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Instead of throwing a big party for employees and their spouses at the Raleigh Convention Center, Red Hat decided to donate the money they would have spent to Feeding America (via Linux Insider):
Red Hat may not be spending much when it comes to the company holiday party this year, but it certainly is no Scrooge. Rather than splurge on a swanky party for its employees, the Linux distributor will give money and food to charity.
Instead, the Raleigh, N.C., software company will donate the money it would have spent to a food charity chosen by employees.
The move comes as the slumping economy is hurting philanthropic donations and increasing demand among the needy.
“We felt it was the wrong time to be spending a lot of money on ourselves,” said DeLisa Alexander, Red Hat’s senior vice president for people and brand.
Regardless of general economic conditions, donating to charity instead of lavish parties for employees is commendable and sets a good example for all. No need to label it as “CSR” (corporate social responsiblity) — it’s just plain good.
Great idea.
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Dramatic piece in Wired on the ultimate hack:
The vulnerability gave him the power to transfer millions out of bank accounts worldwide. He lived in a barren one-bedroom apartment and owned almost nothing. He rented the bed he was lying on as well as the couch and table in the living room. The walls were bare. His refrigerator generally contained little more than a few forgotten slices of processed cheese and a couple of Rockstar energy drinks. Maybe it was time to upgrade his lifestyle.
Or, for the sheer geeky joy of it, he could reroute all of .com into his laptop, the digital equivalent of channeling the Mississippi into a bathtub. It was a moment hackers around the world dream of—a tool that could give them unimaginable power. But maybe it was best simply to close his laptop and forget it. He could pretend he hadn’t just stumbled over a skeleton key to the Net. Life would certainly be less complicated. If he stole money, he’d risk prison. If he told the world, he’d be the messenger of doom, potentially triggering a collapse of Web-based commerce.
But who was he kidding? He was just some guy. The problem had been coded into Internet architecture in 1983. It was 2008. Somebody must have fixed it by now. He typed a quick series of commands and pressed enter. When he tried to access the Fortune 500 company’s Web site, he was redirected to an address he himself had specified.
“Oh shit,” he mumbled. “I just broke the Internet.”
It’s now called the “Kaminsky Hack” and it’s worth reading (written by Joshua Davis).
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