

An Inside Look at Anonymous, the Radical Hacking Collective - sizzle
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/08/masked-avengers

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phaus
>Many of the country’s top security officials attended the briefing, including
Alexander, Dempsey, Robert Mueller, the head of the F.B.I., and Janet
Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Gen. Martin Dempsey - Old School Armored Cavalry Officer. Knows lots about
killing people, not a single thing about network security.

Robert Mueller - Old School Cop. Knows lots about bank robberies. Doesn't know
anything about network security nor does he care to learn about it.

Janet Napolitano - Given direct authority over a large part of the federal
government's cyber-defense capabilities, knows fuck-all about network
security. Doesn't like using computers.

Surely more than one (Alexander) actual security expert attended the meeting?

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danso
> _" Many of the"..."including"..._

That phrase does not preclude the attendance of other officials, some of who
may be actual security experts, nor does it preclude the attendance of their
staff, some of who (one would hope) most definitely are the security experts.

~~~
phaus
Right, but the context of the article was using them as examples of security
experts. When you give examples to support a statement, you should give the
best examples you can come up with.

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ihuman
Is it just me, or is this article is more about Doyon and PLF than Anonymous?

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BrandonMarc
Some articles flow better when they follow a specific person / character /
personality. Also, some journalists are more comfortable with this narrative
form ... or may be limited in how many others they can bring into a compelling
story.

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oxryly1
Is no one left to take up the cause of defending the term "hacker" from media
smearing?

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PostOnce
Words can, do, and should have multiple definitions. Every dictionary can tell
you that.

"Hacker" is the fastest, easiest way to communicate the concept of "someone
who breaks into computers illegally", if you said "cracker" or anything else,
no layperson would know what you're talking about.

This conversation died 20 years ago.

~~~
cbd1984
Like how "gay" can mean "stupid" in some contexts, and fighting it is like
sweeping back the tide, right?

~~~
dspeyer
Not quite.

There isn't a large group of stupid people loudly calling themselves "gay".
Nor is "gay" the only widely-known English word for stupid.

