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Hackers Are Not Criminals


vdub

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  • 3 weeks later...

Many true hackers have tried to do their part in showing the difference between hackers and criminals by doing things like writing papers and making videos. Unfortunately your average john doe wont likely be interested in just randomly finding out what a hacker is for himself. In the end, many of these papers only preach to the choir. If you wanted to quickly end the criminal stereotype you would have to mass broadcast a message that would reach Mr and Mrs Doe. Hollywood prefers to make the hacker the criminal in the story and it is very unlikely they will make a movie where a hacker is the hero. Maybe they could sell it as a MacGyver spin off. The quickest way would be to take over and broadcast a message on all networks possible which would be a ... crime. The only other way I can think of that could end the stereotype is a change in the education systems.

tl;dr: It is a nice paper, but the people who need to, likely wont read it.

Edited by Metalwolf
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Many true hackers have tried to do their part in showing the difference between hackers and criminals by doing things like writing papers and making videos. Unfortunately your average john doe wont likely be interested in just randomly finding out what a hacker is for himself. In the end, many of these papers only preach to the choir. If you wanted to quickly end the criminal stereotype you would have to mass broadcast a message that would reach Mr and Mrs Doe. Hollywood prefers to make the hacker the criminal in the story and it is very unlikely they will make a movie where a hacker is the hero. Maybe they could sell it as a MacGyver spin off. The quickest way would be to take over and broadcast a message on all networks possible which would be a ... crime. The only other way I can think of that could end the stereotype is a change in the education systems.

tl;dr: It is a nice paper, but the people who need to, likely wont read it.

I think theres a lot of Hollywood media with hackers as the good guys...

http://www.rebootfilm.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_In_(TV_series)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/

telot

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I think without even reading it "Hackers Are Not Criminals" is just that. They are not criminals. Criminals, are criminals. Just like a guy with a hunting license and a gun, is not a murderer or serial killer, until he does just that. Tesla, Edison, Einstein, Babbage, Wozniac, Da Vinci, and I can't even think of the hundreds or thousands of others, were all tinkerers, inventors and hackers in their own right. We wouldn't have anything technologically advanced today, if people didn't experiment or think outside the box on how to make somethign do something other than what it was intended for, or invent it in the first place.

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I think without even reading it "Hackers Are Not Criminals" is just that. They are not criminals. Criminals, are criminals. Just like a guy with a hunting license and a gun, is not a murderer or serial killer, until he does just that. Tesla, Edison, Einstein, Babbage, Wozniac, Da Vinci, and I can't even think of the hundreds or thousands of others, were all tinkerers, inventors and hackers in their own right. We wouldn't have anything technologically advanced today, if people didn't experiment or think outside the box on how to make somethign do something other than what it was intended for, or invent it in the first place.

I could not have said it better. History is full of hackers. Hackers are not just computer geeks, but rather the term hacker can be used to describe anyone that does not except the limits put in front of them.

I think my main purpose of writing this was to point people to a paper rather then trying to explain my stance every time the subject came up.

Honestly the criminal stereotype has its benefits. It lays a cloak of mystery behind what we love to do.

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  • 4 weeks later...

First of all if we go back to the original term "Hacker" it was coined by a group of MIT students who "Hacked" a model train to make it run faster. The modern term is used as an over generalization that has grown to encompass basically every type of modification you can think of, not just in reference to computing. When referring to computer "Hacking" you have 3 basic groups. White hat hackers, Grey hat hackers and Black hat hackers (White Hats, Grey Hats and Black Hats). Your White hats are your IT professionals working for the large cyber security companies developing tools to safeguard information and networks. Grey hats are as they sound, in the middle of the other two types. These types of hackers attempt to bend or break the rules that have been programmed into certain protocols in order to gain access to information or systems that they otherwise would not have access to. These types of hackers are non-malicious and typically do this for fun, to help improve security, or simply to test what is currently in place. Black hats are the nefarious ones! They are the ones who are trying to steal information, break systems and networks and even render systems useless (malware, spyware and viruses, especially Trojans! are usually made by these types of individuals). I know I am not 100% accurate here as there are other reasons people will engage in hacking behavior, but it is a start and a basic guideline. Now all we need to do is educate the rest of the world so we aren't always seen as criminals...

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First of all if we go back to the original term "Hacker" it was coined by a group of MIT students who "Hacked" a model train to make it run faster. The modern term is used as an over generalization that has grown to encompass basically every type of modification you can think of, not just in reference to computing. When referring to computer "Hacking" you have 3 basic groups. White hat hackers, Grey hat hackers and Black hat hackers (White Hats, Grey Hats and Black Hats). Your White hats are your IT professionals working for the large cyber security companies developing tools to safeguard information and networks. Grey hats are as they sound, in the middle of the other two types. These types of hackers attempt to bend or break the rules that have been programmed into certain protocols in order to gain access to information or systems that they otherwise would not have access to. These types of hackers are non-malicious and typically do this for fun, to help improve security, or simply to test what is currently in place. Black hats are the nefarious ones! They are the ones who are trying to steal information, break systems and networks and even render systems useless (malware, spyware and viruses, especially Trojans! are usually made by these types of individuals). I know I am not 100% accurate here as there are other reasons people will engage in hacking behavior, but it is a start and a basic guideline. Now all we need to do is educate the rest of the world so we aren't always seen as criminals...

Probably a good idea, to change your screen name, to something other than your email address alone. Even if its not your email address, if it were someones, this site gets scraped and visited thousands of times a day. Thats one sure fire way to ensure you get on every spam list on the planet real quick, or if was someone you didn't like, well, same thing just malicious.
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Users who are less educated on the subject, will perceive a hacker, as a criminal or someone who's intetions and motives are the same as a blackhat hacker. On the other hand, users who are educated and understand well what the term "hacker" means, will perceive it in a different way.

We can go on and go about this, but in the end if the person is not willing to learn or accept the differences its gonna be a waste of time.

Edited by Infiltrator
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Probably a good idea, to change your screen name, to something other than your email address alone. Even if its not your email address, if it were someones, this site gets scraped and visited thousands of times a day. Thats one sure fire way to ensure you get on every spam list on the planet real quick, or if was someone you didn't like, well, same thing just malicious.

Working on that :)

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  • 1 month later...

I think it is a stigma that is purported VIA media.HACKERS TAKE DOWN SAN MATEO, CA, MUNICIPAL WEBSITE and stuff like that.

The 7337s killing the Pedophilia sites are doing what is needed to be done. If we start exposing underground sites; all while raising awareness about this part of the darknet. Also, child kidnapping rings would probably be a good start to saying, "HEY, WE ARE DOING WHAT IS NEEDED TO BE DONE!"... Cyber Enforcement!

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  • 3 months later...

OK lets get old school

Cracker = Evil which = someone doing damage to a system or removing copywrites from software or bypassing copywrite protection

Hacker= Curiosity which = no harm but will leave a back door for future use. (The first term hacker was to protect source code with a virus)

Phreaking= Phone hacking (Miss these days)

Social Engineering = exploiting someones ignorance to gain information also know in todays world as Phishing (Mostly electronic Emails)

Ok these are the top 4 from back in the day and since the release of Wargames, Hackers sneaker net, Net, and Die Hard (Live free of die hard) the term Hacker has become tarnished from hollywood.

Hollywood = tards with money no clue. take them out and flog them until they get it right. (Bad director hackers don't destroy)

Hackers are not criminals

Crackers are criminals

Phreaking iffy

At least to me that is what these mean.

Thank You

Ghosthunter007 since 1985

Edited by ghosthunter007
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i thank you for this paper i got in trouble at my school for say that i was a hacker but when i tried to explain what i meant i got suspended from school all because they do not under stand the meaning of the word

You so can sue that school for that.

Know your laws it will protect you in the end.

i am so sorry you got suspended over their ignorance.

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i thank you for this paper i got in trouble at my school for say that i was a hacker but when i tried to explain what i meant i got suspended from school all because they do not under stand the meaning of the word

It could have been worse. I had a friend in my local college spam all of the user accounts and spoofed an admin. like email address... it seemed totally legit; I even almost fell for it :) .

But, what he did not do is send it from a spoofed location and actually sent the admin. himself the email. The admin., which I have never met; apparently traced the email back to his house; two days later... expulsion and criminal charges... could have been MUCH worse.... but still... shitty...

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