Re: Beyond black, white, and grey: the Yellow Hat Hacker

[ratel <ratel () mailvault com>]

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On 18-Nov-2002 17:49:36 -0500, you wrote:
> Obviously you have not been familiarised with the lamers other posts. 
any
> reply to his crap only furthers his and his groups wishes for a
soapbox.
> And 90% of the list is not interested in their childish rants. 
Please
> desist.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ron DuFresne


Desist what? I don't see why we can't have a reasonable discussion about
the idea that putting exploits in the hands of script kiddies while
cashing in and making a great show of how much you care about protecting
security is hypocritical, that's all. I happen to think this is a deadly
serious topic we can't afford to sweep under the rug just because we
happen to disapprove of someone's elocution.

Is calling oneself a blackhat really a prerequisite to despising
derivative snake oil hucksters and back-stabbing money-grubbing frauds?
It certainly shouldn't be. You'd think anyone who actually cares about
improving security would find the current state of affairs every bit as
nauseating and beneath contempt as the PHC. 

Plugging our ears and patting each other on the back won't make anything
about the situation better. Maybe encouraging more people to take a good
hard look in the mirror about why they're doing what they do will.

If my thoughts on this honestly strike you as being some part of a
childish rant, so be it. If my failure to provide my real identity and
credentials here bars my entry into the class of "serious people" worth
considering, that's fine too. After all, we all have our own ideas about
what makes someone a laughingstock.

But I would hope that the message itself would be somewhat independent
of the messenger, given that so very much hangs in the balance.



Ratel.


***



"Americans used to roar like lions for liberty. Now we bleat
like sheep for security." - Norman Vincent Peale.








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