NCJ Number
184753
Date Published
1999
Length
217 pages
Annotation
This volume examines the nature of the mutual incomprehension that exists between the computer hacker underground and its adversaries, with emphasis on the dynamics of the disagreements involved, based on personal interviews conducted in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and e-mail interviews conducted worldwide.
Abstract
The personal interviews took place between 1990 and 1993; the e-mail interviews took place during 1989-98. The interviews involved hackers, computer scientists, and computer security practitioners. The analysis notes that people knowledgeable about computers include those who either come from or are prepared to cooperate with the computer underground and those to whom the computer underground is an anathema and should receive punishment in the courts. The other group argues that hackers represent an important stock of technical knowledge from which society should not prematurely isolate itself by adopting an approach of punishing first and asking questions later. The analysis also emphasizes that hacking has a wider social and historical significance that may aid understanding on the current struggle to come to terms with the full cultural implications of an increasingly networked world. The analysis also notes the dangers inherent in the extremes of unquestioning conciliation and antagonism and argues that society must develop a new middle way if it is to make the most of hackers. Chapter notes, index, and 176 references