From Newsgroup: alt.2600

I was a little too young to have used newsgroups/BBS's. They were
definitely still around - but by the time I was competent enough to be
on the internet, we already had broadband. If there was a way to access
a BBS without a phone line, I was unaware of it. Similarly, if our ISP
offered newsgroup access, I knew nothing of it. Decades later, I've
finally joined Usenet past its prime, in an effort to make up for the
"fun" I lost. But this is not so much of a nostalgic post (nostalgia
I've arguably not even earned).

My earliest exposure to hacking was hackthissite.org, which I'm happy to
see is still around today. Late childhood was spent on HTS, and in my
teenage years I started reading around on HackForums. I remember a lot
of stuff being circulated for free on HF - programs, information, you
name it. Admittedly I've steered clear since my many-years hiatus, as
I've read some not-so-good things about it. Perhaps it's not changed as
much as I've heard, but I'm a little wary.

But - going back to the BBS era, and even the early HF era - it seems
like computers were still obscure enough, and the barrier of entry was
still high enough, that information flowed pretty freely. They were the
"good days" - where security was an afterthought more often than not,
and vulnerabilities perhaps were not held in such regard as they might
be today?

Nowadays, I don't see a lot of things online that really catch my
attention. Just articles about another data breach, or about how another Fortune 500 company isn't respecting my privacy. These are worthy
discussions of course, but where have the bona fide hacking discussions
gone? Have they moved behind paywalls? To the dark web? Is it due to the ubiquity of the internet, compounded by a low barrier to entry, that discussions have moved out of the public eye, only available to those
who know where to look and can prove they're the real deal?

Or am I completely off point?
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: alt.2600

On 2025-04-15, extra extra <extraextra@mailbox.org> wrote:

I was a little too young to have used newsgroups/BBS's. They were
definitely still around - but by the time I was competent enough to be
on the internet, we already had broadband. If there was a way to access
a BBS without a phone line, I was unaware of it. Similarly, if our ISP offered newsgroup access, I knew nothing of it. Decades later, I've
finally joined Usenet past its prime, in an effort to make up for the
"fun" I lost. But this is not so much of a nostalgic post (nostalgia
I've arguably not even earned).

My earliest exposure to hacking was hackthissite.org, which I'm happy to
see is still around today. Late childhood was spent on HTS, and in my teenage years I started reading around on HackForums. I remember a lot
of stuff being circulated for free on HF - programs, information, you
name it. Admittedly I've steered clear since my many-years hiatus, as
I've read some not-so-good things about it. Perhaps it's not changed as
much as I've heard, but I'm a little wary.

Or am I completely off point?

hacking is not cybercrime.
https://www.hackingisnotacrime.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution

cheers.
Happy Hacking
ReK2
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: alt.2600

On 2025-04-15, rek2 hispagatos <rek2@hispagatos.meow.org.invalid> wrote:

On 2025-04-15, extra extra <extraextra@mailbox.org> wrote:

I was a little too young to have used newsgroups/BBS's. They were
definitely still around - but by the time I was competent enough to be
on the internet, we already had broadband. If there was a way to access
a BBS without a phone line, I was unaware of it. Similarly, if our ISP
offered newsgroup access, I knew nothing of it. Decades later, I've
finally joined Usenet past its prime, in an effort to make up for the
"fun" I lost. But this is not so much of a nostalgic post (nostalgia
I've arguably not even earned).

My earliest exposure to hacking was hackthissite.org, which I'm happy to
see is still around today. Late childhood was spent on HTS, and in my
teenage years I started reading around on HackForums. I remember a lot
of stuff being circulated for free on HF - programs, information, you
name it. Admittedly I've steered clear since my many-years hiatus, as
I've read some not-so-good things about it. Perhaps it's not changed as
much as I've heard, but I'm a little wary.


Or am I completely off point?

hacking is not cybercrime.
https://www.hackingisnotacrime.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution

cheers.
Happy Hacking
ReK2

??????
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114