162 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
162 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
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/~~~~~~~~~~~ | | | | \____/ | |______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
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| | Hogs of Entropy Text Files Present... | |
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| | "The Revenge of the Nerds" | |
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| | By: Mogel | |
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\ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The following article was something I found one stroll through the
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library. It's a phunky article from _SCHOLASTIC UPDATE_, a magazine that is
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distributed to high schools all around the country. The article was written
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by Herbert Buchsbaum in the September 2nd Issue, 1994. Although I have many
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opinion about many things in this article I would like to do a more CuDDy
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thing -- I would like to hear from YOU. That's right, YOU. I would much
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like to hear feedback on this article... either opinion, complaints,
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agreements, or whatever about one point or the whole thing. Please send
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these letters my way, and the best stuff will go into a future fun-paCked
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issue. Anyway, on with the ummm article and stuff:
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[Look at this trippy hypnotic design I made here...I thought it up one day!]
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______________________________________________________________________________
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\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x
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Computer Geeks -- Every school has them. They may not be
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popular now, but they're poised to take over the world."
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The Scared Poet, a tall, gangly, 15-year-old, is not very popular at his
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suburban New York prep school. He's skinny, wears braces, and isn't good at
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sports.
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"People think of me as a nerdish person," he admits.
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After school, while his classmates are hanging out in malls or movie houses,
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the Poet goes to his room at jacks [off] on to a computer network.
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"It's what I do with my free time," he says. "I have no life."
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The Poet, who would only identify himself by his computer name, is shy and
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soft-spoken. But even shy, quiet types have thier limits. One day he'd had
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it with the abuse dished out by the popular crowd and one guy in particular,
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the ringleader. That afternoon, he went home and started hacking -- Breaking
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into computer databases in search of information. In a few hours, he had
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amassed an exstensive file, including his rival's Social Security Number,
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parents' financial records, information about loans they'd taken out, bank
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transactions, and divorce records. He brought the data to school the next
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day.
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"I told him I would destroy his family's entire credit history and have his
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parents declared legally dead and have him thrown out of school," The Poet
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says. "And he bought it 100 percent."
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In truth, the Poet really couldn't have someone declared dead and he
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wouldn't dare diddle with credit records, a crime for which he could go to
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jail. But the data gave his threat credibility. "I wanted to convice him
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of the fact that I could destroy him," the Poet says. "And I did. He was
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nice to me after that."
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In many ways, Scared Poet is typical of the current generation of high
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school hackers, or computer fanatics. Most are bored, suburban misfits,
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whose curiosity about computers and technology had led them to spend
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inordinate amounts of time indoors in front of a flickering computer screen,
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probing the depths and limits of the information revolution. Partly for lack
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of social life, they have become true explorers on the electronic frontier,
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a place where technical expertise is everything and how you look counts for
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squat.
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But the truly amazing fact is that as computers take over more and more
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levels of society, kids like Scared Poet are on the threshold of real power.
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As they joyride on the informational Superhigway, the kids you sneer at in
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high school are picking up the skills and knowledge that will dominate in the
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information age. Today, they may pilfering credit records; tomorrow they
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could be running the bank. You could call it the revenge of the nerds.
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HACKS TO RICHES
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Part of the fear of hackers comes from ignorance. Most people don't really
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know what hackers are and don't understand a thing about the techoworld they
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live in. This has contributed to many misconceptions.
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Hacking, in the original sence, means tinkering with computer systems and
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figuring out what they can do. Most hacking is harmless; some is even
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productive. Hackers have contributed many great inventions in computer
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technology. Some, like Bill Gates, founder of the Microsoft Corporation, the
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nation's leading computer software company, have made millions starting their
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own companies.
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"These are people with crazy ideas, and not a lot of adult supervision, who
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seize the technologies available and create something new of it," says Paul
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Saffo, of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, California.
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Then there are those, like Scared Poet, who, for fun or malice, use thier
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skills to break into other people's computer systems. Although they comprise
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a small minority, they have gotten most of the publicity and given hackers a
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bad rap. These computer intruders hack into business or government computers
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mainly to prove that they can, They may poke around a little, but usually do
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no damage. Most of them believe in some version of the "hacker ethic," which
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holds that all information should be free and that breaking into computers to
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explore is OK, as long as you don't steal or break anything.
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Companies that have had their computers broken into, however, disagree.
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"Some of these systems contain very confidential and personal information
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that hackers, no matter how careful they are, have no right to read," says
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Patricia Keefe, an editor at _COMPUTERWORLD_ magazine. Says one company
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computer manager, "It's like stealing files out of a file cabinet."
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What's more, some hackers go beyond the hacker ethic -- in some cases way
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beyond. The more malicious hackers think nothing of tampering with data,
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crashing entire systems, and disrupting businesses. Many combine their
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technical know-how with a spite for authority and large corporations. The
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notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick, for example, once broke into the computers of
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the North American Air Defense Command, which controls the nation's
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nuclear-weapons arsenal. In 1981, another well-known hacker broke into
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systems at the White House, the Pentagon, and BellSouth phone company. And
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in 1988, a hacker created the Internet Worm, a virus that traveled from one
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computer to another, nearly bringing down the entire Internet computer
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Network.
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As hackers grew bolder, the law began to crack down. But the authorities
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haven't fared too well. Mitnick was arrested in 1988m but is now wanted
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again. In the most publicized effort, in May 1990, more than 150 Secret
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Service agents raided alleged hacker operations in 14 cities from New York to
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Texas. The arrests followed a two-year investigation into the Legion of
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Doom hacker group, which had allegedly copied and distributed a sensitive
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phone-company document. But the case fell apart when it turned out the
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document was for sale legally for $13.
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THE UNDERGROUND
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Once a month, on a Friday night, when more social kids may be on dates,
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Scared Poet hops a train into New York City for a meeting of 2600, an
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informal association of the techno-underground, the more subversive side of
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hackerdom. In the food court of an urban mall, hackers gather to trade
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information and brag of thier exploits. Less an organized meeting than a
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chaotic information bazaar, the event attracts a few computer professionals
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and, on occasion, undercover cops.
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In one corner, a young man is holding forth on how to reprogram the
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magnetic strip on a subway fare card so you can ride for free. In another
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group, several telephone specialists, known as "phone phreaks," compare
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homemade devices that allow them to make free long-distance calls from pay
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phones. And amid a cluster of high school students, a 16-year-old hacer in
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a baseball cap and unlaced hightops us explaining why he hacks. "Secret
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information is something you can't have," he says. "And the more they say you
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can't have it, the more you want it."
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\x/x\
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Hey, SCARED POET! Call Mogel-Land NOW! Lemme talk to you man.
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Share your pain.
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|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
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| Mogel-Land........2157323413 /I'm a PiG\ Paranoia Subnormal.2153395831 |
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| Hacker Crackdown..2159451907 |H )\@_@/( P| Stellar Nights.....6108969140 |
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| T.E.K.A.T.........9088132738 |o ( (o) ) i| Life IS Boring.....HeHeHahaho |
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| I Forget..........6105448001 |G <_O_> G| the NEXT generation |
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| /<RaD-/<-/< House.8103480421 |s BuUuRP! s| of stoopid... |
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| The Complex.......4107205305 \I'm a PiG/ |
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|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
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Copyright (c) 1994 HoE Publications and Herbert Buchsbaum. #27 --> 11/17/94
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All rights are Wrong.
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