[Noisebridge-discuss] win scratch-off lotteries: an easier, more reliable way

[Sai]

On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 21:09, Gian Pablo Villamil <gian.pablo at gmail.com> wrote:
> Or - like Patrick - you could define the system being hacked as the system
> of selling scratchcards,

I think this isn't really different from "the economic system". Sure,
you can opt out and do all sorts of optimization - like I said, one
can be a resourceful homeless person. FWIW I mean nothing negative by
"homeless person", as some of my best friends have been or are
currently homeless and did just fine.

But I just don't think that's an interesting sort of hacking. To use
your analogy...

> You can spend a bunch of time picking a lock, or realize that the
> pane of glass next to it is loose.

... while locksport is squarely within hacking, burglary by breaking
windows is just, well, uncouth - in addition to being a crime. You
just don't see "who can break into a door with brute force"
competitions at hacker cons, because it isn't *interesting*.

I think it's safe to say though that, as you point out, Patrick and I
clearly have very different goals here. That's fine so long as it's
clear. I saw Patrick's OP as implying that my goals were his (i.e. to
find a flaw in lottery tickets and thereby make money exploiting the
system), and this provoked my peevish response.

If he wants to find new ways to scrounge money off flaws in the
economic/social system, I wish him luck, but I have no desire to be
associated with that.

- Sai