ACN Volume 2 No 1 Jan. 1989

	COMPUTER HACKING, A CRIME?
                       by Michael Hauben 

(Editor's Note: On Nov. 9, 1988, the Detroit News published an editorial "Hate 
Not the Hacker." They were commenting on the press coverage about people like 
Robert Tappon Morris, the 23-year old Cornell University graduate student who 
found an important flaw in a U.S. government computer system. The Detroit News 
joined the press chorus demanding a criminal penalty for Robert Morris, asking 
that he be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." And they recommended 
"penalties for computer tampering can be made more severe." Surprisingly, 
though, the Detroit News editorial ends by saying "Most hackers stay within 
the law and many computer system operators can help their own cause by 
improving security. It is in our own interest, however, to see to it that 
minds like this are encouraged in their pursuit of new knowledge."

But Robert Morris did no harm and in fact he performed a service. He showed 
some of the weaknesses of a government computer system so they could be 
corrected. He should be rewarded, not condemned or subjected to criminal 
prosecution. But there has been a long series of efforts by the U.S. government 
to try to enact criminal penalties against computer enthusiasts and to label 
all computer hackers as criminals. This effort needs to be countered by 
computer lovers. It was good to see Steve Wozniak, who created the Apple 
computer, defend computer hackers on TV Channel 7's "Nightline" program. He 
refused to allow them to be confused with white collar criminals. The following 
article shows that this effort to label computer hackers as criminals is not 
new.)

Is computer hacking a crime? That is what all of the magazines seem to say. On 
the other hand, hackers say that hacking is a challenge and it's interesting. 
First we need to know some definitions. BBS is an acronym for Bulletin Board 
System. A BBS is generally what it says it is, a place for posting messages, 
although the information is transmitted electronically over the phone lines. 
A modem is a device that sends computer data over the phone lines to another 
modem hooked up to another computer.

The word "Hacker" can have several meanings. In a dictionary one would find 
"cab driver" and in the book Out of the Inner Circle by Bill Landreth ("The 
Cracker") you would find for the 1980's the definition of the word "hacker: A 
person who often attempts to gain unauthorized access to large systems by 
using his personal computer equipment." But I think the word "hacker" has a 
wider range of meanings, going from Bill Landreth's definition to my 
definition, which is to find out about undocumented features of your personal 
computer.

An article in Newsweek magazine shows how hackers were arrested for no reason. 
The article said that po­lice in suburban New Jersey seized 7 teenagers' 
computers, modems & other equipment. The prosecutor charg­ed the teenagers 
with the "usual" (con­spir­ing to use stolen credit card numbers and to make 
illegal long-distance phone calls and illegal purchases.) Plus, they were 
charged with "changing the positions of satellites up in the blue heavens," 
and with obtaining secret phone numbers of top Pentagon brass. On a local 
computer bulletin board "they had also exchanged information," the 
prosecutor said, on how to build letter bombs and they had "threat­ened this 
nation's defense" by publishing a secret phone number for computer access to 
the defense contractor TRW which included information on military tank parts. 
The story became a lead news item, but was it a real-life security risk? "Our 
satellites have not been moved," insisted an AT&T communications spokes­man. 
"It's close to impossible," he added. The Pentagon also said that there was 
no security breach there. TRW, who does not make any tank or tank parts said 
there were no security breaches either. "Frankly, [the police] don't know 
what they've got," said a TRW spokeswoman. The assistant prosecutor said, 
"We got numbers that say they can do things, but we don't know if they did 
them."

I leave it to you to draw your own conclusion but I think it is all a big 
scare. Take, for example, this quote, from "Beware: Hackers at play" in 
Newsweek: "It's time to put the fear of God into people," said by a Pentagon 
deputy.

	                                 Bibliography
Out of the Inner Circle, by Bill Landreth, (Bellevue, WA., 1985)
"Was It Really War Games" by   William D. Marbach, Newsweek, July 29, 1985, 
P. 23
"Beware: Hackers at Play " by   William D. Marbach, Newsweek, September 5,
1983, P. 42-48

==============================================================================