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From Chopping Trees to Destroying Capitalism: A Social Etymology of Hacking

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Capitalism, Crime and Media in the 21st Century

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture ((PSCMC))

Abstract

This chapter considers the history of the verb hack and the related noun hacker. The chapter offers a ‘social etymology’—an account of how the term has changed over time and how such changes re-reorient the word. The chapter considers the various ways in which the term hacker has been used in a range of different historical sources and contemporary films and television shows and how the current use of the term strategically draws together particular historical meanings to position hackers as a threat to both individual wellbeing and possibly capitalism itself.

I know turnip one of your password. Lets get directly to purpose. You do not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this mail? No person has paid me to check you.

Let me tell you, I installed a software on the X streaming (sexually graphic) website and there’s more, you visited this site to experience fun (you know what I mean). When you were viewing video clips, your browser started out operating as a RDP that has a key logger which provided me with accessibility to your display and also web cam. Just after that, my software program obtained your entire contacts from your Messenger, FB, as well as email. After that I created a double-screen video. 1st part displays the video you were watching (you’ve got a good taste lol), and next part shows the view of your web camera, & it is u.

There are only 2 options. We are going to look at these types of solutions in details:

Very first option is to disregard this email message. As a result, I most certainly will send your video recording to every one of your personal contacts and also think about regarding the shame that you receive. Do not forget in case you are in a committed relationship, precisely how this will affect?

Number two option would be to give me $2000. We are going to regard it as a donation. Consequently, I most certainly will immediately eliminate your videotape. You can keep going your daily routine like this never occurred and you will never hear back again from me.

You’ll make the payment by Bitcoin (if you don’t know this, search for “how to buy bitcoin” in Google).

BTC Address: 12TzenvP15Gqr4yXccsy6oLYZZxzda5LfH

[CASE-sensitive so copy & paste it]

If you are looking at going to the law enforcement, very well, this email cannot be traced back to me. I have covered my steps. I am not looking to ask you for a whole lot, I wish to be rewarded.

You have one day in order to pay. I’ve a unique pixel within this email, and at this moment I know that you have read through this e mail. If I do not receive the BitCoins, I will certainly send out your video to all of your contacts including family members, co-workers, and many others. Having said that, if I receive the payment, I will erase the video right away. If you want to have evidence, reply Yup! & I will certainly send out your video to your 14 friends. This is a non-negotiable offer therefore don’t waste mine time and yours by replying to this e-mail.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Many of the older texts use the long, archaic ƒ to replace the single s or first s in double s. For ease of reading this has been replaced with the contemporary s. Other spelling variant have been kept as printed in the original texts.

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Correspondence to Marcus Leaning .

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Leaning, M. (2021). From Chopping Trees to Destroying Capitalism: A Social Etymology of Hacking. In: Ewen, N., Grattan, A., Leaning, M., Manning, P. (eds) Capitalism, Crime and Media in the 21st Century. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56444-5_8

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