[169721] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: How to catch a cracker in the US?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James R Cutler)
Thu Mar 13 11:46:20 2014
From: James R Cutler <james.cutler@consultant.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 11:45:16 -0400
To: North American Network Operators Group <nanog@nanog.org>
In-Reply-To: <CAP-guGVEk5RJcHS1+POTMsS=V7xt5ftH5x0wtcW_8RU2g-nX1Q@mail.gmail.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
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On Mar 13, 2014, at 11:08 AM, William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> wrote:
>=20
> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 10:13 AM, <Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu> wrote:
>> On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:22:40 -0000, "Sholes, Joshua" said:
>>=20
>>> If one came up in this field with a mentor who was old school, or if =
one
>>> is old school oneself, one tends use the original (as I understand =
it)
>>> definitions--a "cracker" breaks security or obtains data unlawfully, =
a
>>> "hacker" is someone who likes ethically playing (in the "joyful
>>> exploration" sense) with complicated systems.
>>=20
>> For the old-schoolers, a "cracker" would violate the CFAA to get into =
a system.
>>=20
>> A hacker would produce a long list of ways to get in without =
violating the CFAA.
>>=20
>> Unfortunately, we no longer have a well-established word for the =
latter
>> class of people.
>=20
>=20
> You're all talkin' 1990s redefinitions here. 1980s crackers cracked
> the copy protections on software (DRM in modern parlance) while
> hackers broke in to online systems. Even that is a redefinition.
> Before that, hackers were anyone who jovially pranked a system in a
> manner typically unlawful which involved creativity and technical
> challenge.
>=20
> For example, "hackers" might arrange for live cattle to appear on the
> top of the great dome at MIT.
>=20
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
And Bill documents yet another redefinition. Prior to that time, at MIT =
a =93hacker=94 produced a novel variation of technology using it in ways =
not previously envisioned but not necessarily unlawful. =20
Mating two different generations of telephone keysets or reducing a =
complex rack mount filter to a single small circuit board with an FET or =
two are just a couple of examples. One was just a =93hack=94, the other =
an =93elegant hack=94. We just called the moving of the rocket a =
=93prank=94.=20
Cutler
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