Week 3

Hey all,

Thank you very much to those who read my blog and to those who posted a comment. I think this whole cybersociety thing is really working well. I found this weeks readings quite interesting, they certainly changed my idea of what a hacker is. I always thought they were the stereotypical isolated, reclusive person who spent all day and night in front of their computer screen trying to 'break' into official websites (govt, big corps) to try to take control over their systems and steal data. How wrong I was, I guess I have the media (hollywood movies etc) to thank for cultivating that perception. Although, I guess that 'hacktivists' do actually do that sort of thing to an extent. But they do it in a form of peaceful political protest, in essence no different from the organised non-violent protest marches you see around the world, and they don't steal data. I have to say I agree with and like some of the original hacker ethics. Information should be freely available to everyone and whilst I think it is necessary to have some kind of authority to keep some sort of order in society (it would be total chaos otherwise), I do think that information is too centralised and much of it is 'privileged'. Not in the confidential sense, but in the sense that only some people are privileged enough to have access to it (govt agencies and officials etc). I agree with Douglas Thomas that hacking hasn't changed much, hackers are still accessing systems, the difference now is that they are 'black hats' accessing systems for personal gain rather than in the quest to discover and create. I guess that this shift was somewhat inevitable, with all the information people share about themselves online these days, someone was bound to take advantage of it and use it for a less than honest purpose. I'm sure that like everything though, where there is bad there is also good and out there somewhere there will be 'white hat' hackers using their skills for the good of everyone.

In relation to the concept of 'cyberterrorism' I think it is a genuine threat. With so many people using the internet around the world there is bound to be some form of terrorist activity. It could occur when the boundaries of hacktivism are pushed and taken a step too far thereby harming the life of people or persons or severely affecting a country's infrastructure. I like the idea of hacktivism as I think it is important that everyone has a voice and has the right to express their opinions. But where do you draw the line? and how long before it becomes blurred?
The internet's global reach provides an ideal forum for potential terrorist acts, and although there is surveillance by govts and large corporations, something is bound to slip through the net. Scary, scary thoughts...

Kat