

Ask HN: Are Hackers the New Bogeyman? - rubyfan

With all the hype and spectacle surrounding recent high profile attacks is anyone else noticing the drumbeat of talking heads trying to make the case for government intervention in cyber-security?<p>Is there more at stake here than premature responses to supposed state sponsored cyber-vandalism?
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anges244
In a way yes. It's been for more than a few years though. Many mainstream TV
series or movies portray hackers as shady, know-it-all characters that have
dark motives. This is just a larger scale depiction of the same stereotype,
which is not unjustifiable after the recent attacks. Hacking the PS network
and XBOX live, Sony about a movie and celebrities for their naked photos is
reasonable to create negative public response. Anonymous were not perceived as
a threat by the public because they would never try such cheap publicity
attracting stunts.

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rubyfan
The best thing about this new bogeyman is almost always unidentifiable or next
to impossible to conclusively identify. It's like a virtual enemy that can
never be completely stopped which means a new arms race of sorts. The theme I
think I'm seeing more of though is government floating ideas like a need for
intervention and Internet kill switches, etc.

