omputer Crime

It's the weekend, you have nothing to do so you decide to

play around on your computer. You turn it on and then start up, you

start calling people with your modem, connecting to another world,

with people just like you at a button press away. This is all fine

but what happens when you start getting into other peoples computer

files. Then it becomes a crime, but what is a computer crime really,

obviously it involves the use of a computer but what are these crimes.

Well they are: Hacking, Phreaking, & Software Piracy.

To begin I will start with Hacking, what is hacking. Hacking is

basically using your computer to "Hack" your way into another. They

use programs called scanners which randomly dials numbers any

generating tones or carriers are recorded. These numbers are looked

at by hackers and then used again, when the hacker calls up the number

and gets on he's presented with a logon prompt, this is where the

hacking really begins, the hacker tries to bypass this anyway he knows

how to and tries to gain access to the system. Why do they do it,

well lets go to a book and see "Avid young computer hackers in their

preteens and teens are frequently involved in computer crimes that

take the form of trespassing, invasion of privacy, or vandalism.

Quite often they are mearly out for a fun and games evening, and they

get entangled in the illegal use of their machines without realizing

the full import of what they are doing" , I have a hard time believing

that so lets see what a "hacker" has to say about what he does "Just

as they were enthraled with their pursuit of information, so are we.

The thrill of the hack is not in breaking the law, it's in the pursuit

and capture of knowledge." , as you can see the "hacker" doesn't go

out to do destroy things although some do. It's in the pursuit of

knowledge. Of course this is still against the law. But where did all

of this start, MIT is where hacking started the people there would

learn and explore computer systems all around the world. In the views

of professional hacking is like drugs or any other addictive

subezce, it's an addiction for the mind and once started it's

difficult to stop. This could be true, as hackers know what they are

doing is wrong and they know odds are they will be caught. But as I

mentioned some hackers are just above average criminals, using there

skills to break in banks and other places where they can get money, or

where they can destroy information. What a hacker does at a bank is

take a few cents or even a few fractions of a cents from many

different accounts this may seem like nothing but when all compiled

can be alot. A stick up robber averages about $8,000 each "job", and

he has to put his life and personal freedom on the line to do it while

the computer hacker in the comfort of his own living room averages

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