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From: anderson@vms.macc.wisc.edu.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Hacker Scholarship
Message-ID: <1640@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Jun-87 06:56:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1640
Posted: Fri Jun 19 06:56:39 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jun-87 07:30:17 EDT
References: <2757@mtgzz.UUCP> <345@genesis.UUCP> <532@houxa.UUCP>
Sender: news@uwmacc.UUCP
Reply-To: anderson@uwwircs.UUCP (Jess Anderson)
Distribution: na
Organization: UW-Madison Academic Computer Center
Lines: 36
Keywords: Wozniak, CU, Apple, security

In article <532@houxa.UUCP> mel1@houxa.UUCP (M.HAAS) writes:

]I agree with much of what Andy says, but feel that his anger should
]mostly be directed to the people who consciously allow the hackers
]to do so much damage.
[...]
]The holes were well know then
]and still allowed to exist.  They exist now and are still allowed
]to exist.  Why?  Who makes these decisions?  Why?

In a free and open society (I would maintain that despite its
obvious problems, this should remain amongst our highest social
ideals), access to information should be universal, simple, and
cheap.  Encryption, like government classification of sensitive
materials, is basically contrary to such ideals.  Since we are
constrained to be practical, and since the world is such an
imperfect place, we are more or less forced to compromise such
principles.  But we should always keep information access as
open as we can.  The place to deal with miscreants among us is
not enforcement but education and socialization.  

Actually, I think the worst aspect of the Woz Award is that it
perpetuates a false notion of what hackers are.  Originally, the
term did not imply criminal behavior, and it's unfortunate that
it increasingly does.

]I think the damage is being done by the people who bury their heads
]in the sand and foist these security horrors onto the public, not
]the college kid hackers.

Security is not obtained with locks (nor indeed with weapons), but
by ethical behavior such as honesty and respect for others.
==ARPA:===============anderson@vms.macc.wisc.edu===Jess Anderson======
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