Hackers Goond and Evil

John Perry Barlow - Electronic Frontier Foundation

Cyberspace Declaration of Independence

A war is being fought in the Internet twenty-four hours a day. A team of defenders spread throughout the world, are ready to stop and neutralize every attack. It is the Global Thread Operation Center where all attacks are being monitored; any of which could be the signal for a stronger hit that could generate absolute chaos. The room looks like a set from a futuristic movie. Four huge screens in the front of the room display the process data that is taking place. Several rows of desks and panels fill the room. More than twenty people are moving around, answering and making phone calls, talking to each other, and examining computer screens. They are re

These seven statements are very clear and precise and many hackers still practice the art of hacking based on this ethic code. Hackers simply enjoy challenges, like for example that of circumventing security controls on computer systems (RedHat par.4). By the mid-eighties when some members of this community began to commit dishonest hacking of systems and networks to inflict damage or obtain personal gain, hackers decided to name them crackers in order to differentiate themselves. Over the years, different levels of distinctions (“black, white, and gray hat”) where applied to describe the individuals who find and exploit vulnerabilities in computers. Whatever you call them, the fact is that hackers are among us. They are people just like you and me, heroes or villains. Like any group of people, some will be good and some will be bad.

Thanks to John Perry Barlow, hackers now count with a force that backs them up. Barlow is the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an organization that fights for cyber-rights. “We are dealing with the battle between the future and the past, between the powers that were and the powers that have yet to be” Barlow says (TLC). He also believes that “the internet represents a change in history as great as the industrial revolution” and from this philosophy he came about with the creation of a Declaration of Independence for Cyberspace, fearing from the government and lawmakers that want to take over it. In a few words he summarizes:

Ian Murphy, also known as Captain Zap, performed one of the first cracker attacks. At a very young age, he targeted the charging system of AT&T telephone Company because the rates were too high. At that time, computerized systems did not have much security. For Captain Zap was easy to get access, it was a game. By changing the clock system around the country, Zap was able to turn discounted night rates into daytime rates. Therefore millions of ATT subscribers started to save money without even knowing about it. Just when the first set of bills started to go out, the company found out. This is considered one of the greatest hacks, and Captain Zap became part of the hall of fame of hackers. Zap himself says that above all he decided to become this “techno freak” because he seemed to know a lot about it and also because there were no laws to it. Today hackers like Captain Zap are considered as hackers who wear the black hat (TLC).

q Computers can change your life for the better.

q You can create art and beauty on a computer.

The hackers, “wearing” the black hat (the crackers,) are those who are not interested in the academic value of breaking into computer systems, instead they used their abilities to steal sensitive private information for their own gain, causing damage and crisis to many organizations and the public. Crackers gave birth to the phrase “cyber-crime” generating serious damage to business and companies, to the social structure in general. Their actions range from credit card fraud, identity theft, to spreading computer viruses. Still, the black hats category can be broken down further. There are the Script Kiddies or Cyber-punks. These kids like Cold Fire and Mafia Boy get bored at school and are very skillful with computers and technology. They tend to use their skills for evil and end up getting caught because they brag about their exploits in order to make a name in the community. Another group is the level of Professional criminals. Private companies, and even the government usually hire crackers since they make the perfect spy (Hacker 101). Lastly there are those who have great abilities writing programming software code and used it to create those malicious programs called viruses. The Melissa virus is an example of how critical damage crackers cause, with an estimated damage of $80 Million dollars in one million computers across the world. In a response to such acts, tougher laws on cyber crime have be

Some topics in this essay:
Mafia Boy, Captain Zap, Lauderdale Garcia, Matthew Pavlovich, Hands-On Imperative, England TLC, Threat Center, Marie Moore, Operation Center, Hackers TLC, hat hackers, captain zap, white hats, world cyberspace, white hat hackers, black hat, future past, black hats, computer systems, hacker ethic, white hat, movement context obey, concepts property expression, property expression identity, expression identity movement,