The Big Time (Spring, 1999) --------------------------- Yes, we've finally hit it big. There's really no other way to describe it when the President of the United States comes right out and makes a speech targeting your kind as a significant part of the future threat facing Western civilization. In a few sentences, he was able to put teenage kids from suburbia in the same class as international terrorists who, we might add, have really worked hard to establish their image. It hardly seems fair. It didn't take very long for the thrill to wear off. The realization that people that high up in the command structure actually believe things people like Geraldo Rivera and Mike Wallace say is pretty damn scary. But it's nothing compared to some of the things they have planned for us. That's right. We can look forward to an accelerated erosion of our freedoms and fairly open way of life. And it's all the fault of computer hackers. Oops. We really do want to express our sincere regret for breaking our democracy and ruining the whole thing for everybody. But before the history books get written, we'd like to examine the facts a bit more closely. First, let's look at just what was said. The speech in question was given on January 22, 1999, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, and was entitled "Keeping America Secure for the 21st Century." A good part of it had to do with the threat of bioterrorism. The rest focused on cyber attacks and what must be done to prevent them. "Revolutions in technology have spread the message and the gifts of freedom but have also given new opportunities to freedom's enemies,' Clinton says. "The enemies of peace realize they cannot defeat us with traditional military means. So they are working on...cyber attacks on our critical computer systems....We must be ready ready - if our adversaries try to use computers to disable power grids, banking, communications and transportation networks, police, fire and health services - or military assets." "More and more, these critical systems are driven by, and linked together with, computers, making them more vulnerable to disruption. Last spring, we saw the enormous impact of a single failed electronic link, when a satellite malfunctioned disabled pagers, ATMs, credit card systems and television networks all around the world. And we already are seeing the first wave of deliberate cyber attacks - hackers break into government and business computers, stealing and destroying information, raiding bank accounts, running up credit card charges, extorting money by threats to unleash computer viruses." Clearly, someone's been watching too much television. Even if we do accept the bad science fiction scenarios described above, one has to wonder what kind of genius would allow critical systems to become more vulnerable to disruption in the first place. It seems that kind of poor thinking would pose more of a threat than any organized attack. But, assuming the threat is real, this characterization of hackers is both unfair and completely inaccurate. We expect people without a clue to believe that hackers do this kind of thing. Are we now to believe that this cluelessness extends all the way up to the top? Where is the evidence of hackers "raiding bank accounts," "destroying information," or "extorting money" if their demands aren't met? Fiction doesn't count - where is the evidence in the real world? Such things certainly happen but they are invariably at the hands of insiders, career criminals, or people with a grudge against a certain company. To make the jump that because it involves computers and crime, it can only be hackers is a most unfortunate, and all too typical, assumption. Now that it's come from Clinton himself, more people will believe this and hackers will universally be seen as a negative force. Too bad, since hackers may be the one hope our nation has of avoiding a prolonged period of technological ignorance and fear, as well as increased manipulation and suppression of individual thought and alternative perspectives. Who else will figure out ways of defeating systems that are impenetrable without keeping the details to themselves or selling their allegiance to the highest bidder? Who else will remember the simple yet vital premise of free access that has shaped much of what today's net community is? And who else will have the guts to use these hopelessly naive ideals against the well-funded agendas of control and influence put forth by corporate and government interests? As perpetual questioners, it's our responsibility to be skeptical and to never accept the obvious answers without thorough scrutiny. Never has that been more important than now, when new technology increasingly affects our lives with every passing day. By demonizing us, our concerns become that much easier to dismiss. We said it gets worse and it does. In addition to allocating $2.8 billion to fight both "bioterrorism" and "cyberterrorism," Clinton is considering appointing a military commander to oversee these battles, right here in the United States. Such military presence in our own country would be unprecedented. According to The New York Times, "Such a step would go far beyond the civil defense measures and bomb shelters that marked the cold war, setting up instead a military leadership" right here in the United States to deal with the above-described hackers as well as all the other evil people plotting our nation's destruction. Obviously, this kind of a thing is raising concern among all kinds of people, not just hackers. But it illustrates why we have to make sure we're not drawn into this little game. It would be so much more convenient if we played along and turned into the cybervillains they so want us to be. Then it would be easy to send in assault teams to flush us out, online or offline. There also is a certain allure to being a cybervillain, and this is what we have to be particularly careful about. Earlier in the year, hackers belonging to the group Legions of the Underground (LoU) held an online press conference to announce a campaign to cripple the infrastructures of China and Iraq, supposedly because of human rights abuses. Led by Germany's Chaos Computer Club, virtually every major hacker organization (2600 included) condemned this action as counterproductive, against the hacker ethic, and potentially very dangerous. Fortunately, this had an effect, and other members of LoU quickly stepped in and denied any destructive intent. This incident served to bring up some rather important issues. While hacking an occasional web page is one thing that can even be thought of as an expression of free speech, declarations of war and attempts to cause actual damage are very different indeed. We don't doubt that this is exactly the kind of behavior the authorities have in mind when they come up with plans like the above. It also plays right into the hands of the Clinton view of hackers by making us into some kind of tool of war that can be used to disrupt infrastructures and destabilize societies. No matter how right the cause seems to be, we must not allow ourselves to be manipulated into this position. In addition to being targeted as enemies of the state, this would also raise the possibility of being used by the government to enact their version of "cyberwar" against this week s enemy. It's not inconceivable that such "service" could be held over the head of hackers who get in trouble with the law. Given the choice between recruitment as an agent of electronic warfare and a federal prisoner, which would you choose? Being put in that position is clearly not where we should want to be. It's truly unfortunate that Clinton has chosen to accept this misinformed view of hackers. But by forcing the issue, perhaps we will have a chance to correct this perception before the troops move in or public hysteria fuels the fire. It would be wise to do whatever we can to make sure the image we project is an accurate one.