[HN Gopher] Is Computer Hacking a Crime? (1989) [pdf] ___________________________________________________________________ Is Computer Hacking a Crime? (1989) [pdf] Author : solomonb Score : 33 points Date : 2023-08-24 13:19 UTC (9 hours ago) (HTM) web link (faculty.weber.edu) (TXT) w3m dump (faculty.weber.edu) | forinti wrote: | They still hadn't had to ponder the possibility of it being | illegal to hack stuff (you think) you own. | | The law expands to allow capitalism to grow. | barbariangrunge wrote: | Not since the hackers discovered you could just put up a eula or | privacy policy first | Terr_ wrote: | "By continuing to use this Awesomely Pwned Machine you agree to | hold blameless and indemnify Leet Haxor from any past | inconvenience..." | tptacek wrote: | John Perry Barlow, from this transcript: "Driving 110 miles per | hour on Main Street is a common symptom of rural adolescence, | publicly denounced but privately understood." | NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: | I thought the CFAA was 1986ish. That anyone could believe it up | for debate in 1989 is a little silly... or did it take a couple | decades of case law to give CFAA teeth? | tptacek wrote: | This is a normative discussion, not a positive one. | solomonb wrote: | In Fred Turner's "From Counterculture to Cyberculture", Turner | contrasts the perspectives of John Perry Barlow and Lee | Felsenstein as the old guard of cybernetic counterculturalists | versus Acid Phreak and Fiber optik as the new guard of modern | hackers: | | > When they joined the discussion on the WELL, Phreak and Optik | immediately set off a culture clash. The conflict could be seen | clearly in the edited version of the forum eventually printed in | Harper's. Like the online forum, and like it's predecessor, The | Hackers' Conference of 1984, the conversation opened with a | discussion of the hacker ethic. WELL regulars described the ethic | in cybernetic and countercultural terms familiar to their online | colleagues. Lee Felsenstein compared hackers to the "Angelheaded | hipsters" of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." John Perry Barlow | described them as solitary inventors designing a system through | which humans woule acquire the simultaneous unity of other | "collective organisms." Acid Phreak would have none of it. "There | is no one hacker ethic," he wrote. "Everyone has his own. To say | that we all think the same way is preposterous." Among WELL | regulars like Felsenstein and Barlow, hackers were cybernetic | counter-culturalists, creatures devoted to establishing a new, | more open culture by any electronic means necessary. For Acid | Phreak, the hackers were break-in artists devoted to exploring | and exploiting weaknesses in closed and especially corporate | systems. | | I would be really interested to hear how the perspectives of the | surviving participants in this conversation have evolved. | factorymoo wrote: | Interesting to see the perspectives from early hacking pioneers. | Seems like some things haven't changed much - debates over ethics | of unauthorized access, whether it's criminal, free speech | implications, etc. But more nuance now as hacking's gone more | mainstream. | | Biggest change is probably threat models. In 1990 main concern | was individuals hacking systems for challenge, curiosity, etc. | Today it's nation-states and organized crime using hacking for | financial gain, espionage, even kinetic attacks. | | Other change is commercialization/professionalization of hacking. | Now huge industry around cybersecurity, ethical hacking, bug | bounties. Hacking skills lead to lucrative careers, not just | hobby or activism. | | More diversity today too - no longer just male techies. But part | of cyberpunk spirit remains, even as hacking's become bigger | business and political issue. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-08-24 23:00 UTC)