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hogs of entropy #27
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| | Hogs of Entropy Text Files Present... | |
| | "The Revenge of the Nerds" | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | By: Mogel | |
| | | |
\ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following article was something I found one stroll through the
library. It's a phunky article from _SCHOLASTIC UPDATE_, a magazine that is
distributed to high schools all around the country. The article was written
by Herbert Buchsbaum in the September 2nd Issue, 1994. Although I have many
opinion about many things in this article I would like to do a more CuDDy
thing -- I would like to hear from YOU. That's right, YOU. I would much
like to hear feedback on this article... either opinion, complaints,
agreements, or whatever about one point or the whole thing. Please send
these letters my way, and the best stuff will go into a future fun-paCked
issue. Anyway, on with the ummm article and stuff:
[Look at this trippy hypnotic design I made here...I thought it up one day!]
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Computer Geeks -- Every school has them. They may not be
popular now, but they're poised to take over the world."
The Scared Poet, a tall, gangly, 15-year-old, is not very popular at his
suburban New York prep school. He's skinny, wears braces, and isn't good at
sports.
"People think of me as a nerdish person," he admits.
After school, while his classmates are hanging out in malls or movie houses,
the Poet goes to his room at jacks [off] on to a computer network.
"It's what I do with my free time," he says. "I have no life."
The Poet, who would only identify himself by his computer name, is shy and
soft-spoken. But even shy, quiet types have thier limits. One day he'd had
it with the abuse dished out by the popular crowd and one guy in particular,
the ringleader. That afternoon, he went home and started hacking -- Breaking
into computer databases in search of information. In a few hours, he had
amassed an exstensive file, including his rival's Social Security Number,
parents' financial records, information about loans they'd taken out, bank
transactions, and divorce records. He brought the data to school the next
day.
"I told him I would destroy his family's entire credit history and have his
parents declared legally dead and have him thrown out of school," The Poet
says. "And he bought it 100 percent."
In truth, the Poet really couldn't have someone declared dead and he
wouldn't dare diddle with credit records, a crime for which he could go to
jail. But the data gave his threat credibility. "I wanted to convice him
of the fact that I could destroy him," the Poet says. "And I did. He was
nice to me after that."
In many ways, Scared Poet is typical of the current generation of high
school hackers, or computer fanatics. Most are bored, suburban misfits,
whose curiosity about computers and technology had led them to spend
inordinate amounts of time indoors in front of a flickering computer screen,
probing the depths and limits of the information revolution. Partly for lack
of social life, they have become true explorers on the electronic frontier,
a place where technical expertise is everything and how you look counts for
squat.
But the truly amazing fact is that as computers take over more and more
levels of society, kids like Scared Poet are on the threshold of real power.
As they joyride on the informational Superhigway, the kids you sneer at in
high school are picking up the skills and knowledge that will dominate in the
information age. Today, they may pilfering credit records; tomorrow they
could be running the bank. You could call it the revenge of the nerds.
HACKS TO RICHES
---------------
Part of the fear of hackers comes from ignorance. Most people don't really
know what hackers are and don't understand a thing about the techoworld they
live in. This has contributed to many misconceptions.
Hacking, in the original sence, means tinkering with computer systems and
figuring out what they can do. Most hacking is harmless; some is even
productive. Hackers have contributed many great inventions in computer
technology. Some, like Bill Gates, founder of the Microsoft Corporation, the
nation's leading computer software company, have made millions starting their
own companies.
"These are people with crazy ideas, and not a lot of adult supervision, who
seize the technologies available and create something new of it," says Paul
Saffo, of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, California.
Then there are those, like Scared Poet, who, for fun or malice, use thier
skills to break into other people's computer systems. Although they comprise
a small minority, they have gotten most of the publicity and given hackers a
bad rap. These computer intruders hack into business or government computers
mainly to prove that they can, They may poke around a little, but usually do
no damage. Most of them believe in some version of the "hacker ethic," which
holds that all information should be free and that breaking into computers to
explore is OK, as long as you don't steal or break anything.
Companies that have had their computers broken into, however, disagree.
"Some of these systems contain very confidential and personal information
that hackers, no matter how careful they are, have no right to read," says
Patricia Keefe, an editor at _COMPUTERWORLD_ magazine. Says one company
computer manager, "It's like stealing files out of a file cabinet."
What's more, some hackers go beyond the hacker ethic -- in some cases way
beyond. The more malicious hackers think nothing of tampering with data,
crashing entire systems, and disrupting businesses. Many combine their
technical know-how with a spite for authority and large corporations. The
notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick, for example, once broke into the computers of
the North American Air Defense Command, which controls the nation's
nuclear-weapons arsenal. In 1981, another well-known hacker broke into
systems at the White House, the Pentagon, and BellSouth phone company. And
in 1988, a hacker created the Internet Worm, a virus that traveled from one
computer to another, nearly bringing down the entire Internet computer
Network.
As hackers grew bolder, the law began to crack down. But the authorities
haven't fared too well. Mitnick was arrested in 1988m but is now wanted
again. In the most publicized effort, in May 1990, more than 150 Secret
Service agents raided alleged hacker operations in 14 cities from New York to
Texas. The arrests followed a two-year investigation into the Legion of
Doom hacker group, which had allegedly copied and distributed a sensitive
phone-company document. But the case fell apart when it turned out the
document was for sale legally for $13.
THE UNDERGROUND
---------------
Once a month, on a Friday night, when more social kids may be on dates,
Scared Poet hops a train into New York City for a meeting of 2600, an
informal association of the techno-underground, the more subversive side of
hackerdom. In the food court of an urban mall, hackers gather to trade
information and brag of thier exploits. Less an organized meeting than a
chaotic information bazaar, the event attracts a few computer professionals
and, on occasion, undercover cops.
In one corner, a young man is holding forth on how to reprogram the
magnetic strip on a subway fare card so you can ride for free. In another
group, several telephone specialists, known as "phone phreaks," compare
homemade devices that allow them to make free long-distance calls from pay
phones. And amid a cluster of high school students, a 16-year-old hacer in
a baseball cap and unlaced hightops us explaining why he hacks. "Secret
information is something you can't have," he says. "And the more they say you
can't have it, the more you want it."
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Hey, SCARED POET! Call Mogel-Land NOW! Lemme talk to you man.
Share your pain.
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
| Mogel-Land........2157323413 /I'm a PiG\ Paranoia Subnormal.2153395831 |
| Hacker Crackdown..2159451907 |H )\@_@/( P| Stellar Nights.....6108969140 |
| T.E.K.A.T.........9088132738 |o ( (o) ) i| Life IS Boring.....HeHeHahaho |
| I Forget..........6105448001 |G <_O_> G| the NEXT generation |
| /<RaD-/<-/< House.8103480421 |s BuUuRP! s| of stoopid... |
| The Complex.......4107205305 \I'm a PiG/ |
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
Copyright © 1994 HoE Publications and Herbert Buchsbaum. #27 --> 11/17/94
All rights are Wrong.
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