Computer Hackers example essay topic

What is the definition of the term "hacker?" Is it someone that terrorizes companies by shutting down computers and satellites otherwise rendering them helpless? Or is it merely someone that is curious as to how technology works? The United States Government doesn't agree at all with the latter of the two. It is almost frightful that the Government of the United States, the most powerful force in the world, can be so discriminative.

You think that they would be the ones with some sort of understanding. This is not the case. Although the government believes that computer hackers are an enormous threat to our country, I believe that if they came to an understanding with hacker ethics they would comprehend the fact that computer hackers are not terrorists. It is the government's belief that if a crime is committed and it involves a computer, hackers are the cause. No questions asked. Since when was the term "hacker" conceived as a person involved in malicious actions on a computer?

A true hacker will cause no damage through any means. Hackers merely explore technology to figure out how things work so that they may share their findings as a protection from cyber terrorism and other potential harms. It has been stated that "Knowledge Is Power". How is it that this power has become such a threat to our government?

Former President Thomas Jefferson once wrote that "Ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density at any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement of exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property. Ideas and discoveries should be shared and known by all. Only then will we not suffer the fate of what has happened in history. This is how we learn not to do wrong; by doing wrong and realizing it was wrong (Goldstein 4). As humans we have the ability to learn this.

A hot pan isn't touched over and over again. Once it is learned that the pan is hot the necessity to touch it again becomes superfluous. All success comes from the failure of either the individual or someone that the individual has followed. Computer hackers are simply learning that "the pan is hot". Sharing the discoveries of hackers is the only way that technology will be able to evolve. Bill Clinton, former president of the United States, gave a speech January 22, 1999 targeting computer hackers as "a significant part of the future threat facing western civilization".

Is it to be understood then, that teenagers using their computers are as much of a threat as an international terrorist? President Clinton also declared his belief that "hackers break in to government and business computers, stealing and destroying information, raiding bank accounts, running up credit card charges, extorting money by threats to unleash computer viruses". This characterization of hackers is both unfair and completely inaccurate. Unaware citizens are lead to believe that hackers engage in these types of actions.

It is amazing that someone as powerful as the President of the United States could make such an ignorant comment towards computer hackers. Statements such as these are much better suited for afternoon talk shows. Although mischievous occurrences certainly happen, they are invariably at the hands of insiders, such as career criminals or people with a grudge against a certain company (Drake 5). To make the assumption that because it involves computers and crime, it can only be hackers is a most unfortunate, and all too typical, supposition. Seeing as how the President himself has come to stereotypes, more and more people will come to believe this and hackers will universally be seen as a negative force. A perfect example of the inaccurate perceptions of the United States Government and the authorities in the rest of the world is the currently pending "Jon Johansen Case".

Jon Johansen was arrested a year ago for "reverse engineering" DVD encryption. DVD encryption allowed manufacturers to protect their DVD's from being copied. Reverse engineering consists of taking a piece of hardware or software and trying to figure out how it was created, working from the finished product back to the beginning. This knowledge would basically allow the copying of DVD discs that could eventually upset the income of many corporations. However, Jon never copied any DVD's, nor did he intend to.

In this particular case, the government took Jon's computers and all computer related articles in his house. He was interrogated for 8 hours immediately after he was taken to the police station. Jon stated "if they would have gotten to the point with the questions, the interrogation would have taken probably 3 hours". They are charging him with breaking in to computer systems, which ironically is something he never did. The authorities are simply presuming that the system was broken into because they do not understand what happened. Although there has been no outcome in this case yet, Jon Johansen will surely be punished to the fullest extent of the law, if not beyond it, to ensure that no one else will ever try anything similar again.

The longest and most complicated of all cases involving computer hackers to date is the indictment of Kevin Mitnick. Since February of 1995, when Kevin Mitnick was arrested in North Carolina, the lawsuit has unfolded into one of the most complex and excessive cases in computer history. Kevin Mitnick was charged with possessing illegal materials in the form of "Modified Tone Dialers" which can be purchased at Radio Shack or electronic stores across the country. He was also charged with making phone calls to certain companies claiming to be an employee with a fake name so that he could gain access to their system.

Although all of this is unquestionably wrong and illegal, the amount of prison time and torture that Kevin has gone through is completely unwarranted. There was never any damage done to any system that Kevin accessed and he spent nearly five years in federal prisons. He spent nine months in solitary confinement; the same confinements were murderers and rapists abide. Over the course of the five years, his trials were cancelled and avoided. It seemed as thought the government wanted to keep Mitnick imprisoned as long as possible, conceivably to send a message to other "computer hackers" of what will happen if they are caught.

After approximately four and a half years, Kevin was given the ability to plea guilty in front of a federal court. The government has tremendous advantages in virtually every case they take on. Given that the government wins nearly 95% of its cases, Kevin had no choice but to plea guilty. In doing this, he would face at most another ten months in prison. If he would have pleaded not guilty he could spend another ten years if convicted.

The Mitnick case demonstrates the corruption of the judicial system beautifully. Kevin's appointed lawyer had a tightly capped budget that made it close to impossible to hire expert witnesses, take the time to go through the mountains of evidence, or otherwise mount an adequate defense. The prosecution, on the other hand, had an unlimited budget and was able to hire as many people as they needed. The taxpayers covered everything. The inability of Kevin's legal team to adequately prepare for the case meant that there was a very real possibility of a guilty verdict in a trial. It's not hard at all to get such a verdict when evidence is deliberately confused, missing, or misleading.

Regrettably, this seems to be the case every time. Nevertheless, this wasn't the end. It turns out that Mitnick was also charged with making illegal cellular phone calls using hardware he made to clone cellular phones and charge the fee to someone else's phone bill. He received an additional twenty-two months for this infraction. The government wanted to give him thirty-two. Manslaughter, incidentally, would have been only thirty-four.

Kevin is currently out of prison, after being an inmate for nearly five years. At this time, Kevin is on a probation in which he cannot use a computer or a touch-tone telephone. Currently there is no release date set for the probation. The incidents mentioned are merely a few illustrations of the many instances in which the government's lack of apprehension for the real involvement of computer hackers in our society have reduced the advancements and benefits that could be shared through new technology. Unfortunately for society, every day the government grows closer and closer to completely taking away our freedom speech on the internet, which would inevitably result in the government limiting what hackers can say, learn, or even think if it pertains to how technology works. There is no limit as to how far they are willing to go.