Just in case this has never been posted here...

[SteelChrysanthemum]

Keep your child from becoming a computer hacker.

[Dark Galaxy]

HAHAHA!
This part is my favorite:

9. Has your son radically changed his appearance?

If your son has undergone a sudden change in his style of dress, you may have a hacker on your hands. Hackers tend to dress in bright, day-glo colors. They may wear baggy pants, bright colored shirts and spiky hair dyed in bright colors to match their clothes. They may take to carrying "glow-sticks" and some wear pacifiers around their necks. (I have no idea why they do this) There are many such hackers in schools today, and your son may have started to associate with them. If you notice that your son's group of friends includes people dressed like this, it is time to think about a severe curfew, to protect him from dangerous influences.

[Crowley]

I like how hackers can only be boys... girls of course are too simple to work them electric machines.

[Cam63]

Keep your child from becoming a computer hacker.

It's pretty funny when you imagine it being spoken by an over excited 1940s-'50s newsreel announcer.

[YoGo]

The best parts are the comments where all the hackers come to the forefront to tell everyone how bullshit this article is and not take it seriously.

[YoGo]

Reply from a pro!!! (none / 0) (#7625)
by Anonymous Reader on Sun Jun 30th, 2002 at 06:11:31 AM PST

I am sure that others has pointed out a thing or two about this article.
First I must compliment the gentleman for taking an active part in his children lifes, BUT..
There is nothing in this article that actually matches the truth. I am a computer proffesional and work with antihacking for a large company. I will limit my comments to the "top 10 that your son is a hacker":
1. AOL is renown for its instabillity, this could be a reason for changing. Your son or daughter is tired of having to log on every 5th minute.
It could also be a question of speed.

Any well known ISP (Internet service provider) has hacker policies.
And a parental filter can be bought in any software shop, and I would suggest buying one if you want to control your childrens internet usage, no matter what ISP you are using.

2. He is looking for programs the right place.
BUT, Comet cursor is a program used to change the cursor icon from the standard arrow into funny shapes. NOT a hacking tool. Bonzi buddy is a cute little bear that does different things on your computer and definitely not a hacker tool. Flash is an "addon" to your browser it is used for showing "moving" graphics on some webpages. Hacker tool?? NO.

3. Faster video cards, memory (Ram), faster CPU.
All children want to be up to speed, they want the newest of the newest of course they do. a "hacker" doesn't really care he can get by on an old machine with a slow modem.
when it comes to processors, there are several vendors, the top 2 companies are Intell and AMD, I have got an intell at home and an AMD at work, there isn't really any difference between them.
And all hardware resellers (that I know of) sells both of them. It is like the difference between red and blue, choose whichever you like the best.

4. For the books.
Programming with PERL, I know a lot of professionals that have read this book, because programming is good if you want to work with computers. PERL is easy to use and a good language to start of with. yes a lot of hackers know programming aswell.
Neuromancer is a really good science fiction.
Microserfs, a friend of mine read that, he found it very amusing. He was a computer illiterate before he read the book, and he still is. it is not a hackers book, it is a comedy taking grounds in the microsoft history.
Stephenson also writes Sience Fictions
http://www.cyberhaven.com/books/scie...interview.html
I don't know the rest of the books, but I know that none of them popped up on the preferred hackers reading.

5. DOS is a is an old operating system that "helps" windows getting started, it is also short for "Denial Of Service" which is what many hackers do, but one has nothing to do with the other.
You do not have to be connected while running a denial of service. it is a long, boring and technical story. basically when all the preperations are in place you just need to log on for a split second in order to set it off.

I can understand the confusement, and I must say I am impressed with what he has gotten the hang of in the few days he has been researching, but this is things that takes years to learn.

6. Quake is a computer game it is rather violent, but has no connection to anything regarding hacking. It was very popular, and properly the reason why his son wanted a faster computer and another ISP.
Hacking and guns, Hackers are not an underground organisation trying to take over the world. Most hackers work on their own and for profits/fame, much like the graffiti culture in the 80's.

7. I have no technical comments for this one.. other than puberty. If that is related to hacking ok..

8. BSD... If Berkeley is a communist organisation then the guy is right.
BSD (Unix) is (an) operating system(s) just like Windows, only it can be downloaded in a free version that is called Free BSD, it is harder to learn than windows not as user friendly, and yes most serious hackers use it.
Most programmers use it too. Approximately 80 % of internet servers runs on Unix.
Linux was created on a university in Finland by Linus Thorvald, he created it because he didn't want to pay for an operating system. He released it as an "open source" program free for anyone to use and anyone to make changes to. Debian is linux version, so is Mandrake, the most famous one is Red Hat.
They are not hacker operating systems created by communists to take over the world.
But if installed wrongly they can cause damage to your windows, and yes I have seen cases where they actually caused damage to the hard drive.

9. I did not know that hackers dressed in a certain way. I have been to Hacker conventions and I didn't notice the bright clothes or pacifiers.
It sounds more like the cyberpunk culture that is described in a 1000 different Science fiction books.
Or perhaps the techno culture.

10. I have not got the technical expertise to comment on radiation from monitors.
But I have spent more time in front of a computer than most probably more than 5 hours each day for the last 20 years. I do not glow in the dark yet.

A personal note:
Maybe the reason his son did not admit to being a hacker is that he wasn't a hacker.
Could he have been truly interested in computers ?

Did the writer of the article destroy his son chance to become the next generation computer/security experts?

Is it abnormal for a teenager to try and break free from his/her parents?

I know it is an old article and normally I would not have replied to it, but I was shocked when i read this. I have never in my life seen that many wrongs in a single post.
I showed it to a friend of mine, he thought it was a joke.

For further comments fell free to contact:
consultant_security@hotmail.com

Shoulda listened to his friend.

[Fish Sauce]

Shoulda listened to his friend.

Haha, I love reading stuff like this then looking at the comments. So many people who need a sense of humour.

[YoGo]

You're from Singapore?



But I am the only Singaporean in the village!

[Michael P]

This is a joke, right?

[Fish Sauce]

You're from Singapore?



But I am the only Singaporean in the village!

Haha live here yeah, but actually from the mythical land of Australia.

[Jeff Brady]

You're from Singapore?



But I am the only Singaporean in the village!

There's a fellow by the handle of Patient Boy who is also from Singapore. I told you this a long time ago!