Hackers: Angels and Outlaws


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Below is the random thought titled "Hackers: Angels and Outlaws". Be aware that these thoughts may be based on opinion, and my opinion might not agree with yours. Also, the thought below may be based on mood, time of day, or any number of other factors. Please keep this in mind.


Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Thursday, December 12, 2002

I had the misfortune of watching this show on TLC last night. I knew after the first two minutes that I should have turned the channel, but for some unknown reason I kept watching.

Frankly, this show sucked. It was nothing but hype and scare tactics, with the narrator and guests throwing around buzzwords like "InfoWar", "Electronic Pear Harbour" (ie. USA getting caught with their pants down again) and "Cyber Terrorists".

Not until the very end of the show did they make the distinction between hackers and crackers. They only once made a passing reference to "IP address". What I'm trying to say is that most TV shows only scratch the surface. This show was several feet above the surface, wearing sheepskin moccasins to prevent any possible scratches. Their demonstration of war driving was laughable, and started out with a so called "hacker" taking his brand new Corvette ZO6 through an automated car wash...wrong on so many levels.

Though I guess there were some redeeming qualities in that they at least made the distinction between WhiteHats and BlackHats, and the speech by Barlow of the EFF was pretty good.


Comments From Others

anonymous
Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Saturday, November 28, 2009
This movie is a bust. It doesn't even come close to getting it. That philosophy/anthropology person was for show. The best and most accurate thing in this show is the CoFounder of EFF. Other than that, its Total BS. First of all, hacking is only described accurately in the Hacker Manifesto. There is only one, if your wondering. Second, Extreme Hacking was a bust when this movie was made. The only good computer hacking conference is Black Hat by Dark Tangent. As Captain Zap pointed out, if your going to hire someone to catch a thief, its going to be a thief. You don't want the nice people, the "good" guys, you want the people that have broken the cyber "law" and can show some skills. Also, they didn't really cover the history of hacking. What about phone phreaks? What about the Home Brew Computer Club? What about Open Source? The "hackers" they had in this movie were small potatoes for the most part. Yes, Captain Zap may have done the "biggest hack" of all time, but I doubt it any more. If your looking for sheer number of computers that are compromised, think bot nets. If your looking at most high profile hacks, you think about people like Gary McKinnon or others, who did way more to the Government or Corps than Zap. And for evading the police it goes to Kevin Mitnick...so far. This world changes so fast that I doubt the people I talked about today will be relevant to tomorrow.
anonymous
Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Friday, June 06, 2008
Yea, it's a classic showcase of fearmongering - Mom is gonna worry her mobile phone bites her! I found myself laughing out loud. Pity is, things like that work on the average non-technophile - at least until the 90's generation of computer kiddies grows up. Until then, we'll have laws in place that "protect" us from those dangerous hackers.
anonymous
Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
i was amaze with those hackers, because of theeir ability to hack or to enter to the Databses of an company.
Medo
Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Thursday, July 08, 2004
I need hack toolz , i wanna know how easy they can make a hack program , i need videos man , i love hacking sites and networks .

(Editor's note: My point exactly.)

Karen Smith
Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Thursday, October 02, 2003
We have shown the videos Pirates and Hackers, but they are very outdated. Looking for a new video on the subjects. Do you know how we might purchase a copy of Hackers, Angels and Outlaws or can you recommend other videos to show our computer students (teenagers). Hope to hear from you.
Willowolf
Hackers: Angels and Outlaws
Thursday, March 27, 2003
I thought the show wasn't that bad. Remember, they are trying to portray 'Hackers' to all viewing audiences, not just the 'Hackers' or 'Geeks' that are watching the show. Sure, there is more to hacking than what was displayed in this program, but it had to be kept in layman's terms and they couldn't give away too much information. If they did, everyone would be 'Hacking' now after watching it. I felt it was well done and informative.

If anyone who is reading this thread didn't get to see the show, you may download it off of my web site. I recorded the show and encoded it to DivX.

http://wolfgrotto.thebbs.org:8888

Once there click on the 'Downloads' link, and then on 'Media'.
The shows (there are two of them) are about 300 MB each. You will need the DivX codec (also available on my site) installed on your sytem to view these files.

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