High-tech tinkerers need ethics

Computer Life column for 6/14/97 by
Richard Gordon

On June 4, I came into the office and was surrounded by co-workers: "You're quoted on the front page of the News Journal!"

I'd been asked about the young Delawarean who had broken into one of NASA's computers and left some silly messages on that Web server. I'd said that hackers perceived themselves as the "romantic gunslingers" of cyberspace, as opposed to "crackers" who merely break into computers.

Have you watched kids play in the beach sand? In many ways, what they do is like programming, building structures out of ephemeral little things (electrons and wet grains of sand). The "hackers" in the sand castle set are the ones who look at the ocean, ask which way the tide's going, pick a spot that will allow them enough time to build a creative structure, then do their best to make a structure that will withstand the first several waves of the onrushing tide.

The crackers are the kids roaming the beach, looking for other children's sand castles and sculptures that they can jump on and destroy.

There's a little bit of a hacker in most of us. Isn't there something with which you enjoy puttering about? Do you sometimes feel really pleased when you come up with a cool gardening or cooking shortcut? Do you have an old car that you tinker with and tinker with and somehow keep running?

One of my college roommates used to sometimes come back from a trip to town, muttering under his breath, "Damn muffler." Next thing you'd see would be John grabbing some change and his tool box. He'd buy a can of orange soda, guzzle it down, then use the can to patch his car's muffler.

That's the hacker mentality in a nutshell.

If someone calls herself a hacker, she thinks of herself as a creative programmer who can come up with innovative solutions to problems. Finding a way to rewrite a 7,500-line program so that it takes only 827 lines of code-"That's a cool hack!"

But calling one's self a hacker is more than saying "I'm a good programmer." There's a bit of bravado and swagger here; and it's that swagger that can take a hacker over to the dark side, becoming a possible threat.

Adults set the example

Most hackers truly think that they are on a quest for knowledge, that there are holy grails of programming that they, through their cleverness, can attain. What often happens is that these programmers begin to think that their elite knowledge gives them rights and privileges they don't have.

Sometimes it's a destructive impulse that leads a so-called hacker into becoming a cracker, one who breaks into other computers or tries to see what secret data he can harvest. Cracking is the electronic equivalent of waiting for those kids to leave the beach so you can jump on their castle.

Sometimes it's a misplaced righteous indignation: "If NASA is going to run a Web server, they really ought to know what they are doing. I just showed them their mistake!"

Several European computer clubs have, since the early 80's, found security holes in computers in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Sometimes, those discoveries have led to famous cracks or break-ins. Often, however, the president of the computer club has done the right thing: not cracked into the network, but notified the authorities of the discovery.

Not all young computer programmers who call themselves hackers are angels at the keyboard. But because of the potential for harm if they become crackers, parents and teachers must do all they can to instill a sense of right and wrong in these active, inquiring minds.

If we install "black boxes" on our cable TVs to watch Pay-Per-View for free; if we tell the neighbors "Use my account at ESPN's site"; if we say "My school can't afford seven licenses for this software, so I'll just buy one and copy it"; we will be less credible when we tell our young programmers they shouldn't crack into other computers.

Copyright © 1997, The News Journal Company

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