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Talk It Over With Captain Crunch
John T. Draper is most famous as "Captain Crunch," the legendary phone phreak who taught others how to make illicit use of Ma Bell's facilities to call almost anywhere, almost any time, for free. But (as a glance at his personal page will show you), that is just about the least of Draper's accomplishments. Not only that, he's still going strong. This is your chance to talk directly to a man without whom the modern-day personal computer -- and modern hacking and many other things we take for granted -- might not exist at all, and certainly would not exist in their current forms. One question per post please, and try to avoid asking questions that could be answered with a little online research. We'll send 10 or 12 of the highest-moderated questions to Draper tomorrow, and run his answers as soon as he has time to reply.
What "most hackers want anyway" is to brag to their friends about their exploits. Please. They are not freedom fighters making the world safer for others, and they are not "messengers" who should be praised for breaking into people's computer systems. Simply because something is insecure does not give one the "right" to break into it.
I think this is obvious to most people, but there are those Slashbots who will instinctively disagree because they feel the need to glorify people who do this sort of thing. It will never change the fact that it is illegal.
"Sufferin' succotash."
While I think your prof/teacher is a bit extreme about this issue, I kinda see his point.
Forget technology for a moment. Let's say that someone finds a "flaw" in your locked door and then decides to use this knowledge to come in to your house during the day and watch TV. Then after months of doing this he tells the lock maker and you. Should you honor this person?
I for one would fee lucky that he didn't steal anything, but what he did was wrong.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
You know... it should be phrased more like "How has your view changed?"
It assumes that it has changed, but everything changes, so it's a safe bet. The difference, though, is a detailed answer vs. a "Yes" or "No." Lately, I've seen interviews (william shatner, others) where the questions have promoted short answers that completely fulfilled the question.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
I had the opportunity to meet you briefly about 4 years ago at a 2600 gathering in San Jose, and you were talking about your "latest" (at the time) escapade to India, (or was it Pakistan, I don't remember) explaining that you frequented night clubs and danced the night away. (Of course all the while speaking about current tech issues etc.)
With a moniker like "Captain Crunch" one can only assume you carry that spirit with you in everything you do. As your current project demands, do you get put infront of the gun frequently? How do you deal with it?
And security experts find exploits, test them, inform the company responsible, and publicize them later.
They do not use them for personal kicks or gains in secret for months.
They do not inform other Freedom Fighters of the flaw before the victim, so they can use it for their own kicks and fun.
You see, the problem with "hackers" in this context is the same problem that "Freedom Fighter" has as a term... wherever you have "Freedom Fighters", you also have common criminals or worse using the term to legitimize themselves.
Breaking into a system does not make you a computer security hero, just like robbing a bank does not make you a political hero. It's the other stuff you do what may or may not justify those actions.
Regarding your questions, physical property is probably a bad metaphor to use for your argument:
1- Yes, if a business leaves the door unlocked or open and you walk in without permission, they can put you in jail.
They don't even need a door. It's called trespassing.
If you leave the door to your house open, a thief is still trespassing. It's private property.
2- You got the question backwards. You should be asking: is there any indication that the business is open and this is a common area?
For most businesses, there is such an indication: from parking lots to front desks there is an implicit contract that customers are welcome during business hours. This contract can be terminated at any point: they give you a notice (ask you to leave), and if you reappear, you're trespassing.
However, this implicit contract does not apply to premises that are never open to customers in the first place.
If you're caught sneaking into an internal office, or specially into the maintenance rooms, sewer system, ventilation, etc. you can be charged with trespassing.
You may have some defense if you can argue that you were confused, lost, etc. And it is very likely that the owner of a property wouldn't bother to press charges for typical tresspasing.
But don't keep any illusions that they can't put you into jail for entering an unlocked office without permission.
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
since '83, phreaking hasn't been the same... it's more hacking and stealing now (but some people argue that's what it was then, as well). Before that, the phone company used tonal verification for coin drops into pay phones (which is what the whistle, and later black/red/orange/etc boxes spoof). Nowadays, phones mostly handle this internally.
I remember some pirate/hacker (child/teen-hood) friends using different colored boxes for their long distance downloads and uploads, but that ended before I actually built one myself. I was even saving allowance money for parts when one of those guys told me they no longer worked.
nowadays, I suspect it's easier and more common to steal phone and/or credit cards than to hack the phone company to steal long distance. After having credit cards stolen, myself, though, I definitely have a VERY negative view of this practice.
How would you say the average computer geek/nerd or phone phreak has changed since computers have become so easily accessible since the 60s'-70s'?
For The Best Jazz/Hip-hop fusion > COlD DUCK
Actually Crunch didn't discover the whistle, and I may have had a couple other items a bit off.
Here's the story in his words (via google's cache).
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I wonder if you're still going around touching young boys? At first I was really excited to meet you , being a legend and all. I was so excited you were chatting with me!
And I thought it was so nice that you were working on the healing arts and wanted to work the kink out of my back at the time. Too bad I was such a naieve kid. Of course I realized in about a minute that you were just trying to get off on me, that was pretty sick dude. I'm just glad I got away.
My question is are you still feeling kids up using your "healing arts" story?
1) If Theo decides to close up shop, they can continue using the code they already have.
2) It's this kind of "guilt trip" that really shows you don't support the license.
"Well I know we said you can do whatever you want, but you SHOULD GIVE STUFF BACK FREE"