At 08:10 10/07/96 -0700, Martin Minow wrote:
Arun Mehta describes the "hijacking" of Minitel (where users changed a videotex system into two-way communication medium) as a "hacking" (in the computer breakin sense).
I think it might be more accurate to call this a "redirection" -- the people using Minitel "manifest[ing] tastes often opposed to those foreseen by experts"
True, but as I understand it, there was also a hacking involved: they took the original software, modified it (what I would also call hacking) and made it freely available: that is what made the messageries possible. If I'm using the technical terminology wrong, thanks for the correction. I'd love to find out exactly what happened.
Perhaps this is just another example of the cypherpunks manifesto: "information wants to be free."
More than that, we do! Arun Mehta Phone +91-11-6841172, 6849103 amehta@cpsr.org http://mahavir.doe.ernet.in/~pinaward/arun.htm The protestors of Tiananmen Square will be back. Next time, the battle will be fought in cyberspace, where the students have the more powerful tanks...