Wire Pirates
Someday the Internet may become an information superhighway, but right now it is more like a 19th-century railroad that passes through the badlands of the Old
West. As waves of new settlers flock to cyberspace in search for free information or commercial opportunity, they make easy marks for sharpers who play a keyboard as deftly as Billy the Kid ever drew a six-gun.
It is difficult even for those who ply it every day to appreciate how much the
Internet depends on collegial trust and mutual forbearance. The 30,000 interconnected computer networks and 2.5 million or more attached computers that make up the system swap gigabytes of information based on nothing more than a digital handshake with a stranger.
Electronic impersonators can commit slander or solicit criminal acts in someone else's name; they can even masquerade as a trusted colleague to convince someone to reveal sensitive personal or business information.
"It's like the Wild West", says Donn B. Parker of SRI: "No laws, rapid growth and enterprise - it's shoot first or be killed."
To understand how the Internet, on which so many base their hopes for education, profit and international competitiveness, came to this pass, it can be instructive to look at the security record of other parts of the international communications infrastructure.
The first, biggest error that designers seem to repeat is adoption of the
"security through obscurity" strategy. Time and again, attempts to keep a system safe by keeping its vulnerabilities secret have failed.
Consider, for example, the running war between AT&T and the phone phreaks. When hostilities began in the 1960s, phreaks could manipulate with relative ease the long-distance network in order to make unpaid telephone calls by playing certain tones into the receiver. One phreak, John Draper, was known as "Captain Crunch" for his discovery that a modified cereal-box whistle could make the 2,600-hertz tone required to unlock a trunk line.
The next generation of security were the telephone credit cards. When the cards were first introduced, credit card consisted of a sequence of digits (usually area code, number and billing office code) followed by a "check digit" that depended on the other digits. Operators could easily perform the math to determine whether a particular credit-card number was valid. But also phreaks could easily figure out how to generate the proper check digit for any given telephone number.
So in 1982 AT&T finally put in place a more robust method. The corporation assigned each card four check digits (the "PIN", or personal identification number) that could not be easily be computed from the other 10. A nationwide on- line database made the numbers available to operators so that they could
The Impact of Pirates and of Piracy on the Spanish Empire When the word pirate is mentioned, many people think of ship carrying men across the seas as they pillage other ships. While this is true to some extent there was much more to the lives of the men that were known as pirates. Pirates were mostly men from French, English or Dutch heritage, and were privateers or merchants. Many of these men were sanctioned by their government. By the Spanish they were call piratas or unsanctioned sea-raiders
came to a complete stop due to the constant threat of encountering pirates while at sea. The property-seeking vagabonds would hijack a ship, take what they wanted and either leave the crew to their own means in a damaged vessel or alternatively, enslave them and possibly use them for bartering later. Adam Smith when writing, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was all too aware of the threat that pirates were still having on trade in 1776. Smith was logical in his assumption
Of Pirate Ships and Silver Steeds We poured the foundation yesterday, and now we were pulling the forms off the cement and hauling them out--back onto Ralph, our two-ton truck. The sun beat down. As I bent over to pick up another eight incher I glanced towards the pit. First, came a black bandanna. Next, came protruding straggles of curly blond hair. Then, a grimace and a roll of the eyes--Danny's trademark--appeared as the young man hauled himself out of the hole. Following the head, came a
A High Wind in Jamaica is set in The Caribbean during the mid-1800’s. The book is about a group of children living on a pirate ship, and gives insight into the world that children live in. Over the course of the book, the children do many bad things, without feeling any guilt: Emily murders a man; Rachael drops a marlin spike from the mast almost killing Emily, and Emily condemns the captain and crew that she had come to love to death or deportation without seeming to care at all. At the beginning
Some called him a pirate, some called him a scoundrel, and some said he was the devil himself! His name was Jack and he had been a sailor and an adventurer for a long, long time. His body carried the scars of a hundred sword fights, a map of the marvelous travels he had, a constant reminder of the things he had done. His schooner had sailed the seven seas and was beginning to show signs of old age, just like her master. Her sails were tattered, and she too had scars, from cannonballs and chain shots
Prologue The curse on Hunter had just been broken, and he discovered that he in fact did have magical powers. He also had super strength. He could read into the future and teleport with his mind. He also could find Nikki and Ally anywhere, since they were the ones to help him break the curse. He had not told them yet, but he had heard that a Valentine’s Dance was coming, so he decided to wait until after to tell them. He knew who he wanted to go with. Chapter One: Big News Ally had just gotten
son, was handed the responsibility of being franchise president. Did you know the Steelers haven’t always been called the Steelers? When Arthur Rooney purchased the team he named them the Pittsburgh Pirates. He got this name from the Pittsburgh National League Baseball Team. But in 1940, the Pirates became the Steelers, in order to generate more fan support. This name came from the city’s primary source of employment. This was an honor for the Steelers, being able to represent Pittsburgh steel heritage
Analysis of Roger Ebert's “Finding Neverland” Film Review “Finding Neverland” is a recently released motion picture starring acclaimed actors Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and directed by Marc Forster ("Monsters Ball”) Personally, I loved the movie and It was hard to find a critic that gave the movie a negative review, so I stopped trying to find someone to argue with and I came across the king of all critics, Roger Ebert. I usually don't agree with his reviews, so I figured we would clash on this
The joy of the word "booty" Who likes booty? I like booty, and I think we should all like booty. Whether it is pirate's treasure or the beautiful behind of a woman, booty is a fantastic possession. I come from the lower class section of Ft. Lauderdale and in that area the booty is most often linked to the description of the African-American woman's posterior. I have always used the word booty, but recently I was told that it was a "black" term. I was shocked to hear this, and when I inquired as to
Software Piracy Many people these days are guilty of being ‘software pirates’. They justify their actions by claiming they are stealing from the huge corporate company’s that are just out there to make a buck and don’t care about their customers. This viewpoint, however, overlooks the real fact that it is such actions that what is actually hurting customers and those who are law abiding citizens. “Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be
Argggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Ahoy me mates and welcome to the world of pirates. B. through the next few minutes I will be informing ye about pirates and their rage on the high seas. C. We will be talking about pirates, their ships, weapons, and a few famous ones at that. D. I myself have been interested in pirates since I was a wee lad. A. Ships 1. Galleon a. “The Spanish Galleon was the great prize ship for pirates.” (History of Pirates) 1. Spanish armada used these ships to export gold from the
article "Finding One's Own in Cyberspace," by Amy Bruckman. One of the major communities that has been in the news recently is the company Napster. Napsters' focus is music and attracts an audience of music lovers. The article "The Muddy Waters of Pirate Music," by Giancarlo Varanini, discusses the details of MP3's and the influence of the music industry. By examining the two articles mentioned and evaluating the idea of "communities" many opinions arise about the effect the Internet has on music
the course of events, as his own experience aboard the ship proves. He was able to find in the dark the commission for his own death; by chance, he had in his possession his father's signet for sealing the forged document. No less by chance, the pirates proved kind and, for sufficient compensation, they returned him to Denmark. Throughout the play, after we have itemized Claudius' major crimes, the Prince does not receive an answer to his question, one which is basic to his status as a moral symbol
Caesar, but later his arch rival for power. Pompey was born in Rome into a senatorial family, and established an impressive military record. He brought an end to the Servile War instigated by the slave Spartacus; cleared the Mediterranean Sea of pirates; conquered the kingdoms of Pontus, Armenia and Syria; and captured Jerusalem in 61 BC. He entered Rome in triumph, but encountered opposition from the Senate. Pompey then formed an alliance, commonly called the First Triumvirate, with Julius Caesar
million every hour $41.6 million every day $291.5 million every week To understand software piracy, one must get inside the mind of the pirate. People, who wouldn't think of sneaking merchandise out of a store or robbing a house, regularly obtain copies of computer programs which they haven't paid for. The pirate has a set of excuses for his actions: prices are too high; the company doesn't provide decent support; he's only going to use the program once in a while. Although