Hackers: Computer Outlaws revisited

In a message dated 7/26/01 10:25:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, vaxman(a)qwest.net writes: First off, there is a HUGE difference between Hackers and Crackers. Hackers generally DO NOT make it a point to cause dammage - they are just "browsing" for the most part. You would FAX a credit card or account number? Why not just buy a billboard for it somewhere. Computer systems for online purchases use encryption for this information and I know we all know that on this list. Now before you go getting bent about my reply, let me quantify a little bit: I am not promoting hacking into someone's computer nor am I saying I want anyone roaming around in any of mine for any reason. What I am saying is I would much rather have a "hacker" in there than some damn "script kiddie" (which wasn't covered really in the show).. They are the bad ones - the crackers.. Now as far as the show, I though it was pretty good and tastfully done. On a personal note, while people like Kevin Mittman might "legally" be considered criminals my opinion is since they caused little or no dammage, and made no money off their "efforts" the FBI would have been better off spending my taxpayer money catching murderers or drug dealers, etc.. But, like I said, that's only my opinion. If you want to throw someone in jail for computer crimes, catch some of those 13 year old script kiddies that keep crashing computers and running DDOS attacks and hang them - AND their parents. At least with Mittman in your system, your system is still running. -Linc Fessenden In The Beginning there was nothing, which exploded - Yeah right... Calculating in binary code is as easy as 01,10,11.