Re: [oldboys] HAL appetizers to 'socialize'

[Amy Alexander <plagiari@plagiarist.org>]

On Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Mathilde muPe wrote:

> Indeed, sounds as sily as forbidding lock pick instruments. Tools are not
> the crime. Banning tools should be restricted to ultamate cases (like guns
> and bombs).  But were should there be the line? Hacking for sake of proving
> a system leak and warning the sysadmin is cool?(yes/no. if yes next
> question:) Hacking to prove a system leak and not telling the sysadmin is
> cool? (yes/no. if yes next question:) Hacking and leaving a damaged system
> as tooken for the sysadmin that the system has been hacked is cool? (And so
> on)
>

yep. and i think this is perhaps one of those gender or age/gender issues.
i think, to be honest, a lot of "whitehat" crackers - i.e. the people
who look for and publicize
security holes so that they can be patched "before the bad guys
find 'em" are a mixed blessing (think of the percentage of
script kiddie crackers to crackers who could actually find a hole for
themselves.) but, say that to most 20-year-old geek dudes and they'll come
back at ya with "security by obscurity doesn't work!" (love those geek
dogmas where you don't actually have to think for yourself.... )

i'm not suggesting that the world should go around with insecure software;
sure, it's good to get holes fixed (though the accepted system of
publicizing the hole oneself if the vendor doesn't obey the hacker's
wishes as to supplying a timely fix sure sounds a little like powerplay
blackmail... )   but to be honest, we should acknowledge that there's
probably more to the whitehat psyche than a white hat.

so what makes a whitehat cracker spend time trying to find a hole?
in many cases, i think ego gratification... you get the credits on
bugtraq, etc...  essentially the same
reason as most script kiddies crack systems using other people's scripts,
except the script kiddies of course haven't actually done anything worth
bragging about.  on the one hand, i think cracking isn't necessarily
a gender thing - i'm pretty well-behaved but
i have to admit having enjoyed the opportunities i've had...
(all with permission - i swear it!) :-)

on the other hand, i can't help noticing the rape metaphors inherent in
cracking. if a system is broken into, it's "compromised." before it's
broken into, it's "vulnerable." if a system is broken into at the highest
level, it's "owned" (or "rooted.") but moreover, there's the mindset -
if your system gets broken into, you're expected to be ashamed for
allowing the vulnerability to exist. and the cracker gets ego gratification
for the conquest. (not to mention the metaphor of just going inside
where you shouldn't be... could also be trespassing, but how many
people get excited about trespassing the way they do about cracking?)

>
> The freedom of pacifistic hacking is also the freedom to
> 1) Control and own what you already paid for (reverse engineering personal
> software, hardware)
> 2) Check software integrety.
> 3) Something with kapitalism and the power of being a human not a consumer.
>
ya. and all of these are in violation of the DMCA! :-)

> Hope to meet you there.
>
wish i could make it!

-@


--
plagiarist.org
Recontextualizing script-kiddyism as net-art for over 1/20 of a century.




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