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Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker
From: ratel <ratel () mailvault com>
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 15:24:44 -0500 (EST)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Full disclosure: I've been reading the "Security Industry Under Scrutiny" series with great interest. Funny how nearly all of Sockz' critics have focused on leveling personal attacks about what a lame kiddie he is. Why? Why do they appear to be doing everything in their power to avoid addressing the central issue at hand, namely, the hypocrisy of financial gain by putting working exploits in the hands of script kiddies while claiming to care about security? Can't you address his points without leveling an ad-hominem attack? I'm equally unimpressed by the odious insinuations that unless he has the right letters after his name, nothing he says could possibly be worth hearing. Credentialism is the last refuge of the smug and vapid. Well, that said, and given all the confusion and useless hand-waving about who's doing what and why, I think it's time we move beyond black, white and gray and on to an entirely new conception of hat color. May I present: the Yellow Hat Hacker. Yellow, the color of cowardice and piss. Yellow, soiled white. Yellow, the color of gold. Yellow hat hacking is the sole province of those motivated by MONEY while attempting to pass themselves off as something they're not. No one motivated by ideology could ever be a yellow hat hacker. Take a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself if you fit in one of the following categories: Ever been hired to backdoor software or an operating system? You're a yellow hat hacker. Selling snake oil to the government while desperately trying to be in "the scene"? Yep, you guessed it: a yellow hat hacker. In the corporate espionage business? Smile, you're a yellow hat hacker. Taking active technical measures to rat out your peers as part of a deal with the FBI to avoid persecution? Participating in their little “experiments”? A yellow hat hacker in the worst sort of way. Letting a well-respected think tank or research institution pimp you out for peanuts to the federal agency of their choice? Wake up hoe, you're a yellow hat hacker. You vote libertarian, but take funding from the CIA or do business with any of their front companies? You lay awake at night worrying about the loss of civil liberties, but somehow don't mind enough to forgo that fat contract from the feds? Hey, guess what! You're a yellow hat hacker. Just a thought. Ratel. *** "Americans used to roar like lions for liberty. Now we bleat like sheep for security." - Norman Vincent Peale. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: MailVault 2.2 from Laissez Faire City http://www.mailvault.com iQA/AwUAPdlMZuYNtyh3zif9EQJD0wCg2/vnS+shKoJKEiMZgGC1aX556cMAn0ap z7YBYIuyEmTJEqeJhrwXEjIN =6Ovw -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Current thread:
- Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker ratel (Nov 18)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker ratel (Nov 18)
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker hellNbak (Nov 18)
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker rrm (Nov 18)
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker Ian Eyberg (Nov 18)
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker hellNbak (Nov 18)
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker hellNbak (Nov 18)
- Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker ratel (Nov 19)