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You must be Gen-Z or younger. Small-time "fraud" antics like this were part of the hacker ethos throughout the 80s and 90s, some highlights being the Anarchist

You must be Gen-Z or younger. Small-time "fraud" antics like this were part of the hacker ethos throughout the 80s and 90s, some highlights being the Anarchist Cookbook, Matthew Broderick changing school records in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Kevin Mitnick as one of the notable poster children of the new era of cyber enforcement crackdowns. Even the word "hacker" meant something a lot different than today where kids now say that someone "hacked" their Instagram.

dhosek 4y ago
Not to mention Matthew Broderick changing school records in Wargames (before almost starting World War III). He was doing a lot of changing school records back in the 80s.
Agamus 4y ago
^ This is accurate. And when I saw the William Poundstone "Big Secrets" reference, I knew I was home. For anyone who hasn't played in that series, do yourself the favor! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets
Gordonjcp 4y ago
Suzie changing Dustin's grades in a direct lift from Wargames, right there in the current series of Stranger Things.
hnbad 4y ago
Outside of movies these antics were confined to a specific (wealthy, male, usually white) demographic, though. Likewise a lot of 80s movies happily depict "funny" antics that would even at the time have been considered sexual assault or rape if the perps weren't wealthy white college "boys". Sure, culture has become more sensitive to these things overall and criminal prosecution of credit card fraud and computer crimes has become a lot more effective but there's a tangible difference between generating fake credit card numbers and masking your identity to defraud ISPs and hacking the Pentagon to access government secrets (namely, the latter fits into the hacker ethos of "liberating information" and rejecting authority whereas the former just provides personal gain). Changing your school records as a student is a childish version of the latter (as the intent is not to create false credentials for monetary gain but to defy the authority of teachers by subverting their means of "punishment").
- guerrilla 4y ago
  > Outside of movies these antics were confined to a specific (wealthy, male, usually white) demographic, though. Um no, definitely not. > Sure, culture has become more sensitive to these things overall Decades of fearmongering in media, omnipresent surveillance and the buying off of all competent hackers did a good job of that.
  - b112 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - guerrilla 4y ago
      Don't do this.
- kurisufag 4y ago
  >Outside of movies these antics were confined to a specific (wealthy, male, usually white) this could not possibly be further from the truth -- the early hacking/phreaking scene was quite possibly one of the most diverse in tech history, mostly because it was actually meritocratic even the population of kids that hung out on IRC during early web2.0 DDoSing each other and trading 0days had a disproportionate amount of minority individuals, and large portions of them graduated to today's cybsec industry
- yew 4y ago
  Fandom types and 80s hackers have that in common - mostly white neckbeards roleplaying diversity and thinking it's for real. (Most of the people who called themselves "anarchists" back then too. Feels like political spaces have seen a bit more improvement though.)

dhosek 4y ago

Not to mention Matthew Broderick changing school records in Wargames (before almost starting World War III). He was doing a lot of changing school records back in the 80s.

Agamus 4y ago

^ This is accurate. And when I saw the William Poundstone "Big Secrets" reference, I knew I was home. For anyone who hasn't played in that series, do yourself the favor! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets

Gordonjcp 4y ago

Suzie changing Dustin's grades in a direct lift from Wargames, right there in the current series of Stranger Things.

hnbad 4y ago

Outside of movies these antics were confined to a specific (wealthy, male, usually white) demographic, though. Likewise a lot of 80s movies happily depict "funny" antics that would even at the time have been considered sexual assault or rape if the perps weren't wealthy white college "boys". Sure, culture has become more sensitive to these things overall and criminal prosecution of credit card fraud and computer crimes has become a lot more effective but there's a tangible difference between generating fake credit card numbers and masking your identity to defraud ISPs and hacking the Pentagon to access government secrets (namely, the latter fits into the hacker ethos of "liberating information" and rejecting authority whereas the former just provides personal gain). Changing your school records as a student is a childish version of the latter (as the intent is not to create false credentials for monetary gain but to defy the authority of teachers by subverting their means of "punishment").

guerrilla 4y ago
> Outside of movies these antics were confined to a specific (wealthy, male, usually white) demographic, though. Um no, definitely not. > Sure, culture has become more sensitive to these things overall Decades of fearmongering in media, omnipresent surveillance and the buying off of all competent hackers did a good job of that.
- b112 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - guerrilla 4y ago
    Don't do this.
kurisufag 4y ago
>Outside of movies these antics were confined to a specific (wealthy, male, usually white) this could not possibly be further from the truth -- the early hacking/phreaking scene was quite possibly one of the most diverse in tech history, mostly because it was actually meritocratic even the population of kids that hung out on IRC during early web2.0 DDoSing each other and trading 0days had a disproportionate amount of minority individuals, and large portions of them graduated to today's cybsec industry
yew 4y ago
Fandom types and 80s hackers have that in common - mostly white neckbeards roleplaying diversity and thinking it's for real. (Most of the people who called themselves "anarchists" back then too. Feels like political spaces have seen a bit more improvement though.)