Generally the word hacking or hacker is thought of as negative and bad. However, I think innovation because if not for hackers we probably wouldn't have such good security on the internet and on our computers. White hat hackers have been able to strengthen the security that actually prevents us from hacking. They have also paved the way for most of the technology we use today and the security systems that protect us.

I think about it like this: Something is created and some people want to really know how it works. Not just use it but take it apart, analyze its pieces and try to expand on it or make it better.Some hackers have achieved improvement on technology that was already before them or created their own, using what they hacked into as a model. The key point to remember is that some hackers bend the rules but don't break them, while others simply use hacking maliciously. I think when it comes to invention, people are going to use it for either good or evil. Hacker Tim Berners-Lee was banned from using computers at Oxford when he was a student there because he was hacking into them but eventually invented the world wide web.

In the reading "Performance of Technology: Reading the “Hacker Manifesto,” the author writes:

"Even while people are distrustful of technology

or suspicious of it, they cede authority to those who control

or appear to control it. The hacker, who is able to master technology,

speaks with two voices—the voice of adult authority, with which

he asserts control, and the voice of boy culture with which he resists

and assaults the values and norms of the adult world."

Hacker's are everywhere and it's no surprise to me that there are as many young ones as older ones. Your younger siblings could be hacking. I think this is because younger kids have grown up with the internet from the start. They understand its funtion sometimes more than experts and since they understand it, they can hack it easier. Once one kid knows, the word is spread and they are all doing it.

For example:

We've become accostomed to many forms of hacking, such as jailbreaking iphones. We can easily go to youtube and watch endless ameture video's of people showing us how to do it:

Let's not forget about the kid from New Jersey who cracked the iphone network lock and told the public how he did it on natinal television.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20424880

ehow.com gives instructions on how to bypass the blocks that schools use to prevent students from innapropriate sites. We all know students cannot live without Facebook and Myspace-and now they figured out how to access those sites at school-even though they aren't supposed to. http://www.ehow.com/how_2281203_bypass-school-internet-filters.html

I think as a culture we are always wanting to beat the system. We don't like being restriced, especially on the internet. We download our music for free (most of us), so I think if not for Shawn Fanning who is considered a hacker, would we be using P2P software? People created free apps that can be used on iphones. We always want more and better and so hacking will always strive. I don't look past the fact that bad hackers cause problems everyday without fail but again I like to think of hacking more as innovative than a problem.

For example: I googled the painting and there's so many reproductions that come up and they vary in colors, brightness, contrast, clarity, etc. 

This is exactly a point that Benjamin makes in Work of Art in the Ages of Mechanical Reproduction. He talks about the concept of aura, which he defines as an emotion that comes across us when we are in front of a work of art. When a reproduction replaces an original work of art, the aura of the painting is lost. In today's age, aura is becoming lost in the always changing technological and digital advances in the world of media. When I think about the new way to read books on a Kindle or most recently released, the ipad, I think there is a sense of aura lost in literature. Sure, it's lighter and more convenient but there is something different about holding a book and turning its pages. Plus, I would imagine that books are much more reliable than an electronic book. When it comes  to photography, photography and computers, they all intersect in how they have changed the meaning of image. When you take a picture and leave it alone its raw. When you start to edit it and change it, it looses part of its originality. For example, take high dynamic rage that completely alters photographs to make them sharper and the colors more vibrant:

Films image is being altered as well with advanced in HD and now with 3D becoming more popular. Films are also being leaked onto websites, where the quality is  most likely crappy. Also, I do think the art of films can get lost in today's hype of these big box office movies. Personally, I would much rather see an independent movie than a movie that shows off special effects. For example, Garden State over Transformers. I found this quick article a year ago that talks about art getting lost in film that I like:http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/06/27/originality-lost-art-in-film/

I've never really gotten into gaming, so it was in class that I first heard about machinima. Machinima is interesting to me because its a way for people to create these films without the use of actors or real settings. It's all about computer animation and a chance for anyone to express themselves through film. I think machinima does have its own sense of aura just as say, old Disney animated movies do. When you see an old animated Disney movie, the characters and everything are hand painted and drawn. There was time put into them. Machinima has the same concept with the use of both  digital puppetry and artificial intelligence of the characters in the game. Both old animated Disney movies (plus animated Pixar movies) and machinima have their own sense of aura because they are original pieces of art that were creative and expressive.

I think aura can be found in the new ways that we experiment with film, photography and art, however I think aura is lost when old art works are tampered with and changed with the use of digital enhancements and reproduction.