From fyodor@dhp.com Wed Oct 28 06:05:39 1998
From: Fyodor 
To: chaos@zdtv.com
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 23:08:19 -0500 (EST)
Subject: C. Meinel

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Kevin,

I read with interest your article on Carolyn Meinel 
(http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/chaostheory/story/0,3700,2154853,00.html). 
Thanks for linking to my response to her SciAM article.  I also thought
you made many good points, especially about how her personality tends to
infuriate people. 

However, I think you glossed over an even more compelling reason.  Even
after years of acting as a security expert, she still seems to have no
clue about the basic concepts of this discipline.  As you correctly
mention, many journalists simplify concepts and make small technical
errors.  But her Scientific American article goes way beyond that, it is
absurd.  She has _firewalls_ _attacking_ people and _insulting_ them! 
This is completely contrary to the basic premise of firewalls.  As you
know, they are a defensive device, and certainly not an offensive one. 

To make matters worse, she doesn't claim to simply write about hackers or
hacker culter.  She openly claims to *teach* hackers!  I think this is
what bothers people most about her.  A generation of new hackers are
joining the Internet and many of them are finding her first!  Undoing the
damage she causes to people who read her "happy hacker digest" is no easy
task.

Cheers,
Fyodor


- --
Fyodor                                  'finger fyodor@dhp.com | pgp -fka'
Frustrated by firewalls?           Try nmap: http://www.insecure.org/nmap/
"In addition, we're trying to do a much better job of staying in touch
with our teenage children and others to learn the latest hacker techniques
so we can be one step ahead of them rather than several steps behind." 
 --Kenneth H. Bacon, Pentagon Assistant Secretary of Defense



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