FREQUENCY: Inside the Hacker Mind March 2001 Freq7 1. Introduction Methods of Madness 2. Why Everyone Flames Newbies: by CryptoKnight 3. Windows VS. Linux: by Frood 4. BBS Revival: by Frood 5. www.theworldsucks.com: by Screamer 6. Secrets and Paranoia: by TheBlueGiant 7. The Hacker Poll (please let us know what you think) 8. Closing Arguments 9. Crew 1. INTRODUCTION "Methods of Madness" First of all I’m sure many of you are disappointed about the Cap’n Crunch interview not being delivered as promised, believe me I feel your pain. I’m sure we can all understand that people just don’t have time lying around for an interview, but there’s also only so many times you can ask someone to fill one out. Mr. Draper is welcome in Frequency anytime he wishes, but if you want that article I leave it up to you. His email is crunch@webcrunchers.com. Ask him if he would be kind enough to fill out the interview if you want to hear what this living legend has to say. Moving on, there have been more aggravations as well as some improvements in the world. Aggravations abound surrounding Napster and how the recording industry is insisting they be shutdown, and may have already succeeded. We all say that if Napster goes we’ll go to another mp3 program, but this is not the point. The point is to stand up and say you’re not going to be punished for an advancement in technology that actually gives YOU, the consumer, the upper hand. Believe me, if software came out in favor of the recording industry there would be no lawsuits. This is a common occurrence, Corporate America having more influence and more power. This only happens when we let it happen. We are the people, if we don’t buy CD’s they lose all their income, and must bow to our demands. If Napster goes, let them know that you will never again buy a CD until it comes back, and then stick to that promise. If even half the people out there truly stop purchasing CD’s, victory will be ours. And hopefully, the recording industry will recognize the undeniable facts you can’t stop technology. And lastly, freedom of speech has come under fire recently (as it always does). Recently a student in Lacey, Washington was suspended from school for making a website that criticized his principal. Even though they had no legal jurisdiction, the school punished the boy for something he did at home. The boy later went on to sue, and has since been awarded 10,000 dollars, which the school now has to pay. This is definitely one of the improvements in the world. It’s good to finally see someone’s freedom of speech being protected, rather than outlawed. This should show everyone that one person can make a difference, all you need to do is make a stand. Don’t let someone or something intimidate you, you have the power to create a change in how things operate. And now, without further ado, I proudly present to you the seventh issue of Frequency: Inside the Hacker Mind. 2. WHY EVERYONE FLAMES NEWBIES: by CryptoKnight Why everyone flames newbies: by CryptoKnight I'd like to use an analogy to talk about why most hackers flame newbies. Back when I was in 6 grade, I started to get into skateboarding. I guess I was what most people would refer to as a "poser" or a wannabe. I wore the shity clothe that I thought would make me more of a skater when in fact it looked crapy and made me look like more of a poser. As expected, my skills where not what you would call smooth and my equipment was not the right one. Of course I didn't know better because the BIG guys would not help me and some times even make fun of me. As time went on, I got better little by little and eventually one of the guys took notice in me and "took me in". As time went on, I got pretty good at it, started wearing the right clothe and started using the right equipment. Little by little I became one of the big guys myself and without even noticing, I started making fun and mocking the new guys. You see, it's all part of human nature. Unconsciously, I did what people did to me and made me feel so bad and even made me think of quitting at times. But why did I do it if I knew it would hurt the people that were starting and would eventually get good at it with practice and dedication? I guess I did it as a kind of revenge. It was a way of taking out my frustration for the things that got done to me when I started. After all, if I had to go through it, why shouldn't they have to go through the same thing, right? Wrong... but unfortunately that's how the human mind works, and that is just something that the majority of the people just cant help stopping. It's the same thing with hacking, and any other activity for that matter, the more experienced people will always put the new ones through the same things that they had to go through... -CryptoKnight- -NOTE- I stated in a previous issue that I would no longer accept articles dealing with newbies because, quite frankly, it had been overdone. This was posted because I like how it focused on the human nature aspect of why we treat these people the way we do. While I don’t mean to single CryptoKnight out, I have gotten quite a few articles dealing with newbies and lamers. I respect everything that people want to talk about, but in order to get posted I need something new. I won’t silence anyone, but please understand if I reply to you and say I can’t post your article. It’s only because the things you’re saying have been said before, in previous issues, and no one likes repetition. Thanks again. -screamer -END- 3. WINDOWS VS. LINUX: by Frood ---------------- --- [ Windows vs. Linux ] -------- [ Frood ] Linux IS the OS of choice for hackers these days. Why? Why not use Windows? This is a good question and commonly asked on the IRC channels I visit. This aticle is designed to examine the for and against of using Linux over Windows. It is by no means a definitive analysis of the two OS's but hopefully it will give you something to think about. A shell account will NOT help you learn UNIX. Shell accounts allow limited access to anything unix offers and you never get to experiance X Windows. The true way to learn unix systems is to administer one yourself.I keep it up to date with all the latest patches and learn how they work. I spend time trying to hack my Linux server and patch any holes that I may come across. Linux comes with a wealth of server features and is the most dominate server environment on the Internet. Fact. A recent survey in Computer Weekly magazine here in the UK showed that more sysadmins would choose UNIX as the Internet gateway/firewall that NT. Windows contains various security holes which you cannot patch up yourself. It is not as customisable as linux. One of the main advantages is the freely distributed source-code under the GNU general public license. All of the source code for linux and many of it's core applications comes budled with all the source code available. This gives you the opportunity to examine how a real operating system works and doing so is very benificial to expanding your knowlege. It will improve your C knowlege and your understanding of programming of the TCP/IP protocol - good for writing your own tools. A perticular advantage for me is Linux's ability to run on limited specifications. I am writing this on a 486 Laptop with 8 MB RAM and 300 MB hdd. In just 20MB used I have text editors, file managers, E-mail program and Internet browser and with a little more used I have a full 32 bit C compiler. Windows could never match that. Sure, it is more user friendly but using Linux is like learning to drive. It seems difficalt at first but after practice it is second nature. /********* On this topic let me tell you a little trick to extend the life of your old machines. My laptop was going to be thrown out but I installed X Windows without any window managers. I used a serial cable to establish a PPP connection between the laptop and my P500 with a complete Linux distro including KDE. 4. BBS REVIVAL: by Frood The days of the BBS are over. Many older hackers say this has lead to the death of the community spirit that hackers used to possess. However, as more and more web sites are coming down and virii are spread across the internet, ISP's and free web space providers are becoming paranoid of hacking related material being hosted on their site. So what can we do? Some may say this is a bit extreme but I am starting to wonder whether in order for the hacking community to survive, sharing files and communicating, the BBS may be the way to go. I am not saying we ignore the internet and move back to dial-up machines. With Linux free to download with sophisticated telnet, ftp, http servers, there is no reason why we cannot host are own sites and even telnet bbs's. It was only recently that I found out the wonder of sites like dnsq.org. Now you don't need a permanant connection to host a web site. When you log on to the net, run a small prog and users connecting to [yourname].dnsq.org get relayed to your machine. If I am online you can telnet to my very-much-in-development BBS at frood.dnsq.org. I envision an Internet site which lists all these user owned sites with a graphic showing whether the user is online and a short description of what they have to offer. frood@h14me.yi.org 5. WWW.THEWORLDSUCKS.COM: by Screamer Ask any hacker how they feel about Corporate America and you’re likely to get a multitude of four letter words. A legitimate question would be, why do hackers feel so strongly about things that are in no way related to computers? Obviously hackers are people too, but it’s their general frame of mind that dictates their opinions on world events. A love of obtaining information in a world where such deeds are deemed criminal can only lead to a lack of trust. And to add insult to injury, if you then go and make “examples” of hackers by sentencing them to prison you only accomplish angering those that love to explore even more. Such was the case with Kevin Mitnick and Phiber Optik. Both were punished more as a warning to the overall public than as a dealing of justice. How many people can honestly say a man downloading source code for a cellular telephone should be sentenced to five years in prison? If you understand what’s really going on, like most hackers, you can probably see how crazy a situation like that really is. This, in turn, may lead you to believe that the government is corrupt as a whole. This can explain why hackers may have hard feelings toward the government of the USA. But what about that giant known as Corporate America? Where do they play into all of this? To best understand this, you must think about what corporations like Microsoft and Bell Atlantic are all about. Money. They’re out to make as much money as they can, however they can. If John Q. Hacker comes along and figures out a way to help people get things for less money, the corporations lose a million out of the hundreds of billions they make every year. And that, my friends, is unacceptable to them. I won’t get into whether this justifies stealing, that’s an article in itself. Instead I want to focus on how your average hacker fits into this corporate world. I’ve already shown you an example of how a corporation may fear someone who knows what’s going on. To elaborate, this focuses on how a hacker can tell people why Verizon is robbing them or why Microsoft is overcharging it’s customers. But there is more to the story than just this one example. Hackers are, by nature, people who turn against authority (as was shown in the first paragraph). It’s important to note that when I generalize hackers I simply do this to make everything more understandable. I’m well aware hackers all think differently. If hackers hate authority, you can probably understand why companies making pathetic rules about copyright and piracy would upset them. When we see a corporation getting too large, we know what’s to come. More and more bullshit about how we need to pay them everything we have for a simple three way calling service. At the risk of sounding like an extra from "The Matrix" if more people were awake to this concept I think we would see a great change in the way things work. Instead, the hackers are the outcasts. Trying their best to show the common folk how corrupt society really is. But this, of course, only leads to more hackers being sent to prisons as examples. is it any wonder we have sites like www.verizonreallysucks.com and www.fuckgeneralmotors.com? Let’s back up for a moment. Is the entire world this corrupt? Are we doomed to face further prosecution for merely seeing what we can find with a computer or telephone? The answer need not be yes. It will take people who have a genuine love for what they do to come along and show others that they’re not criminals like the government would have them believe. With less hackers destroying websites and computer networks and more of them showing vulnerabilities to sysops we can definitely boost up our image. What about the dreaded Corporate America? For this, we need a new strategy. Yes, registering websites that criticize certain corporations does help but don’t forget about the other resources at your disposal. Peaceful protests and letters to your representatives will only help in the overall struggle to free the world from corporate tyranny. Until the day phone companies stop charging us for NOT using their service, and companies like Microsoft stop making terrible software at outrageous prices you’re always going to hear hackers complaining. Maybe now you can see why people may someday start registering sites like www.theworldsucks.com. I could have taken it, but I would rather leave it for someone who has a reason to use it. -screamer 6. SECRETS AND PARANOIA by: TheBlueGiant Everyone that uses the Internet, or at least everyone that uses the Internet and isn't a complete idiot knows it. Do not let people know who you are. But is that even possible with all the resources at the fingertips of even an average user? Not very, if you let your last name slip, where you live, where you go to school, anything, and someone can find out where you live down to the street address, the names of your family members, and even where your kids go to school, all from your e-mail address.. Naturally, this is reason for anyone, and especially hackers to be worried about. However, you can hide yourself well, easily, give fake information for your e-mail, etc., however, since this isn't a tutorial on how to do this, I'm not going to go into all the details. Then there's paranoia. Everyone has it to some degree, some more than others. I know I'm definitely more paranoid then most, I see conspiracies and problems everywhere, but.... are there conspiracies and problems everywhere? Probably. And I've noticed that a lot of people I know agree with me, a good more than I thought would, of course most of them forget about it in a short amount of time, but for that while, they're using fire walls on the Internet, not talking to strangers, and listening for clicks while they talk on the phone. And I also know a lot or people that do that normally. Mostly people doing things they definitely don't want to be caught for. But why? Not wanting to be caught by the NSA isn't reason to be THIS paranoid and have THAT many secrets that the normal person would think of as harmless information, is it? Nope. Maybe it's because we all think we're more important then we really are, that at least 15 peoples lives really DO revolve around monitoring what we do. Maybe even if we won't admit that, even to ourselves (I won't) that's the reason. Or maybe it's because we just don't trust anyone for the simple reason that they're untrustworthy. They'll let the secret out, they'll tell the world... they'll give freaks access to YOUR information. After all , there's always a chance that the one person that knows is the one person that's going to use it against you. Again though, the average person doesn't seem to be bothered by that, so why am I? Because I know more than the average person. I know that we are monitored more than we think, that people really ARE listening to calls people make, taping them for later, all without my knowing. I know that people really ARE intercepting my e-mail's, searching them for information and keeping them for later. I know that satellites really A! RE! monitoring every single person in America. Or do I? I'm sure I do, but no one else does. Why? ..because there's no proof. No ones ever found these lost tapes, seen these satellites, or found this stored e-mail. Why then do I believe it? As I said, because I know more than the average person, but if there's no proof, then how can I know? I cant... I'm just paranoid. I have no reason to be paranoid, to believe in 'big brother' but I do. And I believe that the one person that finds out where I live really is the one that's going to show up on my doorway someday. All because I'm paranoid, as most of the people in the 'hacker culture' seem to be. And none of them have a reason to be. Is it because I know that if I wanted to, I could find out about some person, and so I assume everyone else can, and does. Is it because I know of what the government has done, and so I assume that what it's doing is 100 times worse? Is it because I'm afraid that someone really will show up at my do! or! someday. It very well may be, or it jus be that I'm paranoid and think that everything is, and should be a secret. Is it the 'hacker ethic' to trust no one, I don't think so. I've met a lot of people I would trust, but do any of them know where I live? ....no. I, and most people that spend a lot of time on the Internet, are paranoid. We don't know more, we have reasons to trust less, but not to be paranoid, just 'safe'. We think we know more though, we think we're more important, and we think that one person in a million is far to likely to be the one to find out who, and where you are. What we do in life echo's in eternity 7. THE HACKER POLL The following poll are a few questions we would like to have answered by you, the readers, of Frequency. Copy and paste the following questions into an email and send them into screamer@hackermind.net. Hopefully this will tell us a little more about you so that we can make this ezine even better. A. Why do you consider yourself a hacker? B. Do you feel you’re more of a hacker or a phone phreak? C. What is it about technology that excites you? D. Who’s your favorite fictional hacker? E. Who’s your favorite real life hacker? Why? F. Have you ever been arrested for hacking? (even if you were innocent) G. What’s your main interest? (ie: unix, telephones, networking etc) H. Do you have a handle? If so, how did you come up with it? I. If Line Noise became it’s own radio show, a show exclusively about the fun of phones, would you listen? J. What would you like to hear more about on Hackermind? K. Do you feel Hackermind should be expanded to one hour, or remain a half hour long? L. Lastly, what are your opinions of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly? 8. CLOSING ARGUMENTS Shout Outs – The Boondocks comic strip, the Off the Hook team, Coors, Massive Attack, Underworld, DamienAK, IceDog, Xun0, and the rest of the UGN gang, Emmanuel Goldstein, the operator that was friendly, and last but not least my buddy Nahog FIX YOUR DAMN ACCOUNT! PDK baby! Mad Shouts Optimum Online Stop lying your customers. Fix the problems on your end and stop making us suffer! SCSU I paid my fucking bill, stop embarrassing me! Jack Valenti and the MPAA With all the piracy going on in movie studios, what right do you have to come after people that use DeCSS? Idrive.com Stop kissing corporate ass and let users post DeCSS! Tripod who needs your shitty service when we have a better host? That mean Operator at SNET help the customer, don’t harass them. 9. CREW Screamer Chaotix Editor in Chief D4sh Webmasta TheBlueGiant Writer Contributing Writers: CryptoKnight, Frood Tune into Hackermind every half hour Thursday by opening location 166.90.148.114:9474 with WinAmp or Real Player. Articles for Freq8 due April 8, 2001!!! WWW.HACKERMIND.NET