Take, for instance, Jeffrey Lee Parson, the eighteen-year old responsible for a version of the blaster virus. Let`s assume for a moment that his misguided intentions were noble and he wasn`t just attempting to wreak as much havoc as possible; this kid was out to teach Microsoft a lesson.
When I look at his picture, something about his rotund face and shy smile makes my heart ache. OK, he`s a bit of an idiot. His site, t33kid.com, listed the code for at least one virus, and it was after a tip-off from his hosting company that the FBI was able to track young Jeffrey down. On top of this, he committed this crime in his eighteenth year, which means he can now be tried as an adult. Sometime in the last 12 months, the passing of a birthday is somehow supposed to have engendered in this kid an understanding of the consequences of his actions, and now he`s in pretty serious trouble.
[There`s] an interesting power exchange taking place between the massive corporations and a burgeoning community of savvy end users who no longer accept "just because" as a reasonable justification for anything
Georgina Guedes, journalist, ITWeb
But was he just influenced by the mass anti-Microsoft sentiment, and thinking he knew how to do something about it, he went ahead and did? Is he surprised that he hasn`t been heralded as a hero? Are his hammy cheeks wet with tears as he protests that he was just trying to make the world a better place?
Closer to home, a young programmer I know decided to donate a sum of money to the Mozilla Foundation for being able to use their Firebird browser. However, upon accessing their site, he found that donations could only be made through the Paypal system. He knew from past experience that as a South African, he couldn`t sign up to use the system, but this time 'round, refused to be deterred.
He tells me that he took a look at the source code for the sign-up document and discovered that South Africa was present, it had just been "commented out".
"So, using my trusty interactive javascript shell bookmarklet, I hacked up some javascript, which added the ZA option back to the list, and then proceeded to sign up for the account," he says.
Having a little more common sense than our American friend, he is not actually using the account, but is instead, sitting back and waiting to see what, if anything, Paypal is going to do about him.
These sorts of stories are an indication of an interesting power exchange taking place between the massive corporations and a burgeoning community of savvy end users who no longer accept "just because" as a reasonable justification for anything.
Fortune has just released its list of 40 Richest People under 40 in America. Unsurprisingly, seven out of the top 10 are self-made IT millionaires and billionaires. But back in the day when Bill Gates topped lists like this (he`s now over 40), the gap between the population who used his products and the people who understood these products was pretty immense. Now, with an increasingly technically astute market, the gap is closing.
The question is, is this going to keep the massive corporations more honest, or is it going to make them more litigious? Alternatively, we can all just opt for open source, which encourages those in the know to make any adjustments they see fit without fear of corporate retribution.
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