The law doesnt really like the hackers... Of course there are good hackers and bad hackers. Bad hackers are mainly the professional ones, those hack to get a financial profit out of it. The good guys dont want any money for it, they just do it for the knowledge, they do it for the kick, they just want to see if they are able to discover the security weakness that a system might have. They are after the knowledge, these are the "great scientists", the discoverers, the innovators, the guardian angels of security, the gods of IT. :))
But the law unfortunately does not disciminate among the good and bad guys. You did it, then you are guilty. We dont care why you did it, we dont care what made you do it, you are guilty and there is nothing you can do about it.
What if someone/something provoked you to do it?
Say you visit an unknown island, nobody has ever been there before. There is a city and near the beach you discover something that looks like a house, the door is wide open and you hear a native from the inside talking about you and your book. You see people coming out and going to a bookstore buying your book. Then they return into the house and continue talking about your book. The door is stil open, you know they wont notice you, your book-sales have increased dramatically and you are so curious to find out what they are talking in there!
Slowly you decide to make a step towards the house so that you can listen to them better. Are they loving or are they hating your book? You notice on the door a notice that says "Entrance only to members allowed" but your curiosity is greater than a silly notice and you take another step. You really need to know what kind of consiracy is taking place in there. Now you are IN! You go through some doors, following the light and the voices that keep talking about you. And finally you are in the main room. You mix with all the guests and none notices your presence. What a delight! You enjoy your incognito stay there, listen to all you have to listen and slowly disappear out of the house, without taking or damaging anything.
Just tell me, who would be the criminal one in this hypothetical story!
4 comments:
There is no criminal here in your story-only risk. Laws protect society's agendas whether it is for the greater good or the generation of revenue or whatever...As it relates to hacking, I think the great scientist or the discoverers and innovators sometimes risk all. It takes tons of courage or naivete or a confluence of both to hack. Should you be apprehended, you're at the mercy and judgement of those whose agendas are affected.
You are so right miles to go, sometimes the laws are not at all fair. I guess the moral of it is.. if you want to hack, try not getting caught :)).
Cheers
PS: I learned 3 new words from your comment (had to look them up in the dictionary). Happy to be learning :)
There are people, who imagine spam at every corner. There is a difference is sharing information and soliciting with the pure intent to sell and or scam people.
In every law, intention is key and to go after the bad, the good (White Hats) are an invaluable tool.
Sometimes, the line is pretty blurry, but if you take the stance of the radically misinformed, communication of important issues would simply cease.
This puts the bad (Black Hats) at a distinct advantage for they thrive on misinformation.
In a world of organized criminals, who download cybernasties by the dozens and create bot-nets for criminal purposes, I am amazed at how some of these people waste so much energy accusing anyone and everyone of spamming.
If you look through my blog, I have a lot of information on what I consider real spammers.
You can link to my site anytime. I really like yours. Keep up the good work!
If intention is the key and the criteria to judge then this is fine. I stronly agree and believe that those who fight the bad guys, must have at least the same amount of technical knowledge, in order to understand how they work. An how can one aquire this knowledge, if one cant experiment?
And yet I have read about the hacker Adrian Lamo. It seems that he didnt do anything wrong and was still charged with crime. Did the law fail there?
I ll surely visit your blog often, as you see I like everything that has to do with IT security :D!
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