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How Crackers View Themselves
prostoalex writes "Dr. Orly Turgeman Goldschmidt from Hebrew University of Jerusalem conducted a research to figure out if there any any differences between the classic computer vandal stereotypes and the real life. After surveying 54 Israeli repondents and using the term hacker gratuitously, Goldshmidt found out many computer vandals to be "young, well-educated men without a
criminal record, who belong to the middle or
upper class." 3 out of 54 respondents were women, some of the respondents were married and had children. Goldschmidt's survey seemed to include somewhat low-life representatives of computer security community, the type who goes on shopping sprees on stolen credit cards, so take the findings with a grain of salt."
News for Honkies. Stuff that matters.
and I view myself as a rhythmless white guy with a big stomach!!!
Any problems??
Fanx!
Mmmmmmm... cracker...
They view themselves as tasty of course!
Developers: We can use your help.
As a white man, I'm offended by the obvious racial slur, "cracker". I prefer the term "European-American".
Criminals with a Microsoft touch By Limor Gal When the subject is computers, Dr. Orly Turgeman Goldschmidt is more cautious than the average computer-user. She works on two computers and she never saves important files on the computer that is linked to the Internet. She updates her anti-virus software program every day and continually saves the documents on her computer. After interviewing 54 hackers and after two of them - who did not manage to get the names of the other interviewees from Turgeman - managed to break into her computer, she is taking no chances. Turgeman, who teaches in Tel Aviv University's sociology department, had interviewed the hackers for her doctoral dissertation. The subject: how hackers, or computer criminals, perceive themselves. (The dissertation was written at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Nachman Ben-Yehuda, currently dean of the university's Faculty of Social Sciences, was her adviser.) The crimes that hackers commit fall into three main categories: copyright infringement (breaking into and duplicating copyright-protected software), hacking (breaking into databases and Internet sites; fraudulently using Internet and credit-card accounts, and databases; and disseminating computer viruses) and "phreaking" (the term for cracking phone networks in order to make free phone calls). In her dissertation, Turgeman wanted to examine the explanations hackers gave for their behavior in an effort to legitimize their actions. In the 1990s, when she did her research, the commonly held image of a hacker was an isolated individual incapable of communicating with others. "I was surprised to discover," says Turgeman, "that they were warm, sociable people with warm families and that many loved to play pranks and were iconoclasts in their childhood." Apparently, the average Israeli hacker resembles hackers the world over. Generally speaking, hackers are young, well-educated men without a criminal record, who belong to the middle or upper class. In Israel, they are, for the most part, Ashkenazim, secular, leftist and residents of the central part of the country. Most of them are unmarried, although some hackers are married and, in some cases, have children. Among the 54 hackers she interviewed, only three were women. The small percentage of women apparently stems from women's meager presence in information technology-related professions. "In my opinion, women still feel like outsiders in the computer field," observes Turgeman. "This is a male environment, with a warlike atmosphere. Moreover, competitiveness and aggressiveness are characteristics found more among men than among women. And that is also the way society views women. One of the female hackers I interviewed, for example, told me that she used to work in a computer store. People would ask her whether `someone could help them.' `What's wrong with me? I'm not "someone,' she would reply. `Do you think I'm just here for decoration?'" As one would expect, hackers need to operate undercover. Thus, in order to find interviewees, Turgeman had to do some detective work and, through journalists, conferences and Web sites, she managed to find hackers willing to talk to her. To prevent anyone from using her data to locate the interviewees, she did not tape the conversations or record details that could identify them. Even in her notes, she employed numbers, not names, to catalog the hackers. Some interviewees referred her to colleagues, but most of them refused to do so. "Sometimes, the motive for the refusal was that they wanted to play a sort of game with me," she explains. "They tried to challenge me. There were cases where I would contact a hacker only to hear the words, `I was wondering when you'd show up.' Those hackers knew I was looking for them, but waited until I myself contacted them." Like an addiction A love of challenges is a characteristic trait of hackers. The prime factors driving them are the enjoyment and thrill they derive from their activities and the opportunity they have to satisfy a need to compete, and to feel in
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