Headline July 29, 2017/ ''' HACKERS \ EMAGINATION / HOORAY '''

''' HACKERS \ EMAGINATION /

 HOORAY '''

''I AM NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE PEOPLE   who're collecting our data right now, like the  NSA,''  Sam says  :  !WOW! 

''I'm worried about what happens when people breach them   -another nation-state, a company looking to use data for nefarious purposes."stresses-

*''I don't put stuff on my computer that's incriminating, and I don't do things illegal things online.''*

''I don't even trust myself with my own data,'' Alec says. ''Even if I harden my home router, close all the ports, make sure it's not running some shitty version of  BusyBox,  I'm still vulnerable.''

''I don't take nude pictures,'' Matt says, ''I don't say anything I don't want to people hear online. I also just don't say that kind of stuff in general.''

*But what's life without dirt?*...............  Now I'm concerned about a chilling effect : 

That, to conform to the panopticon, they want do or say or even think anything that would   warrant privacy   at all, just shrink their lives down with the limits of restrictive public acceptability and unjust laws.

Some day, they might even be called upon to participate in some form of surveillance.......

Would they resist, I ask, if they employers told them to write some snooping software?    And if official whistle blowing channels failed them, would they simply refuse to do it?

''We've had this discussion,'' Sam says.   ''And if I worked for a company that was implementing some kind of a surveillance and I didn't agree with it, *I wouldn't write that feature*.

*The  COMPUTER SCIENCE PEOPLE.......... are the last line of Defense for that.*''

''WE have the power to fight against the encroachment on people's right to privacy.'' Alec says. Later, he paraphrases the  YouTube star GGP Grey :

''The king cannot do anything without his servants.''

If the people in charge are  evil or stupid    it seems that no amount of renewable energy, self-driving cars, or surveillance bafflingtech can protect or save us.

But perhaps  ethical technologists   like the  Sthacks  crew will form a final check. Without the help of people like them,  no body or mind     can be surveilled.

And the more that social issues demand technical expertise to even comprehend      -net neutrality,  encryption,   TOSs   and      EULAs, bioinformatics, privacy law  -the more society will need ethical techies to give us the sort of guidance my parents always ask me for.

''[Son why isn't my capitalism working?''  Have you tried restarting it? Maybe it's just obsolete.'']

''They are certainly not easy, quick fixes : 

They're uphill battles that will have to be fought on the   day-to-day scale, by passionate people,''  Sam and Alec wrote to me, after I'd left, regarding problems like climate change and mass surveillance.

''The real progress comes comes from putting ourselves in positions where we have the resources to do work against these.

As young people we're sure romanticizing  this a little, but we hope that when we have jobs in a couple years our feelings haven't changed and that we will be able to drive change toward a safer,   

*MORE   PRIVATE   INTERNET*.''

The Sthackers aren't ambassadors of their generation; they are just seven freshmen on one floor of one dorm of one college in one state in one state in one country on our one and only planet.

For all their exceptional talent,  there must be ten of thousands more, and they will be running the show.

It seems likely this generation of  makers and breakers  will, quite figuratively,  make or break us.

I would ask them, or beg them, really to take it apart, then put it back together.

REMARKABLE.

Now, Meet this NU - NERD:  

Student Sam Caccavale  : Age 20 : !WOW!

First Hack L A cheat from  MapleStory, which is a very old online game. I was around 12 or 13.

Most Recent Hack : A computing cluster from  Raspberry Pi Zeroes.

   

Tech Hero : Alonzo Church. He introduced  Lambda Calculus.

IOS or Androids :  IOS

Preferred Coding Language : C

First Computer : It was an  old Lenovo  ThinkPad   that my father got from work when I was like  12 years old.

 An early 2015 MacBook.

Biggest Tech Moment of Your Life :  I must have been in eighth grade. I went to a computer camp where we wrote code. made games, and built  RC cars and stuff it was called  Emagination Computer Camps.

A.I., Friend or Foe : It will benefit life a lot, but it will be a huge disruption to how we live right now. I would say, overall, Friend.

What Would You Do With a Trillion Dollars? :  I would promote early STEM education.

*And with that,   Now Go and  Google the Word and World    : !WOW!  -the World Students Society and  Twitter-!E-WOW!   -the Ecosystem 2011.

Join post haste and choose your own adventure*.

With much appreciation for this super article and  research work to Tony Tulathimutte. See You on !WOW!   -the World Students Society.

With respectful dedication for all the  NU-Nerds,....all the Hackers, Students, Professors and Teachers of the World. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!   -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Live-!WOW! '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless