I, um, have a friend...
And this friend was wondering about something. That something is, well, he downloads music and software with P2P (peer-to-peer) software such as LimeWire or Poison, and uses software like MacTheRipper to extract the CSS encryption from DVDs that enables him to burn movies like Batman Begins after he rents them. I mean, in honest to goodness truth, he has probably downloaded and "gotten" literally 10's of thousands of dollars worth of "stuff" by hacking and social sciencing (its a geek thing) his way to get things. It's great! Well, um, I guess it is. Here's the thing.
His father and mother, like most parents, taught him it was wrong to steal. Now he has saved thousands of dollars by doing this, but what does he tell his children when they grow up? He doesn't want them to steal, but he not only enjoys, NAY, loves what he is doing, it saves his family money. Plus there is just this weird feeling of enjoyment that is hard to explain unless you have done it.
Granted, most of the crap he 'gets' is stuff he never would have purchased in the first place, but he still got it.
I guess it all started when he "hacked" his PlayStaion to play games that he downloaded (which means rented and burned) he got from Movie World with the GoldFinger Game Enhancer. Then he heard his buddy hacked his Xbox and could download games directly to it. My friend actually has the system now watching the entire first season of LOST! Whoa! Talk about opening up doors!
The thing is, I must wonder what his father would have done in the same situation. Now there was no such thing as the Internet back in the 60's (we all know Al Gore invented the net) but that was a time of rebellion and "down with the man" type of time. So he never had the chance to do these things, but would he have? Maybe. Maybe not.
So back to the original casting of this post - What about the children? What do we tell them? What do we not tell them? Kids seem to be learning faster with the tons of new technology in the schools and the net - so they aren't oblivious. I want to tell them it is so cool just to know HOW to do this stuff!! I want to jump up and down and say, "Damn, your dad is the coolest dad ever! He can teach you so much stuff! He's (sort of) a hacker!!"
His daughter actually sits with him, in his office, in front of LimeWire and shouts out Disney movie songs she wants to hear on his iPod.
It is such a hard balance being a gear-head, a geek, a social scientist and a good citizen all at the same time.
His father and mother, like most parents, taught him it was wrong to steal. Now he has saved thousands of dollars by doing this, but what does he tell his children when they grow up? He doesn't want them to steal, but he not only enjoys, NAY, loves what he is doing, it saves his family money. Plus there is just this weird feeling of enjoyment that is hard to explain unless you have done it.
Granted, most of the crap he 'gets' is stuff he never would have purchased in the first place, but he still got it.
I guess it all started when he "hacked" his PlayStaion to play games that he downloaded (which means rented and burned) he got from Movie World with the GoldFinger Game Enhancer. Then he heard his buddy hacked his Xbox and could download games directly to it. My friend actually has the system now watching the entire first season of LOST! Whoa! Talk about opening up doors!
The thing is, I must wonder what his father would have done in the same situation. Now there was no such thing as the Internet back in the 60's (we all know Al Gore invented the net) but that was a time of rebellion and "down with the man" type of time. So he never had the chance to do these things, but would he have? Maybe. Maybe not.
So back to the original casting of this post - What about the children? What do we tell them? What do we not tell them? Kids seem to be learning faster with the tons of new technology in the schools and the net - so they aren't oblivious. I want to tell them it is so cool just to know HOW to do this stuff!! I want to jump up and down and say, "Damn, your dad is the coolest dad ever! He can teach you so much stuff! He's (sort of) a hacker!!"
His daughter actually sits with him, in his office, in front of LimeWire and shouts out Disney movie songs she wants to hear on his iPod.
It is such a hard balance being a gear-head, a geek, a social scientist and a good citizen all at the same time.
posted by Wall Appeals at 19.10.05
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