I know it is a bit silly but I feel compelled at times to respond to and correct news headlines like "Hackers Steal Bank Passwords". Conflating hacking with cri

I know it is a bit silly but I feel compelled at times to respond to and correct news headlines like "Hackers Steal Bank Passwords". Conflating hacking with criminal activity is another example of the depressing Prohibitionism which is such a drain on the American psyche and which props up organized crime and the militarization of everyday life. There was a PBS kids show my kids watched a few years back: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberchase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberchase Stupid as hell and despite the fact that it received science education grants - had nothing to do with science. There was a character called the Hacker who was like a Gargamel-ish character. My boys eventually asked me why I didn't like the show and I had a parenting moment where I explained to them what a hacker was - I used examples like Leonardo da Vinci who did things that were considered illegal to advance science (human disection, etc). More recently we had the opportunity to go tot HOPE X in NYC. They learned lockpicking and soldering and checked out the exhibits and books. And we had the 'lockpicking is ok if the lock is yours' talk... It is not that hard to make the distinction - I wish it were more prevalent.