I love writing. I hate it when people who get paid to write, twist words and wrongly report, like [url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22561539-2,00.html]this story on news.com.au[/url] this morning.
Firstly lets define “hack” and “hacker” (all from Wikipedia)
[code=”Hack”] Hack has several meanings in the technology and computer science fields: a clever or quick fix to a computer program problem; a clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem; or a modification of a program or device to give the user access to features that were otherwise unavailable to them. [/code]
Fair enough.
[code=”Hacker”] Hacker, as it relates to computers, has several common meanings, the unifying characteristic of which is only that it refers to a person who is an avid computer enthusiast. It is most commonly used as a pejorative by the mass media to refer to a person who engages in illegal computer cracking, but it can also refer to people engaged in ethical hacking, to the members of the open source and free software community or to home computer hobbyists. [/code]
And this is where it gets to the point. The media’s view of a hacker is:
[code=”Media’s View of a Hacker”] It is most commonly used as a pejorative by the mass media to refer to a person who engages in illegal computer cracking. [/code]
Journalists do not know how to report. The worst part? They get paid to fail at reporting. Let me explain the story.
The story’s headline reads “Hackers raid Liberal official site!”. Strike one. “Hackers” didn’t raid, alter or otherwise manipulate the Liberal’s official website. The problem is that the Liberal’s official website has a slight bug (read: the government can’t design perfect websites, just like us normal folk) which allows users to insert HTML into the page, in this case it’s a simple case of inserting something like:
[code=”Hack Code”] [/code]
Simple really. Just copy and paste it after http://www.liberal.org.au/?action=wos.cfm%00%22%3E and you have yourself a nice quote from the PM himself saying that he’s going to give me lots of money to buy my Ferrari and Trophy Wife.
Back on topic. Journalists do not know how to report.
Earlier this year they stated that a group of hackers from the [url=http://valhalla.net.au]Monopoly Hackers League[/url] “hacked” the monopoly vote. Strike Two. This group of people included a member who made a program that automatically “spammed” the monopoly vote, making SA’s votes greater than any other states and placing Adelaide and the Barossa Valley on Park Lane and Mayfair. Again, they didn’t “hack” into anything.
I know that more than half the population of Australia are drooling morons (I used to serve them, I would know best), but must the journalists continuously hype their stories up waaaay out of proportion?
No. Report it as it should be reported. No hyping. No overexaggeration. Just the facts, nothing more. This problem is getting more and more rampant. We need more REAL journalists. People who KNOW what they’re talking about and don’t sound like they’re reading from a script or a teleprompter. Don’t dumb it down either, most of your viewers are adults. This is the age of technology. They’re hip, they know about these “ip-ods” (pronounced: ip-awd, like the ip in “dip” and awd as in “gawd”).
End of Rant.
On a completely separate topic, according to [url=http://blogs.news.com.au/adelaidenow/sa/index.php/adelaidenow/comments/walk_to_work_i_dont_think_so/]this post[/url] I have the legal right to report (read: call the police) other pedestrians that “impede” my path. This means you, little old lady with the shopping cart, and YOU, Mr. Business Man talking on his cell phone, both of which are doing 0.5km/h down a walkway.
Valhalla report up soon, and the rest of the photos.