Your opinion about hackers......

[klenard]

So, what is your opinion on hackers. Are they just pre-pubescent kids starved for attention? Or are they a bunch of *ssholes, that have nothing better to do than mess everyones day up. My personal opinion is that I hate them. I think thay are stoopid kids that are crying out for attention.... Hack the Earth.......yeah right. Why not put their computer skills to good use rather than trying to mess up everything from the economy to peoples personal website.

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Some days you are the dog, some days you are the Hydrant.

[StevePorter]

It's the "thrill of the chase", you know? I can't figure what else could motivate them...

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Sometimes computer problems require extreme measures. Our hero, the Intrepid Spaceman Spiff, sets his blaster on "deep fat fry..."

[Danrak]

It depends what kind you are talking about.

You have the classic "script kiddies" that download "ready-made" hacking tools. If you keep your system updated you don't have worry about them.

You have the people that will hack for money, or other personal greedy reasons. Some of them fall into the "script kiddie" catagory, others are more knowledgeable. I think they are wasteing their skills. They don't seem to have the love for knowledge that is need to be really great.

Then you have the people that do it for the knowledge and explore. This are usually the smartest of all since they are driven by the love/want of knowledge. For the most part they will not do damage to your system. I personally think that they would like to tell the sysadmin of the network about their security holes if they were not afraid of being thrown in jail.

That is just my personaly opion, you do have the right to disagree or agree if you please.

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.·°Danrak°·.
I possess a mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained.

[iamtheman]

Danrak, you just about hit the money on that one. There's a big difference in "Script Kiddie's", hackers, crackers, phreakers, the list goes on and on.

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Born to Network

[SavagePenguin]

When I was younger I had a certain fascination with hacking and the hacking community. It was sort of a big secret club, where the unpopular had power and a sort of prestiege. I never did it, but I would have loved to have been a part of them.

A lot of hackers are geeky kids with an inferiority complex who try to make themselves feel powerful by harming others. Also, they gain a sense of acceptance from their hacker friends. Often they can't get peer acceptance in the "real world."

There's also the "hunt and conquor" aspect of it. It's a challenge. It's a big, dangerous (yet safe) puzzle. Kids pit themselves against large corporations, and sometimes win. What a rush.

I think most hackers do it, at least in part, for the sport. I think most also thrive on the empowerment/peer acceptance aspects. Saying that they do it to learn and teach others is simply the best excuse thay can come up with.

A minority of hackers are simply viscious. They're techno-bullies who enjoy harassing others.

[hugheysoup]

I think that it is in the gray area. I think the only good that comes from it is companys must provide a better quality product or service. For the most part I think that hackers are treding very close if not there, to being criminals. Those activties that are close to being criminal behavior are taking information and defacing web sites or making them go down.
To me this is a lot like stealing and destruction of property.

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I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that do not work. - Thomas Edison

[This message has been edited by hugheysoup (edited February 05, 2001).]

[evilcabbage]

its a *big* gray area methinks.

Most of the people that pop into my mind at the moment, are script kiddies, and love to think of themselves as l33t haX0rz. It makes me wish I had a handgun license, cos they really piss me off.

On the flipside, we used to have a fella here, that was just driven by the urge to know how things 'ticked'. Incredibly smart guy, and I would be scared of what he could do if he was maliscious. Good thing he was on *our* side

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Its like shooting fish in a barrel, in the head, at point blank range, with an elephant gun.

[LabRat]

Right on with most of the posts here. Hacking in and of itself is a harmless pursuit that leads to improved understanding of how an object/idea works. I've known hackers who set up various scenarios on a three plus system LAN in their living room and procede to test strategies and theories. That knowledge has translated into modifications of their home software for enhanced entertainment (I love nuking barny and the energizer bunny) as well as faster resolution for their projects at work. Damaging other peoples properties/reputations/credit rating/ etc. is hacking, yet it's also willful destruction of property. I do feel that, if a flaw is observed in a network/website is discoverred, that individual is obligated to let the admin know to prevent mischeif. Sadly, too many people hate to have flaws they take personally pointed out to them and would sooner damage the informant for noticing it in the first place.

Just my $0.02

Out of curiousity, what qualifies as a hacker besides the insatiable curiousity to know? If it is only the curiousity factor, wouldn't Benjamen Franklin and Thomas Edison qualify? Without them we wouldn't even have our quirky little friends.

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If you make a smarter computer, the user will find a subtler hammer.

[joey3k]

I plan on shutting the entire internet down one day via hacking the mainframe and blowing it to bits by sending it a self distruct command because I have nothing better to do.

heeheheh


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PCCHIPS, the way of the future.

[CobraTekMax]

Trust me, guys, there is a whole lot more money in hacking than any "legit" computer business, if you know what you're doing and have the right connections. I know a guy who has helped people clear their debt, change their identity and even fake their own deaths by wiping all public records of any proof of their existence. He can pretty much name his price for any of these tasks.

Hackers I have no ill toward, as this friend of mine has done me for than a few favors. Script kiddies are a different story, just a bunch of punks, nothing more than hacker wanna-bes.

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"I'm not the one who's so far away when I feel the snake bite enter my veins."

[pumpkinhead77]

Well, in my opinion its what you do with your hacking skills that count more than anything, white hats (good clean legal hackers) are ok but the blackhat (aka *******s that screw stuff up) aren't. I admit i like to play hacker war games from time to time just to test myself to see what i can do but when you start trying to screw stuff up you're just being an immature little B!T(H. But hey, thats my opinion

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If it's not broken....Fix it!

[DaOnly123Kid]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by StevePorter:
It's the "thrill of the chase", you know? I can't figure what else could motivate them...

</font>

sounds like you are talking from experience... just kidding



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What do you mean...I have an inbox....the trashcan on my desk labeled "IN"

[captpackrat]

"Hackers" or "Crackers"?

I'm an old-timer in computers; to me a "Hacker" is someone who "enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations" (Jargon File, "hacker", definition 7)

A Hacker doesn't attempt to cause damage or disrupt systems, and usually don't attempt to break into systems, they are only interested in improving or expanding the capabilities of existing equipment or programming. I consider myself a 'hacker' in that I am always tinkering with equipment, trying to make it run better or faster (For instance, I've 'hacked' a sewing machine to give it more needle patterns that it was designed for).

A Cracker, on the other hand, is someone who breaks into system, steals passwords and ID's, etc. Script Kiddies usually fall under this catagory. Most have very little in the way of actual skill, and couldn't program their way out of a LOGO box.... (And then there's "Phreaker", which isn't used too often anymore, since blue boxes are pretty much obsolete)


Sorry, I'm just one of those nit-pickers from days of long ago, when being called a "Hacker" was considered a good thing....

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Captain Troy D. Pack Rat
`akbar Press

If you're furry and you know it, hug the mouse!

[SNAFU]

Hackers search for usefull knowledge. "Script kiddies" are children who take Proggies and put them to ill-use. "Crackers" have nothing better to do and believe the world owed them something. I never FULLY understood how much damage one could do to a company till I worked for one. And because I do, I hate messing with the Trojans, Viruses, and damage they all cause. You want to make a program that will ping flood a network to test net traffic. Wonderful. Use it to DOS or ping flood someone off the internet. That's just friggin' lame. Go play with your barbie dolls or super mario games (not that i have anything against Mario)
I'm venting and could rant for pages. COmes down to this. Hackers are intellectuals who thirst for knowledge. Crackers, script kiddies, phreakers, etc. Hate them. "Hacker" shouldn't be a word to be feared or hated. If anything...it should be a compliment.
I'm a young programmer. ANd many a time have I been called a hacker at my company, just because I know alternate ways to do things like access the mailserver (Telnet? Crap people, it's not that hard. IF anything..they should already KNOW how to use it!!), and stuff like that.
I just hate the term hacker being used out of context and being used as a term for immature kids and greedy lazy computer nerds whose knowledge would make them an incredible contribution to the world of Computer Science.

SOrry for the rant.

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*cough*cough*...that's supposed to happen!

[NeuromancerIV]

I think the term "hacker" is so overused that the term has lost its meaning. I'm old enough to remember the "golden days" before the advent of web browsers, true GUI's and Windows. What I remember about the community was groups of people who got together to share knowledge...how do things work? and why? This information was from anything from computers, to telco's, ham radio, understanding the LAW, police, calculators, networks and how to circumvent them if neccessary. Of course there are those who enoyed the thrill of going into "forbidden" areas of govt, college, friends computers, but did nothing other than maybe leaving a calling card. Then there were/are those with for nefarious purposes. But you had to know how things worked, there was little in the way of ready made Utilities, it was mostly info passed from person to person. Now anyone who can go to hackers.com and DL a bunch of UTs and be a hacker/cracker. Well, thats just the way it is now, just another fad.. while the older Black Hats and White Hats and Ronins watched as the former Underground became the latest trend. But isn't that what always happens?

"Information may be obvious, knowledge is not always readily apparent."