440 DEAR HACKER

440 DEAR HACKER

as a typewriter or a printing press, and should be afforded the same protection under the law. If we can agree on that point, let’s continue with this stream of logic.

The hacker has called a phone number. The phone is answered and some words are exchanged through the translation of the modems. The computer asks who is this? The hacker replies this is so and so. The computer says how do I know this is so and so. Prove it. Tell me the password we agreed upon when you called before. At this point, the hacker must either guess or have access to a password. The hacker repeats a word he has heard that he has gotten from friends, found on another computer, etc. Hearing this word, the computer says, okay, you must be so and so. Now ask me whatever you want. The hacker now has use of that computer by false pretenses because he has said the right combination of words. At this point, the hacker reads infor- mation that is stored on the computer. He decides he wants a copy of

a certain document and the computer says okay, since you are so and so, you can have it. The hacker is not stealing it. It is still there on the computer. He has an exact copy made just for him. The hacker is done now. He has what he wants and hangs up the phone.

What has happened? The computer has given the hacker an exact copy of some text the hacker requested over the phone, thinking the caller was someone else. The hacker has lied and said, yes I am so and so, give me a copy of that text. The hacker has misled the computer, but has

he broken a law? If so, is the law he has broken legal? That is, does it follow America’s fundamental laws laid down in the Bill of Rights?

In my opinion, the hacker hasn’t broken the law. What the hacker has done is what collection agencies, private detectives, and market research companies do all day long. They call someone up saying they are someone else and if the person who answers the phone is trusting enough to give out information over the phone, then the caller has achieved his goal and received the information he wanted. This may not be very nice, but it is hardly illegal. People who hook up comput- ers to the phone systems should realize that they are hooking their computers into a public system that anyone in the world with a phone can get at. If security is an issue with your information, you should take precautions to protect it. The world is filled with people who act

A C U LT U R E O F R E B E L S

in a way you may consider to be unethical or not nice but they’re not breaking the law. Both sides of the issue should recognize that all laws including the Bill of Rights are just words of men and women who want to make you behave in a certain way. Laws are just a way of exhorting power over people who disagree with the law maker. If you disobey their laws, you shouldn’t be surprised if the power behind the law confronts you. It has come down to a power struggle between the two parties. Behind all laws is the threat of violence and imprison- ment. In breaking the rules, you run the risk of confronting the beast that hides behind the law.

Computers are amazing devices that are radically shifting the pre- established power structures. Expect a fight for the power.

Scott Alexander San Francisco, CA

We’ve been living that fight for more than seven years now. The more people we drag into it, the better. Above all else, we have to fight the knee-jerk reactions that come from people with a very shallow understanding of the technology. We hope more people think the issues through as you did.

Dear 2600:

I have bought two issues of your magazine and find it interesting and enlightening. I hope to be able to contribute an article someday. I have only your word that you are not, in fact, some FBI/SS/AT&T front to obtain hackers’ names and addresses. You really should print some information on your operation to provide some assurance to your readers that this is not the case. For instance, are our names and ad- dresses kept in a computer database? Printed files? Could the feds be monitoring what checks pass through your bank account? Do you have