):

>1\. having the quality or power of creating. >2\. resulting from originality
of thought, expression, etc.; imaginative: creative writing. >3\. originative;
productive (usually fol. by of).

Adding blinking gifs to a homepage does not create anything, it does not
result from any originality of thought nor is is productive so I would argue
that it is not hacking.

~~~
PieSquared
You're right. It's not.

The word "hacking" has, in the media, taken on a meaning which is different
from the meaning that it had originally - and the meaning that you'll most
often find around here. Sadly, though, the use is so common that arguing
against it is pretty much hopeless. It seems that outside of the hacker
community (proper sense of the word), you probably shouldn't call yourself a
hacker, since the first thing that will come to people's minds is this.

This isn't hacking. This is 'cracking' - and a more disgusting form of it than
usual, a form meant to physically harm people.

~~~
ig1
Actually the earliest recorded references to hacking (in the documents of the
MIT Tech Model Railroad Club which is generally acknowledged as the origin of
the term) all have the term used in the mallicious (if mischevious) sense such
as phone phreaking.

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dreish
I think the term "griefer" is more appropriate. I hope it continues to gain
currency.

