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0 pointszer8k2y ago0 comments

The term "hacker" describes someone skilled at tricking systems into doing what they can't. Mitnick was not only one of the first popular hackers he also had many famous exploits. His arrest was a major rallying cry for the hacker community at large (now known as the overly corporate "infosec community"). There's no redemption arc. You do not need to do what society considers "good" to be considered righteous.

There's no such thing as objective moral and ethical good. To me, Mitnick is a hero deserving of the highest praise. He inspired myself and many others to get started in this world. It may be difficult to understand if you didn't come into computers in the late 80s/90s.

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programmarchy2y ago

On one hand you assert there’s no such thing as moral good, yet you describe him as righteous? That word is a superlative for “good” steeped in religious tones!

Anyway, I suppose you could make the case that Mitnick was taking on “the Man” which is more utilitarian, but that’s a bit anemic imo.

CoastalCoder2y ago

> There's no such thing as objective moral and ethical good.

I'm curious how your framework handles some particularly unpleasant examples.

E.g., is there nothing universally wrong with what Hitler / Mengele did to Jews? Or how about raping, torturing, and then killing toddlers?

I have trouble accepting an ethics in which there's no real basis for telling such people that what they're doing is genuinely wrong.

(I apologize if these examples seem like straw-men. It's possible I don't understand your original point.)

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