Hackers misunderstood?
The aspect of hackers is an aspect that has always intrigued me, the only information I have on them were from the media; movies, t.v programmes, books, etc. Sources which pretty much look at the negative stereotypes and stigma's that media had attached to hackers as the 'bad-guys' breaking into on-line networks and systems to try and steal top secret information or money from banks.
In my endeavour I wanted to take another look at hackers, from a hackers point of view. While googling hackers on the net I found this interesting website: www.tlc.discovery.com/convergence/hackers/hackers.html, a site which had a 'hall of fame' for hackers, in which I found that some of the hackers in the hall of fame aren't the sinister-minded criminals portrayed in the movies, although most of them did look like nerds and geeks. Some of the hackers featured on the website like Ian Murphy, John Draper and Mark Abene granted have done some un-lawful, more annoying things like hack into AT&T's (American Phone Company) internal clock and changed the time so that costumers ringing during times of discount got charged the normal calling fees. They have also helped in working as technicians at companies to break through their security programmes to find vulnerabilities which can be fixed so they inturn don't get hacked into and they have also created software programmes we use today in stopping the spread of computer viruses.
Another website I came across that I thought was interesting in providing a view into the world of hackers is : www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker~howto.html#what_is, is a site set up by an editor of the Jargon File (a sort of New Hackers Dictionary), on learning how to become a hacker. The author descirbed the 'hacker community' as a shared culture of expert programmers and networking wizards. The interesting fact I took from this site is the differentiation between 'hackers' and 'crackers', that in the hacker culture it is the 'crackers' that are doing the damage in spreading viruses and breaking into or 'cracking' into networks for criminal activities such as stealing money from banks. On the website it describes the 'crackers' as getting their kicks out of breaking into computers and phreaking phone systems and seen as outcasts in the world of hackers.
Another website that I thought quite intresting is: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/hacker_ethics.html , a site which looked at the ethics of hackers, the main tennents being that all information should be free, that bureaucracy shouldn't be allowed to get in the way of doing useful things and so on, theres more on this on the site.
What this leads me to think is that maybe Hackers are misunderstood, and that a differentiation should be made between hackers and crackers to help change the way we view them, as some are offer an invaluable service by helping to shape new and better security software technologies and networks , and the others namely the 'crackers' who are the real problem.
-RiX
In my endeavour I wanted to take another look at hackers, from a hackers point of view. While googling hackers on the net I found this interesting website: www.tlc.discovery.com/convergence/hackers/hackers.html, a site which had a 'hall of fame' for hackers, in which I found that some of the hackers in the hall of fame aren't the sinister-minded criminals portrayed in the movies, although most of them did look like nerds and geeks. Some of the hackers featured on the website like Ian Murphy, John Draper and Mark Abene granted have done some un-lawful, more annoying things like hack into AT&T's (American Phone Company) internal clock and changed the time so that costumers ringing during times of discount got charged the normal calling fees. They have also helped in working as technicians at companies to break through their security programmes to find vulnerabilities which can be fixed so they inturn don't get hacked into and they have also created software programmes we use today in stopping the spread of computer viruses.
Another website I came across that I thought was interesting in providing a view into the world of hackers is : www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker~howto.html#what_is, is a site set up by an editor of the Jargon File (a sort of New Hackers Dictionary), on learning how to become a hacker. The author descirbed the 'hacker community' as a shared culture of expert programmers and networking wizards. The interesting fact I took from this site is the differentiation between 'hackers' and 'crackers', that in the hacker culture it is the 'crackers' that are doing the damage in spreading viruses and breaking into or 'cracking' into networks for criminal activities such as stealing money from banks. On the website it describes the 'crackers' as getting their kicks out of breaking into computers and phreaking phone systems and seen as outcasts in the world of hackers.
Another website that I thought quite intresting is: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/hacker_ethics.html , a site which looked at the ethics of hackers, the main tennents being that all information should be free, that bureaucracy shouldn't be allowed to get in the way of doing useful things and so on, theres more on this on the site.
What this leads me to think is that maybe Hackers are misunderstood, and that a differentiation should be made between hackers and crackers to help change the way we view them, as some are offer an invaluable service by helping to shape new and better security software technologies and networks , and the others namely the 'crackers' who are the real problem.
-RiX
posted by Anonymous at 1:38 pm
2 Comments:
Hey, I quite agree with your sentiment, it has always been said that the best hackers in the world work for the very corporations we expect them to rip off.
The article you mention is already on CECIL - I put it there with the lecture notes from the week we discussed gatekeepers. Let me know if you have any difficulties accessing it...
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