How are hackers represented in fictional media? Outside of the computing community, a hacker can be defined as someone engaged in the circumvention of computer security. Hacking in this sense has been a largely common feature in popular media for decades now, and, despite the practice repeatedly being portrayed by mass media in a negative light, we seem to have a long-held fascination. I’m going to be examining two separate representations and looking at the wider impact they may have. In order to adequately understand these representations, I will be looking from the three approaches described by Hall: Reflective; I will consider how the representation relates to hackers in our social reality. Intentional; I will consider how the ideology of the producer has affected the representation. Constructionist; I will consider how the representation is constructed through codes and conventions. Elliott Alderson (Rami Malek) in Mr. Robot The protagonist of American techno thriller Mr. Robot is Elliott Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and vigilante hacker who suffers from social anxiety disorder and clinical depression. Early …show more content…
“F**K SOCIETY” and “YOUR PRIVACY HAS BEEN DELETED” reinforce links to Cohen’s idea of Moral Panics as the audience are positioned to see hackers as “a threat to societal values and interests”. Moreover, the personal pronoun ‘YOUR’ creates synthetic personalisation with the audience, encouraging them to feel that they are being targeted specifically, making the threat more tangible. The font has been positioned on and around Elliott, signifying that these are his words. It’s white and sans-serif, which catches the audience’s attention against the black background and emphasises the bluntness of the statements. It also mimics coding font, linking to the show’s theme and Elliot’s character. The full stop after “F**K SOCIETY” and the bolding of ‘PRIVACY’ and ‘DELETED’ emphasise the shock factor and
The word “privacy” has a different meaning in our society than it did in previous times. You can put on Privacy settings on Facebook, twitter, or any social media sights, however, nothing is truly personal and without others being able to view your information. You can get to know a person’s personal life simply by typing in their name in google. In the chronicle review, “Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have ‘Nothing to Hide,'" published on May 15th 2011, Professor Daniel J. Solove argues that the issue of privacy affects more than just individuals hiding a wrong. The nothing-to-hide argument pervades discussions about privacy. Solove starts talking about this argument right away in the article and discusses how the nothing-to-hide
However, I feel users had a different vision/perspective on security mechanisms and they trusted each other during those times and did not have to worry about protecting their information (this is how exactly, one person’s ignorance becomes another’s person’s - hacker, here bliss). This book helps us to understand the vulnerabilities; its impacts and why it is important to address/ fix those holes.
Peter Singer’s Visible Man: Ethics in a World without Secrets addresses the complicated notions of privacy in relation to technology. Singer goes on to elaborate the advantages and disadvantages of the surveillance of individuals, corporations, and government institutions. PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren in 2005, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard. PostSecret together with various technologies has changed what society regards as private and how anonymity changes the concept of security. Privacy depends on the ability to keep information secret, however, technology and surveillance have made security unobtainable.
In reality, most hackers are ordinary people with a great deal of curiosity, above-average skills with a computer, a good understanding of human nature, and plenty of time to kill. Hackers have no distinguishing characteristics. Your next-door neighbor could be a hacker, as could your niece or nephew, one of your co-workers, or even the kid who serves you coffee in the morning. Not all hackers are dangerous and out to destroy business or damage lives. The view of the general public toward hackers is mixed. A recent CNN-poll shows 33% of respondents labeling hackers as "useful," 17% seeing them "as a menace," and the majority (45%) seeing hackers as "both" useful and a menace (CNN, 1999).
Hacking, with the intent to steal or deface, is so feared in the corporate world that companies have spent $1.8 billion this year alone on computer network security products and services (Home Hackers 1). Cracking of home computers has been rare, but it is always a growing concern. Any machine connected to the Internet is potentially vulnerable, but the best targets are those with high-speed, "always on" connectors, such as cable modems or digital subscriber lines. Systems with high-speed connections are typically targeted because they are the simplest to track down. People have to realize that hacking is not a prank or a game, especially when hackers are hitting such spots as the White House site, the FBI site and the Senate site. The fines and jail time for these hackers are not very funny either. Arrests are being made and punishments can be up to life in prison and thousands, and in some cases millions of dollars in fines.
Modern scholars have in the recent decades engaged in the controversial debate on the actual classification of the group Anonymous. Some scholars classify the group as trolls while other associates it with hackers groups. As defined, hackers are individuals or groups that search and exploit the computer system weakness (Messmer 65). In most instances, hackers engage in discouraging and unappealing activities for multiple reasons including challenging the existing systems, protesting against the prevailing rules and regulations, and for profit making. On the other hand, trolls are groups of individuals who engage in the process of sowing discord on the internet through instigating arguments that aim at upsetting community members and leaders (Keith 11). Trolls are also popular for posting off-topic, extraneous, and inflammatory information on the internet. Although hackers and trolls are the main actors in the current threatening cyber crimes, the two groups have varying reasons for abusing the existing technology. Moreover, despite the existence of detailed and intensive strategies to address the two groups of crime, the actors have been outshining the global policy implementers and formulators in numerous occasions (Messmer 65). However, based on the available evidence, the Anonymous group is more of a hacker group than a troll group.
As a patriot of this great nation, what has been presented is of extreme if not grave concern. The challenges of cyberculture to our nation’s security have been revealed . To what extent our security has been breached is a matter of speculation but be informed that these breaches must be met with complete counter active success - failure to do so is not an option.
The documentary Rise of the Hackers, focuses on the rising criminal use of hacking and how it is effecting multiple areas of technology. The documentary describes simple and complicated situations concerning hacking, but there still questions that must be answered when it comes to hacking and crime. The main question is in trying to determine why a person would choose to commit computer hacking. There are various theories already present within the criminal justice system that may explain at a micro-level and macro-level. These theories would explain why offenders would commit the crimes, but it may not answer the full scope of the question. The Routine Activities Theory would help to explain why offenders offend, why victims are victimized,
The use of hacking to identify weaknesses in computer security has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. Awareness of this issue is important, because our ever increasing reliance on technology means that breaches in computer security have the potential to have wide-ranging and devastating consequences to society, worldwide. This essay will begin by clearly defining the term ‘hacking’ and will examine the type of people who hack and for what reasons. There will then follow a discussion of the moral argument on hacking before examining a few brief examples. The essay will then conclude by arguing against the use of hacking as a means of identifying weaknesses in computer security.
References to Beddoes’ hacks (Bisson) evoke resentment among readers; they see that black hat hackers gain more by participating in illicit activities than honest citizens do in a year of work, causing them to feel as if it is unfair to themselves because they are stealing from honest citizens like most readers would be. Also, in emphasizing the damages done by black hat hackers and the mysterious backgrounds they often seem to come from, fuel is added to the fire of an already negative connotation. As the other two articles mention, the common perception of hackers is that they are rebellious teenagers out to destroy the world regardless of the channel used. The background described in this article supports those theories when Beddoes speaks of his past as a teenager who started out with an innocent interest in hacking and then transitions into a rebellious malicious hacker after being rejected by the companies that he was trying to assist. Beddoes’ ethos also supports the goal of the article because he is a credible, well-established hacker in recent years. After almost pulling off a multimillion dollar heist, he is a respected yet accessible authority on the topic. Statistics to quantify the amount of data Beddoes stole in his hacking career provide the base to an argument supported by logos. Referring to those numbers also evokes strong emotions in accordance with the amount of people losing money and being victimized by hackers. Readers are inclined to feel sympathy towards the victims of the hackers, evoking an even greater amount of resentment towards the hackers. The content of Bisson’s article effectively supports a negative reaction to
If you manage a security operations center, you may already be familiar with the television series, "Mr. Robot." Just in case you have never heard of the show, the main character, Elliot, is a security engineer by day and a hacker by night who falls in with a group of socially conscious "hacktivists." The show 's writers have penned numerous lines that have special meaning to SOC managers.
Particularly, I will look at the representations
In Gabriella Coleman’s article, “Hacker Politics and Publics,” she describes a theoretical example of hacktivism: “If the copyright industries use digital rights management (DRM) to control their digital content, then the response of hackers is not just to crack DRM but to initiate a robust protest movement to insist on their right to do so” (Coleman 515). Through this example, Coleman communicates that hacker culture aims to defend individual rights, like the right to redistribute content they bought. As Coleman explains earlier in the essay, hackers achieve this goal by exercising the power of the individual in protesting the shortcomings of the mainstream through the act of hacking. In stark contrast with the indie artists that indie traditionalists describe, hackers, as viewed by Coleman, communicate their agenda not through art but through technological dissonance and digital
The term “hacker” has been in use since the early 1980’s due to mass media usage to describe computer criminals. The use of this term is vastly used by the general population and most are not aware that there are different meanings to the word. People within the computing community especially within the programming subculture emphasize the use of the term “crackers” for computer security intruders (cyber criminals). Early hackers rarely used their skills for financial gain as a motivation for their criminal behavior in that time cybercrime was infantile and largely seen as a practical joke or game by those who committed it. Bob Thomas created the first credited computer worm n...
Harvey, Brian. A. Computer Hacking and Ethics. Ed. Paul Goodman, P.G., a.k.a. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.