Hacking Essay, Research Paper

Jenna Gray

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Another one got caught today, it’s all over the papers. “Teenager Areested in Computer

Crime Scandal”, “Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering”….Damn kids. They’re all

alike. But did you , in your three-piece psychology and 1950’s technobrain, ever take a

look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what

forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world…Mine is a

world that begins with school… I’m in junior high or high school. I’ve listened to

teachers expain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it “No, Ms.

Smith, I didn’t show my work. I did it in my head…” Damn kid . Probably copied it.

They’re all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is

cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it’s because i screwed it up. Not

because it doesn’t like me… Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I’m a smart ass… Or

doesn’t like teaching and shouldn’t be here… Damn kid. All he does is play games.

They’re all alike. And then it happened… a door opened to a world… rushing through the

phone line like heroin through an addict’s veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge

from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought… a board is found. “This is it… this is

where I belong… “I know everyone here… even if I’ve never met them, never talked to

them, may never hear from them again… I know you all… Damn kid. Tying up the phone

line again. They’re all alike… you bet you ass we’re all alike… we’ve been spoon-fed baby

food at school when we hungered for steak.. the bits of meat that you did let slip through

were pre-chewed and tasteless. We’ve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the

apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few

are like drops of water in the desert. This is our world now… the world of the electron

and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without

paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiterring gluttons, and you call

us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge.. and you

call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious

bias…and you call us criminals? Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My

crime is that of judging people by what they say and think , not what they look like. My

crime is that of out smarting you, something that you will never forgive me for. I am a

hacker, and this is my manifesto. you may stop this individual, but you can’t stop us all…

after all, we’re all alike.

Hacking is a serious offense. And I think that I agree w/Jansie Kotze’s theories and she explains a lot of the things that I was wondering about. I think that she had a lot to say, and she did it very well.

On the other hand, the boy who is supposedly in junior high has serious problems. After reading the page he had written, it concluded that I was #27,461 to read his homepage. I was shocked…….and I wondered how many little kids under 12 years old had been in there and got all sorts of ideas…..bad ideas. He had everything from viruses to download and other tips. He even had a “cookbook” that he called the infection connection.

I never thought about hacking and phreaking all too much until now. Sure, kids give ea. other little viruses for kicks, but when you can break passwords and break security grounds, that is getting out of hand. I think that it is all just a wanting to know.

He even concluded in a paragraph that he said that we could easily find out his phone # and track him down. He even put a smily face after the sentence…. Like it was a joke to be stalked. I think there are a lot of sick people in this world that aren’t computer nerds. They are maniacs that have fun torturing other people, and proving they can break into any file, do anything, and nothing will stop them.

There was so much information that it was mind boggling. I didn’t want to look at it, because it was really is intriguing..interesting. But I finally concluded that I was actually scared. In those chatrooms, people can send viruses just like that. Mess up your whole netscape if you open the file that they send you. Even in this particular guy’s homepage, he could have planted a virus so that when you went into a particular area, a virus would download. I was cautious of where I went, but I think that they wouldn’t do that. That would give them away to easily. I think that the reason why they put up a homepage, is to prove their knowledge is great………and they are actually competing one another to be the best….and not get caught.

This guy was a kid himself..and he was mocking us all. I don’t see why he needed to brag, but I guess every kid wants to be noticed. Well, in my mind, he succeeded. He is living in the future technology…and way more advanced than even I. I envy him in some ways, but then I don’t. Just one slip and they catch him, bam, he’s in jail. I think I’ll live on the safe track and use the technology wisely and respect others that also have the same technology and knowledges as I.

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