Just like myths and folk tales that have been passed down from generation to generation, a common and rather stereotypical view of hacking has been passed down through the years. In the 1960's, universities with mainframe computers like at MIT's artificial intelligence lab became platforms for hackers. These hackers had an immense love for their work and had the abilities to stretch computer technology to its fullest potentials, even beyond the limits that had been authorized. Anti-authoritarian views meant freedom to explore, and freedom meant power. As Lord Acton says, " Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It itself is the political end." What they did with this power was entirely up to them. Some chose to go on a more noble cause of betterment of society through technological advancements and crime stopping such as bringing down pornography websites, whilst others chose to go on another course-a course that is condemned by society. It was a path that involved infringing copyrights and personal information. But is this path really criminal? I should think not. In this paper, I will focus on issues that justify some of the positive roles that hackers have played in society such as technological advancements and crime stopping through exploration of the World Wide Web, while debating on issues that have sparked controversy in today's highly digitalized world, such as free access to information.
When Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web, he did not patent it or copyright it. He too believed in free access and sharing of Information. This belief has long been rooted within the souls of hackers but widely condemned by the public. This notion has been a theme and motto for hackers for many decades, but unfortu...
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The Ted Talk presented by Catherine Bracy took the word hacking to another level. A new way of looking at a hacker. A hacker meaning much more than a teen behind a computer trying to steal information. The points she brought out is that reaching out to the people can get things done and strengthen relationships between people and an organization and through that relationship both parties are more stable and content. Bracy expressed her experiences with hackers in a government and citizen view, but this can also be applied to personal and
The use of hacking to identify weaknesses in computer security has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. Awareness of this issue is important, because our ever increasing reliance on technology means that breaches in computer security have the potential to have wide-ranging and devastating consequences to society, worldwide. This essay will begin by clearly defining the term ‘hacking’ and will examine the type of people who hack and for what reasons. There will then follow a discussion of the moral argument on hacking before examining a few brief examples. The essay will then conclude by arguing against the use of hacking as a means of identifying weaknesses in computer security.
In this book Sterling discusses three cyberspace subcultures known as the hacker underworld, the realm of the cyber cops, and the idealistic culture for the cyber civil libertarians. At the beginning of the story Sterling starts out with discussing the birth of cyberspace and how it came about. The Hacker Crackdown informs the readers of the issues surrounding computer crime and the people on all sides of those problems. Sterling gives a brief summary of what cyberspace meant back then and how it impacted society, and he investigates the past, present and future of computer crimes. For instance he explains how the invention of the telephone led to a world that people were scared of because the telephone was something that was able to let people talk to one another without actually being in the same area. People thought that it was so strange and so different because they didn’t understand all of the information behind it. Back then people thought of the telephone as a tool that allowed others to talk to them in a way that was so personal yet impersonal. Sterling then goes on to explain how “phone phreaks” played such an important part in relating the telephones to computer crimes and how they were so closely related back then.
In reality, most hackers are ordinary people with a great deal of curiosity, above-average skills with a computer, a good understanding of human nature, and plenty of time to kill. Hackers have no distinguishing characteristics. Your next-door neighbor could be a hacker, as could your niece or nephew, one of your co-workers, or even the kid who serves you coffee in the morning. Not all hackers are dangerous and out to destroy business or damage lives. The view of the general public toward hackers is mixed. A recent CNN-poll shows 33% of respondents labeling hackers as "useful," 17% seeing them "as a menace," and the majority (45%) seeing hackers as "both" useful and a menace (CNN, 1999).
Albert Einstein once said that he “[does] not believe in immortality of the individual, and consider [‘s] ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it”. Ethics matters not only in ones personal life but in society as a whole. It touches everything in today’s world. A major place that is affected by ethics nowadays is technology. With the development of new powerful technologies and better communication systems the Internet threats have reached a certain level of maturity that concerns many. Cyber Security has turned into a dependency for many, such as: private organizations, government health institutions and many companies. The amount of information available in these systems could compromise them and the many users they support. In the article” Data theft from firms topped a trillion dollars in 2008: study” cyber security is the main topic. The formal ethical systems that could justify the actions reported in the article, if these actions are consistent with either the ACM or IEEE codes of ethics, and if the behaviors are consistent with issues of privacy or intellectual property are all issues that will be further discussed.
Hacker only has 50 years history, computer hacker crime is one of the mots dangerous crime threat at 21th century. Hacktivism is a new class of hacker has emerged, “the so-called hacktivist, who engages in hacking of computer networks and systems as a form of protest”(Hargrave,2012). Hacker crimes have use computer programming skill to make errors on your computer that control your computer to get information and change your computer system. Since in 1970s, computer hackers are called “phreaks”, which mean by phone hacker. Computer hacker is becoming form phone hacker. In the early 1970, Computer hacker is positive to the society, many of computer programmers were “began looking for ways to get the most out of the machines. “(Deivtt,2001) And then, they are created applications called hacks, which are “applications and allow more tasks to be completed in a shorter time.” (Deivtt,2001).In the early 1980.Hackers using computers and the internet for their own questionable gains. The first computer hacker crime is in the 1983.” six teenagers from
The documentary Rise of the Hackers, focuses on the rising criminal use of hacking and how it is effecting multiple areas of technology. The documentary describes simple and complicated situations concerning hacking, but there still questions that must be answered when it comes to hacking and crime. The main question is in trying to determine why a person would choose to commit computer hacking. There are various theories already present within the criminal justice system that may explain at a micro-level and macro-level. These theories would explain why offenders would commit the crimes, but it may not answer the full scope of the question. The Routine Activities Theory would help to explain why offenders offend, why victims are victimized,
Hacking has been around since the birth of computers. When the term hacking was first used, its meaning was not that of how we think of it today. At the origins of computing, a hacker was considered to be just a "creative programmer (Baase, 2003)." Early forms of computer games as well as the beginnings of operating systems were discovered and created by these original hackers. These hackers plunged into systems as a way of an intellectual challenge and to aspire to gain knowledge (Baase, 2003). Kevin Mitnick believes he falls into this realm of hackers. Hackers in today's era are now looked upon as criminals who invade the privacy rights of individuals and have the ability to deliver worms/viruses. The differences are that hackers today have full intentions of delivering terrible viruses and worms. Mitnick was one of the most infamous hackers during the 1980's. He molded his hacking style around the stupidity of humans and his quest for intellectual knowledge. The ways in which he wiggled his way into computer systems extenuates many of the issues surrounding computer security and privacy.
The issue with tackling the ethical hacker scenario is that the event is almost entirely action based. There is no end to give meaning to the action and there is no finalized result or indication that it impacted happiness, which many ethical theories depend on. Namely consequentialism, utilitarianism and ethical egotism require an end result in one form or another. There is also no purpose in committing the hackings which makes applying moral theories that deal with motivation and intent, ethical egotism and aspects of virtue ethics, increasingly more difficult to do effectively. Therefore moral theories that apply almost exclusively to the action itself will be utilized in this argument.
The term “hacker” has been in use since the early 1980’s due to mass media usage to describe computer criminals. The use of this term is vastly used by the general population and most are not aware that there are different meanings to the word. People within the computing community especially within the programming subculture emphasize the use of the term “crackers” for computer security intruders (cyber criminals). Early hackers rarely used their skills for financial gain as a motivation for their criminal behavior in that time cybercrime was infantile and largely seen as a practical joke or game by those who committed it. Bob Thomas created the first credited computer worm n...
Tavani, Herman T. "Chapter 4 :Professional Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct." Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Print.
Hacking was a term established in the 1960s. This word is the concept of unauthorised intrusion of a computer or network with malicious intentions behind them. This includes any technical effort of manipulating or damaging the normal behaviour of network connections/systems or stealing information. In this generation, hacking has become evidently significant and the debate of hacking being considered ethical or unethical arises. Therefore, will hacking ever be justified? The justification (reasonableness) of hacking has become a disputation of mixed opinions and emotions amongst society. These opinions range from hacking being considered immoral due to it being illegal activity and the vast negative impact it has on people. This includes the affirmative opinions on hacking; such as hacking being considered ethical due to the “white hat” hackers.
An ethical hacker is usually employed by an organization who trusts him or her to attempt to penetrate networks and/or computer systems, using the same methods as a hacker, for the purpose of finding and fixing computer security vulnerabilities. Unauthorized hacking (i.e., gaining access to computer systems without prior authorization from the owner) is a crime in most countries, but penetration testing done by request of the owner of the victim system(s) or network(s) is not.
Harvey, Brian."Computer Hacking and Ethics." Ed. Paul Goodman, P.G. Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. U of California, Berkeley, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Sullivan, Eileen. “Local Police Get Into Cybercrime Fighting Business.” Huffington Post 13 Apr. 2013 .