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Let's say a person is considering applying to law school within the next 2-4 years, and would like to know whether a certain area of his/her computer actions could be considered relevant in his application.

"Hactivism" is the term generating increasing use in the mainstream media, although I find it incredibly annoying. In the broadest sense, could any of these sort of actions be intriguing in a legitimized application process (assuming no realized damage is done)? In my opinion, they demonstrate IT skill, resourcefulness, and many of the actions are politically charged (see the "activism" part of the word). Nevertheless, it's not....incredibly "legal".

Could a person list, in any degree of detail, actions within the hacker community? Or should the person list the programming languages acquired through the years? Is verifiability of claims an issue?

And here I was assuming this was going to be a thread about internet porn addiction...

lolwatt wrote:Let's say a person is considering applying to law school within the next 2-4 years, and would like to know whether a certain area of his/her computer actions could be considered relevant in his application.

"Hactivism" is the term generating increasing use in the mainstream media, although I find it incredibly annoying. In the broadest sense, could any of these sort of actions be intriguing in a legitimized application process (assuming no realized damage is done)? In my opinion, they demonstrate IT skill, resourcefulness, and many of the actions are politically charged (see the "activism" part of the word). Nevertheless, it's not....incredibly "legal".

Could a person list, in any degree of detail, actions within the hacker community? Or should the person list the programming languages acquired through the years? Is verifiability of claims an issue?

I'm no computer wiz, but why would you ever list something about you doing something illegal?

Open source coding and hardware hacking are great hobbies. Unauthorized access of systems and disruption of services are crimes.

If you are a real hacktivist, meaning the people working on securing open access for people living in totalitarian regimes through projects like tor and the like, then by all means mention it.

If you mean the losers who run DDOS attacks on the companies they don't like so that they can feel pretty about themselves, then forget it as it is a federal crime.

dakatz wrote:And here I was assuming this was going to be a thread about internet porn addiction...

+1. Thread fails to deliver.

dakatz wrote:And here I was assuming this was going to be a thread about internet porn addiction...

Ha, me too - there's only been about a dozen threads on porn over the past few days. I especially like the porn actor considering putting his work on his resume. Classic.

dakatz wrote:And here I was assuming this was going to be a thread about internet porn addiction...

Sorry, figured I'd have some fun. Pretty aware of the insinuations people would make. heh.

CyLaw wrote:Open source coding and hardware hacking are great hobbies. Unauthorized access of systems and disruption of services are crimes.

If you are a real hacktivist, meaning the people working on securing open access for people living in totalitarian regimes through projects like tor and the like, then by all means mention it.

If you mean the losers who run DDOS attacks on the companies they don't like so that they can feel pretty about themselves, then forget it as it is a federal crime.

Thanks for this response. I wasn't sure how that sort of treatment of non-US law would be interpreted by schools.

Can anyone comment on my final question - is verifiability an issue? It seems hard to prove any work done over the Internet or any languages spoken: I'm sure Harvard Law doesn't have a Perl Aptitude Test.

lolwatt wrote: Can anyone comment on my final question - is verifiability an issue? It seems hard to prove any work done over the Internet or any languages spoken: I'm sure Harvard Law doesn't have a Perl Aptitude Test.

At least the schools I applied to didn't bother to verify anything. They assume people are being honest, mostly because if you lie on the app or resume, the C&F people at the bar will kill your chances of getting admitted to the bar. IP employers may ask random questions if they are knowledgeable in a language. If you know a language, you can tell if someone else does also just by listening to the way they talk about it. (disclaimer: no experience with IP employers yet).

Remember you are applying to law school not a job at Google. You would be lucky if the adcomm even knew what a shell was.

lolwatt wrote:

dakatz wrote:And here I was assuming this was going to be a thread about internet porn addiction...

Sorry, figured I'd have some fun. Pretty aware of the insinuations people would make. heh.

And here I assumed you wanted to talk about being raid leader of your WoW guild.