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From: david@randvax.UUCP (David Shlapak)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: hackers
Message-ID: <2191@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Dec-84 14:03:08 EST
Article-I.D.: randvax.2191
Posted: Thu Dec 13 14:03:08 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 17-Dec-84 03:08:04 EST
References: <361@wxlvax.UUCP>
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 38

> The country's media hacker fever seems on the rise again. I
> would like to contribute to the clarity of the debate by telling
> you about a "real" hacker I know.
> My neighbour's son is a 15 years old hi-school kid. He is in the
> football and baseball teams, and he is your typical
> "all-american-good-boy" who makes a few bucks delivering the
> Sunday papers, cutting the neighbours'grass or shoveling their
> snow. Last Xmas, he got two gifts: a PC and an automobile tool
> kit. He started then programming his PC, connecting himself to
> various electronic boards and nets,...and became a hacker. At
> the same time he also started messing around his mom's car,
> and learned quiet a bit about engines, transmissions, and so on.
> I trust his mechanical skills enough now, to hire him to change
> my oil and tune up my engine, saving myself quiet a few dollars.
> There is no reason why I should not trust his "computerese" to
> hire him to work on some of my tedious computer problems, 
> avoiding a few over-time evening hours at work, and actually,
> saving my company a lot of dollars.
> Were I to label him a "computer vandal", I might as well label
> him a car vandal. Nobody is complaining about car vandals, not
> even New-York insurance companies. Why should the media start or
> rekindle a witch hunt on hackers? I am sure they could do much
> better service to the public.

I think there's a pretty clear difference between some kid messing with his
mother's car (she, after all, knows who he is and can beat the shit out of
him if she doesn't approve) and some stranger f**king around with her TRW!
"Hacking" of that sort IS A CRIME, and should be punished.  I worked long
and hard to attain the sort of financial responsibility I enjoy today, and
the thought of some punk taking advantage of my efforts to his own benefit
fills me with the urge to kill...

This is not a "witch-hunt."  These people are irresponsible jerks, and they're
doing REAL damage to REAL people, and I'm really sick of self-serving apologia
like the above.  Computer crime is real, it's dangerous, and when the
creeps who perpetrate it are caught, they should be punished.

					--- das