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    OutlawPlanet: Not all "black hats" and bad guys?

    What's the best that we can hope for?

    Started by: jfpickard Raves:5

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    So, is Outlaw Planet all bad news, or do you think that something good could come from this superthreat?

    Absolutely! For every delicate negotiation that is disrupted by unwanted transparency, there is at least one disturbing action by a quasi-governmental agency that is brought to light. For those not old enough to remember, it took literally YEARS for us to really understand what happened to prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Imagine if we\\\'d had reliable drones in 2005!

    well, it depends on the measures the oringinal power brokers (nation states, UN, IMF/WorldBank, etc) take to contain the threat. we could see the realisation of our worst dystopian nightmares!

    And there\\\'s always been criminality associated with the best technological development. If it wasn\\\'t for the Phone Phreakers (check your history books), we\\\'d never have had the personal computers of the 90\\\'s / 00\\\'s, which would have meant no ubicomping now.

    And there\\\'s always been criminality associated with the best technological development. If it wasn\\\'t for the Phone Phreakers (check your history books), we\\\'d never have had the personal computers of the 90\\\'s / 00\\\'s, which would have meant no ubicomping now.

    This question is similar to asking, \\\"Is there anything good to be gained from hacking?\\\" Perhaps there are those who would use that \\\"power\\\" for good, but then you would have to ask other questions like who has gained too much power? Is it good to create a fake video of a crooked politician in order to make sure he or she doesn\\\'t get elected? I think we would just end up constantly questioning reality and that would never be a good thing.

    Constantly question reality is definitely a *good* thing. The problem will be when we simply can\\\'t, finally find enough agreed consensus to work with. If every every question is muddied by faked evidence. If every political debate is underpinned by rival conspiracy theories that the opponent\\\'s data is forged. Radical transparency may need to find a way to guarantee *authenticity*.

    I think its a good thing. There is quite a few hackers that are interested in free information which is generally to support. But the more importent issue is that all vital systems in goverment and business are computerized now, there is alot of big databases containing personal information of millions of people. And the way human society is there will always be people willing to abuse those systems in place. If its a hacker that either hacks it our of security concerns or a black hat that wants to brag in both cases the error gets known and can be fixed. If the error stays unknown to public its unlikely it will be fixed fast and thus its more likely that somebody who doesnt publish it abuses it. That way theres more damage done while people feel safer even if they are not

    Really intrigued by the political angles raised. Attack of the Drones seems like it could be the catalyst for some serious changes in political systems themselves.

    If something good could come from it, then it wouldn't be a "superthreat," now, would it? What this is all about is loss of trust in the reliability of the information systems that tie the world together. As with the stock market, a lack of confidence will feed on itself, with disastrous results. If I can't be confident that the data I'm using to make decisions is reliable, I have no choice but to disregard the suspect data. When all data is suspect, then we are left with intuition, rumors, and suppositions with which to make our decisions. That can quickly make our society un-governable.

    I think Outlaw Planet is'nt all bad news. In a world dominated by corporate-state it could even happen that outlaws can became partisans. It all depends against who they direct their efforts: if against the civilians they're surely outlaw, but if against the corporate state we've to look better at their actions.I don't believe in any possible reform of this corporate state, if something will change it'll grow from bottom and because outlaws usasually are integrated into the local territory it can happen that reformist rely on outlaws to ensure security against an aggressive corporate-state.




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