The Art of Deception: Re: [KLUG Members] Hacking a Hacker Legal?

[Adam Tauno Williams]

>>>>Well, you can break people's stuff, or you can do low-level
>>>>harassment: misnamed files, file-sharing hosts that start nice, then
>>>>tank to a slow connection 10kB in.... That's perfectly legal.
>>>what if a burgler breaks into your house?  Is it legal for you to
>>>shoot him?  Is that not trespassing?
>>>But wait.... If the hacker hacks you and then you hack the hacker
>>>doesn't that mean you are trespassing on the hackers computer?

Bandits used to patrol trade routes (probably still do in some parts of the
world).  Burglers rob houses.  Ingrate children steal their grandparents social
security checks. Etc...  I don't see why people get so worked up over "hackers".
 It is just the world being the same in yet another way, nature loves a good
arms race.

>>I don't think you quite got the "stuff, or you can" contrasting
>>conjunction in that sentence.
>I will just leave this at hackers are a nuisance and should be dealt with 
>in a civil manner.  All we can do is safeguard ourselves against them.  
>>I think the law they passed made file-sharing harassment legal, not
>>murder. Also, they can collect data on people's connections. It seems
>>pretty low-level stuff.
>Also, has anyone read Kevin Mitnicks book "The Art of Deception"?  I read 
>a little of it, my friend bought it and I was skimming though.  The book 
>goes over the human element to network security -- social engineering.  
>From the passages I've read it sounds like a very interesting book.

If the average network user is anything like my average user, network security
is something you pay attention to because it is the professional thing to do -
not because you can ever achieve a meaningful level of security.  Users are just
so stupid that your competitor can call up on the phone and ask them to fax over
the information they want; "Derrrr.... Ok."  They don't even need to lie about
who they are,  the user won't take 2 seconds to think about if that makes sense,
or just really doesn't care.