Re: Cyber burglar steals 485,000 credit card numbers

[Lawrence Smythe <lsmythe@home.com>]

[: hacktivism :]

Hi,
I'm one of those members who signed on to this list because I know
nothing about programming or how to hack but feel a need to be informed.
Membership in this site is apart of my overall effort to be informed and
aware of the world as it evolves around me. As such, I compliment you
and others who do the leg work for the rest of us who for a sundry of
rationalized reasons engage in other activities, but enough of this....
Here's my communication. It seems to me, that activism's relationship to
the whole of society is very much a parent child relationship. The best
parallel I can muster is the dynamics occurring during an adolescents
emergence into young adulthood. The analogy fits because it's apart of
the interpersonal boiling (like in hot water) that younger generations
experience when striving for self actualization. I believe the best
parental guidance for social maturation dynamics is history. By
reviewing the dynamics of the past one can get a "feel" for the impact
of current events. So in the sprit of realism, every action has an
effect and the spectrum of possible outcomes can best be estimated by
what happen to those in history who have followed similar paths. The key
point here, is the patterns of the past are not much different than
today's, it's just that we see them with real-time-eyes, so viewing
today as if it were a past event just might provide clues to estimate
future social dynamics. Besides, as a Christian I believe it's my
responsibility to be a good steward of my gifts, to respect those around
me, respect myself and to foster positive relationships. In this way I
have a grounded perspective that allows me to accept and respect the
actions of others while being aware of my boundaries so others do not
aggress upon myself, my family or those in need. As a parting thought,
consider events like "Shindler's List" and when those events occurred in
real time, what were the spectrum of social dynamics occurring? Many
other people contributed to this and many other similar defenses of
human rights, so one goal to ensure freedom is to incrementally effect
commonly shared values among the populace "not to accept" what they know
in their hearts is wrong and the courage to say it aloud with actions.
This has to happen even while being fully aware that the weight and the
heat of the opposing opinion group might befall you. If we as a society
do not let it be known what we want and don't want, we better be ready
to accept what we get. The price of accepting the flow of unacceptable
societal influences can be demonstrated with many examples, both current
and past, but for "western & eastern" european's, the dynamics of europe
which led to WW2 is the most striking example of what can happen if we
as a whole do not embrace active societal participation.

Best Regards,

Lawrence

stu wrote:

> [: hacktivism :]
> I've just finished reading Richard Stallman's GNU stuff, and my only
> comment on the article below is "who is the hacker?"



[: hacktivism :]
[: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
[: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]