I saw today on Lifehacker that the hacker group Anonymous is releasing their own flavor of Linux.  Supposedly it will have a set of hacking tools.  I’m of two minds on this.

Speaking as a regular computer user I think it would be a very BAD idea to play with this distro if you value anything on that machine.  The idea of installing an OS from a hacker organization seems reckless and crazy.

I’m sure they are on the up and up but the words back-door jump up whenever I think about systems and hackers.  This has been in the back of my mind since Wargames.  A person that just uses their computer should stay far away from this OS.

I’m talking backup your system, clear your browser history of all sites that mention it, turn off the computer, unplug all the cables, and go watch a double feature of Wargames and Hackers.  You’ll thank me later.

That having been said I must put on my nerdy, geeky,  and pointy wizard hat and confess that I want it.  I don’t have the talent or the training to use it but I can learn.  I know I should have a properly secure machine and network setup to guard against the back door I mentioned earlier but that’s hard and boring.

I’ve always used software to wander down paths I never took.  It started with the text version of Star Trek and has progressed to planes, surgery, music, and sports.  Activision had a Hacker game for the Commodore 64 that started with just a prompt.

Now there’s a whole OS with hacking tools out there?!   As soon as I get another machine (probably from a pawn shop) Anonymous is going on.