Terminal Compromise, Winn Schwartau [sight word books txt] 📗

in de-

fenses.”

“Defenses against what?” asked Scott.

“Against them, of course,” responded Che2. “The fascist military

industrial establishment keeps us under a microscope. They’re

scared of us. They have spent tens of billions of dollars to

construct huge computers, built into the insides of mountains,

protected from nuclear attack. In them are data bases about you,

and me, and him and hundreds of millions of others. There are a

lot of these systems, IRS, the Census Department has one, the

FBI, the DIA, the CIA, the NSA, the OBM, I can go on.” Che2’s

voice crescendo’d and he got more demonstrative as the importance

he attributed to each subject increased. “These computers con-

tain the most private information about us all. I for one, want

to prevent them from ever using that information against me or

letting others get at it either. Unlike those who feel that the

Bill of Rights should be re-interpreted and re-shaped and re-

packaged to feed their power frenzy, I say it’s worked for 200

years and I don’t want to fix something if it ain’t broke.”

“One needs to weigh the consequences of breaking and entering a

computer, assay the purpose, evaluate the goal against the possi-

ble negatives before wildly embarking through a foreign computer.

That is what we mean by the Code.” Solon spoke English with

Teutonic precision and a mild lilt that gave his accented words

additional credibility. He sounded like an expert. “I believe,

quite strongly, that it is not so complicated to have a major

portion of the hacker community live by the Code. Unless you are

intent on damage, no one should have any trouble with the simple

Credo, ‘leave things as you found them’. You see, there is

nothing wrong with breaking security as long as you’re accom-

plishing something useful.”

“Hold on,” interrupted Scott. “Am I hearing this right? You’re

saying that it’s all right to break into a computer as long as

you don’t do any damage, and put everything right before you

leave?”

“That’s about it. It is so simple, yet so blanketing in its

ramifications. The beauty of the Code, if everyone lived by it,

would be a maximization of computer resources. Now, that is

good for everyone.”

“Wait, I can’t stand this, wait,” said Scott holding his hands

over his head in surrender. He elicited a laugh from everyone

but Che2. “That’s like saying, it’s O.K. for you to come into my

house when I’m not there, use the house, wash the dishes, do the

laundry, sweep up and split. I have a real problem with that.

That’s an invasion of my privacy and I would personally resent

the shit out of it.” Scott tried this line of reasoning again as

he had with Kirk.

“Just the point,” said DRDR. “When someone breaks into a house

it’s a civil case. But this new bloody Computer Misuse Act makes

it a felony to enter a computer. Parliament isn’t 100% perfect,”

he added comically. DRDR referred to the recent British attempts

at legislative guidelines to criminalize certain computer activi-

ties.

“As you should resent it.” Dave jumped in speaking to Scott.

“But there’s a higher purpose here. You resent your house being

used by an uninvited guest in your absence. Right?” Scott a-

greed. “Well, let’s say that you are going to Hawaii for a

couple of weeks, and someone discovers that your house is going

to be robbed while you’re gone. So instead of bothering you, he

house sits. Your house doesn’t get robbed, you return, find

nothing amiss, totally unaware of your visitor. Would you rather

get robbed instead?”

“Well, I certainly don’t want to get robbed, but . . . I know

what it is. I’m out of control and my privacy is still being

violated. I don’t know if I have a quick answer.” Scott looked

and sounded perplexed.

“Goot! You should not have a quick answer, for that answer is

the core, the essence of the ultimate problem that we all inves-

tigate every day.” Solon gestured to their table of seven. “That

question is security versus freedom. Within the world of acade-

mia there is a strong tendency to share everything. Your ideas,

your thoughts, your successes and failures, the germs of an idea

thrown away and the migration of a brainstorm into the tangible.

They therefore desire complete freedom of information exchange,

they do not wish any restrictions on their freedom to interact.

However, the Governments of the world want to isolate and re-

strict access to information; right or wrong, we acknowledge

their concern. That is the other side, security with minimal

freedom. The banks also prefer security to freedom, although

they do it very poorly and give it a lot, how do you say, a lot

of lip service?”

Everyone agreed that describing a bank’s security as lip service

was entirely too complimentary, but for the sake of brevity they

let it go uncontested.

“Then again, business hasn’t made up its mind as to whether they

should bother protecting information assets or not. So, there

are now four groups with different needs and desires which vary

the ratio of freedom to security. In reality, of course, there

will be hundreds of opinions,” Solon added for accuracy’s sake.

“Mathematically, if there is no security, dividing by 0 results

in infinite freedom. Any security at all and some freedom is

curtailed. So, therein the problem to be solved. At what cost

freedom? It is an age old question that every generation must

ask, weigh and decide for itself. This generation will do the

same for information and freedom. They are inseparable.”

Scott soaked in the words and wanted to think about them later,

at his leisure. The erudite positions taken by hackers was

astonishing compared to what he had expected. Yes, some of the

goals and convictions were radical to say the least, but the

arguments were persuasive.

“Let me ask you,” Scott said to the group. “What happens when

computers are secure? What will you do then?”

“They won’t get secure,” GWhiz said. “As soon as they come up

with a defense, we will find a way around it.”

“Won’t that cycle ever end?”

“Technology is in the hands of the people,” commented Che2.

“This is the first time in history when the power is not concen-

trated with a select few. The ancients kept the secrets of

writing with their religious leaders; traveling by ship in the

open sea was a hard learned and noble skill. Today, weapons of

mass destruction are controlled by a few mad men who are no

better than you or I. But now, computers, access to information,

that power will never be taken away. Never!”

“It doesn’t matter.” Dave was viewing the future in his own

mind. “I doubt that computers will ever be secure, but instead,

the barrier, the wall, the time and energy it takes to crack into

them will become prohibitive for all but the most determined.

Anyway, there’ll be new technology to explore.”

“Like what?” Asked Scott.

“Satellites are pretty interesting. They are a natural extension

of the computer network, and cracking them will be lots easier in

a couple of years.” DRDR saw understanding any new technology as

apersonal challenge.

“How do you crack a satellite? What’s there to crack?”

“How about beaming your own broadcasts to millions of people

using someone else’s satellite?” DRDR speculated. “It’s been

done before, and as the equipment gets cheaper, I can assure you

that we’ll be seeing many more political statements illegally

being made over the public airwaves. The BBC and NBC will have

their hands full. In the near future, I see virtual realities

as an ideal milieu for next generation hackers.”

“I agree,” said Solon. “And with virtual realities, the ethical

issues are even more profound than with the Global Network.”

Scott held up his hands. “I know what I think it is, but

before you go on, I need to know how you define a virtual reali-

ty.” The hackers looked at each until Dave took the ball.

“A virtual reality is fooling the mind and body into believing

something is real that isn’t real.” Scott’s face was blank.

“Ever been to Disneyland?” Dave asked. Scott nodded. “And

you’ve ridden Star Tours?” Scott nodded again. “Well, that’s a

simple virtual reality. Star Tours fools your body into thinking

that you are in a space ship careening through an asteroid belt,

but in reality, you are suspended on a few guy wires. The

projected image reinforces the sensory hallucination.”

“Now imagine a visual field, currently it’s done with goggles,

that creates real life pictures, in real time and interacts with

your movements.”

Scott’s light bulb went off. “That’s like the Holo-Deck on Star

Trek!”

“That is the ultimate in virtual reality, yes. But before we can

achieve that, imagine sitting in a