From hungary-online-owner Thu Mar 9 05:01:48 1995 Return-Path: owner-Hungary-Online Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id FAA13850 for hungary-online-out31415; Thu, 9 Mar 1995 05:01:48 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id FAA13844 for hungary-online; Thu, 9 Mar 1995 05:01:27 -0800 Received: via =-=-=-=-= from bodoky@hubi.abc.hu for hungary-online@hungary.yak.net (hungary-online) Received: from AGBICE.ABC.HU (agbice.abc.hu [192.146.134.1]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id EAA13757 for ; Thu, 9 Mar 1995 04:59:12 -0800 Received: from hubi.abc.hu by AGBICE.ABC.HU (MX V3.1) with SMTP; Thu, 09 Mar 1995 13:52:37 EST Received: by hubi.abc.hu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA17572; Thu, 9 Mar 1995 14:03:22 --100 Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 13:57:46 +0100 (MET) From: Tamas Bodoky Subject: (HOL) Yes. Markoff sucks. To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net In-Reply-To: <199503090443.UAA03443@gwarn.versant.com> Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII content-length: 2669 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net From: strick -- henry strickland >> For futher info on Markoff's "objectivity" check this out : >The article is by Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600 magazine. False. The article is by Kevin Mitnick, _forwarded_ by Goldstein to alt.2600. The article is about the John Markoff/Katie Hafner book "Cyberpunk" which contains 3 hacker stories, one of them about Mitnick. Kevin points out the misinterpretation of facts (actually by Hafner) in his story. >I haven't read Markov's book, so I can't speak on it. But I like >Markov's current writing in the NYT. I recognize that he has his >limitations in that forum. And he certainly doesn't write from the >point of view that I did in my last two postings here on this topic. >But I wouldn't say Markov sucks. Far from it, compared to most >journalists writing about this stuff. I don't question Markov's writing skills, or experience in the field. The problem is the way he is interpreting the story. He is turning Shimomura into a postmodern national hero, a "brilliant cybersleuth", who "has a deeply felt sense of right and wrong", and "seems to embody the very essence of the original hacker ethic", while Mitnick is a "persistent vandal", or "a chamelelon like grifter who is a master at manipulating human beings", nothing less than "the archetype of the cyberpunk antihero". And so on. Markoff creates a new myth of good and evil forces, that never existed, to sell it out to Hollywood. He is fabricating the myth of the shadowy dark hackers vs. the jedis of data security, in a pathetic way the old socialist regime spoke about the "counter-revolutionares hiding in the dark". As I pointed out in this week Magyar Narancs, the masses need new-type heros and a new-type enemies to fill in the psychological vacuum remained after the end of the cold war. And Markoff is willing to create them. I like flames very much, (especially not on my list ;-))), so let me insist. Markoff sucks. Virtually, tamas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tamas Bodoky jr. Agricultural Biotechnology Center Institute for Molecular Genetics e-mail: bodoky@hubi.abc.hu Godollo, p.o.box 411 voice: +36-28330600 / 202 Hungary 2101 http://www.abc.hu/ DON'T PANIC ! - The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from Tamas Bodoky # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############