The Statesman reports today on a group of hackers that have compromised the credit card data of a group called, "Protest Warrior."
Politically motivated hacking has become so common that Zone H, a Web site that tracks defacements of other sites, has dedicated a section to documenting the political hacks. In the process, the term "hacktivism" has been wrenched from its original definition, long-time techies say.Just the word hacker scares the beJesus out of us.
Hack the Planet!
This is cool, you have to try it. I guessed 37218, and this game guessed it! See it here - http://www.funbrain.com/guess/
Edmonton dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night and the 4-0 margin in Game 6 makes it hard to imagine the Oilers not hoisting hockey's Holy Grail above their heads in less than 48 hours. And it would not come as any shock to see defenseman Chris Pronger, who had another 31-minute night, take the honors for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
Better watch out with all that "hacktivism" talk, didn't yall read Tuesday's NYTimes op-ed by John Tierney? He quotes this, dare I say, "Nutty Professor"
;)
Professor Landsburg, an economist at the University of Rochester, has calculated the relative value to society of executing murderers and hackers. By using studies estimating the deterrent value of capital punishment, he figures that executing one murderer yields at most $100 million in social benefits.
The benefits of executing a hacker would be greater, he argues, because the social costs of hacking are estimated to be so much higher: $50 billion per year. Deterring a mere one-fifth of 1 percent of those crimes - one in 500 hackers - would save society $100 million. And Professor Landsburg believes that a lot more than one in 500 hackers would be deterred by the sight of a colleague on death row.
Hmmm, using that logic I wonder what the "social benefits" would've yielded for an ol' Bernie Ebbers execution??? Better yet, I wonder what were the "social costs" for Enron's Kenny Boy Lay???