Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 31

Thread: Legal Hacks

  1. #11
    Custom User
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    503
    Hacking isn't illegal at all. I would argue that the real meaning of hacking is discovering how things work. You can hack your own computer just as much as you could hack into someone else's (although, the meaning of hack and hacker is starting to blur here), but it would be rather strange if someone attempted to prosecute you for it.

    I mean, if you get locked out of your house and the only way you can get in is to break the window, would you think that you would be arrested for doing so? It seems unlikely.

    Now, if you get "locked" out of someone else's house and you decide that you need to smash the window to get in, I doubt that you could possibly not be breaking the law. But if the person who own's the house requires your help to break into their own house because they have lost the key, you aren't going to get arrested.

    Anyhow. I think I've just reiterated what everyone else already said which was kinda pointless. I just get annoyed when people talk about "hackers" and "hacking" as though that was necessarily a bad thing.

    ac

  2. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Helsinki, Finland
    Posts
    570
    In general the great public speaks about "hacking" and "hackers" as it was and all of them were illegal and evil. "Real hackers", however, refer to criminal hackers as crackers (verb. cracking).

    "White hat hackers" are those advanced users who have real jobs with computers, like sysadmins and such. White hat hackers are trying to keep the "black hat hackers" out of their systems from destroying or stealing data. "Grey hat hackers" might just visit systems but alter no data. Also some hackers are specialized in cracking into and destroying for example child porn sites and consider themselves as white hats. Well, you can't really blame them but it's questionable again, so I'd put them under the category of grey hats.

    Just for the trivia, the hat-analogy comes from old westerns where good guys had white stetsons and the bad guys always wore black ones.
    Q: Why do computer scientists confuse Christmas and Halloween?
    A: Because Oct 31 = Dec 25

  3. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    772
    the word hack sound illegal
    Yes, it does, and that's because of the media as mentioned everywhere.

    Also some hackers are specialized in cracking into and destroying for example child porn sites and consider themselves as white hats
    Well, these "kind" are mostly hacktivists, for more info about hacktivism check out this site: http://www.thehacktivist.com/hacktivism.php
    The above sentences are produced by the propaganda and indoctrination of people manipulating my mind since 1987, hence, I cannot be held responsible for this post\'s content - me

    www.elhalf.com

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Posts
    285
    the word hack sound illegal
    the word hacker and hacking have been unduly aggeravated by the media to such a extent that whenever it comes to mind is is a synonium for doing something illegal

    the following i think best defines the word hacker
    [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker.
    the following i think best defines the word hacking
    the fedral law regarding hacking(oopps Cracking )
    OVERVIEW OF US FEDERAL LAWS

    In general, a computer crime breaks federal laws when it falls into one of
    these categories:

    · It involves the theft or compromise of national defense, foreign
    relations, atomic energy, or other restricted information.
    · It involves a computer owned by a U.S. government department or agency.
    · It involves a bank or most other types of financial institutions.
    · It involves interstate or foreign communications.
    · it involves people or computers in other states or countries.

    Of these offenses, the FBI ordinarily has jurisdiction over cases involving
    national security, terrorism, banking, and organized crime. The U.S. Secret
    Service has jurisdiction whenever the Treasury Department is victimized or
    whenever computers are attacked that are not under FBI or U.S. Secret
    Service jurisdiction (e.g., in cases of password or access code theft). In
    certain federal cases, the customs Department, the Commerce Department, or a
    military organization, such as the Air Force Office of Investigations, may
    have jurisdiction.

    In the United States, a number of federal laws protect against attacks on
    computers, misuse of passwords, electronic invasions of privacy, and other
    transgressions. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 is the main piece
    of legislation that governs most common computer crimes, although many
    other laws may be used to prosecute different types of computer crime. The
    act amended Title 18 United States Code §1030. It also complemented the
    Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, which outlawed the
    unauthorized interception of digital communications and had just recently
    been passed. The Computer Abuse Amendments Act of 1994 expanded the 1986 Act
    to address the transmission of viruses and other harmful code.

    In addition to federal laws, most of the states have adopted their own
    computer crime laws. A number of countries outside the United States have
    also passed legislation defining and prohibiting computer crime.

    THE BIG NO NO’S -- THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT FEDERAL CRIME LAWS

    As mentioned above, the two most important US federal computer crime laws
    are 18 USC: Chapter 47, Sections 1029 and 1030.

    SECTION 1029

    Section 1029 prohibits fraud and related activity that is made possible by
    counterfeit access devices such as PINs, credit cards, account numbers, and
    various types of electronic identifiers. The nine areas of criminal
    activity covered by Section 1029 are listed below. All *require* that the
    offense involved interstate or foreign commerce.

    1. Producing, using, or trafficking in counterfeit access devices. (The
    offense must be committed knowingly and with intent to defraud.)

    Penalty: Fine of $50,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 15
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    2. Using or obtaining unauthorized access devices to obtain anything of
    value totaling $1000 or more during a one-year period. (The offense must be
    committed knowingly and with intent to defraud.)

    Penalty: Fine of $10,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 10
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    3. Possessing 15 or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices. (The
    offense must be committed knowingly and with intent to defraud.)

    Penalty: Fine of $10,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 10
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    4. Producing, trafficking in, or having device-making equipment. (The
    offense must be committed knowingly and with intent to defraud.)

    Penalty: Fine of $50,000 or twice the value of the of the crime and/or up
    to 15 years in prison, $1,000,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    5. Effecting transactions with access devices issued to another person in
    order to receive payment or anything of value totaling $1000 or more during
    a one-year period. (The offense must be committed knowingly and with intent
    to defraud.)

    Penalty: Fine of 10, or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 10 years
    in prison, 100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    6. Soliciting a person for the purpose of offering an access device or
    selling information that can be used to obtain an access device. (The
    offense must be committed knowingly and with intent to defraud, and without
    the authorization of the issuer of the access device.)

    Penalty: Fine of $50,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 15
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    7. Using, producing, trafficking in, or having a telecommunications
    instruments that has been modified or altered to obtain unauthorized use of
    telecommunications services. (The offense must be committed knowingly and
    with intent to defraud.)

    This would cover use of “Red Boxes,” “Blue Boxes” (yes, they still work on
    some telephone networks) and cloned cell phones when the legitimate owner of
    the phone you have cloned has not agreed to it being cloned.

    Penalty: Fine of $50,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 15
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    8. Using, producing, trafficking in, or having a scanning receiver or
    hardware or software used to alter or modify telecommunications instruments
    to obtain unauthorized access to telecommunications services.

    This outlaws the scanners that people so commonly use to snoop on cell phone
    calls. We just had a big scandal when the news media got a hold of an
    intercepted cell phone call from Speaker of the US House of Representatives
    Newt Gingrich.

    Penalty: Fine of $50,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 15
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    9. Causing or arranging for a person to present, to a credit card system
    member or its agent for payment, records of transactions made by an access
    device.(The offense must be committed knowingly and with intent to defraud,
    and without the authorization of the credit card system member or its agent.

    Penalty: Fine of $10,000 or twice the value of the crime and/or up to 10
    years in prison, $100,000 and/or up to 20 years if repeat offense.

    SECTION 1030

    18 USC, Chapter 47, Section 1030, enacted as part of the Computer Fraud and
    Abuse Act of 1986, prohibits unauthorized or fraudulent access to government
    computers, and establishes penalties for such access. This act is one of
    the few pieces of federal legislation solely concerned with computers.
    Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI
    explicitly have been given jurisdiction to investigate the offenses defined
    under this act.

    The six areas of criminal activity covered by Section 1030 are:

    1. Acquiring national defense, foreign relations, or restricted atomic
    energy information with the intent or reason to believe that the information
    can be used to injure the United States or to the advantage of any foreign
    nation. (The offense must be committed knowingly by accessing a computer
    without authorization or exceeding authorized access.)

    2. Obtaining information in a financial record of a financial institution
    or a card issuer, or information on a consumer in a file of a consumer
    reporting agency. (The offense must be committed intentionally by
    accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access.)

    Important note: recently on the dc-stuff hackers’ list a fellow whose name
    we shall not repeat claimed to have “hacked TRW” to get a report on someone
    which he posted to the list. We hope this fellow was lying and simply paid
    the fee to purchase the report.

    Penalty: Fine and/or up to 1 year in prison, up to 10 years if repeat offense.

    3. Affecting a computer exclusively for the use of a U.S. government
    department or agency or, if it is not exclusive, one used for the government
    where the offense adversely affects the use of the government’s operation of
    the computer. (The offense must be committed intentionally by accessing a
    computer without authorization.)

    This could apply to syn flood and killer ping as well as other denial of
    service attacks, as well as breaking into a computer and messing around.
    Please remember to tiptoe around computers with .mil or .gov domain names!

    Penalty: Fine and/or up to 1 year in prison, up to 10 years if repeat offense.

    4. Furthering a fraud by accessing a federal interest computer and
    obtaining anything of value, unless the fraud and the thing obtained
    consists only of the use of the computer. (The offense must be committed
    knowingly, with intent to defraud, and without authorization or exceeding
    authorization.)[The government’s view of “federal interest computer” is
    defined below]

    Watch out! Even if you download copies of programs just to study them, this
    law means if the owner of the program says, “Yeah, I’d say it’s worth a
    million dollars,” you’re in deep trouble.

    Penalty: Fine and/or up to 5 years in prison, up to 10 years if repeat offense.

    5. Through use of a computer used in interstate commerce, knowingly
    causing the transmission of a program, information, code, or command to a
    computer system. There are two separate scenarios:

    a. In this scenario, (I) the person causing the transmission intends
    it to damage the computer or deny use to it; and (ii) the transmission
    occurs without the authorization of the computer owners or operators, and
    causes $1000 or more in loss or damage, or modifies or impairs, or
    potentially modifies or impairs, a medical treatment or examination.

    The most common way someone gets into trouble with this part of the law is
    when trying to cover tracks after breaking into a computer. While editing
    or, worse yet, erasing various files, the intruder may accidentally erase
    something important. Or some command he or she gives may accidentally mess
    things up. Yeah, just try to prove it was an accident. Just ask any systems
    administrator about giving commands as root. Even when you know a computer
    like the back of your hand it is too easy to mess up.

    A simple email bomb attack, “killer ping,” flood ping, syn flood, and those
    huge numbers of Windows NT exploits where sending simple commands to many of
    its ports causes a crash could also break this law. So even if you are a
    newbie hacker, some of the simplest exploits can land you in deep crap!

    Penalty with intent to harm: Fine and/or up to 5 years in prison, up to 10
    years if repeat offense.

    b. In this scenario, (I) the person causing the transmission does not
    intend the damage but operates with reckless disregard of the risk that the
    transmission will cause damage to the computer owners or operators, and
    causes $1000 or more in loss or damage, or modifies or impairs, or
    potentially modifies or impairs, a medical treatment or examination.

    This means that even if you can prove you harmed the computer by accident,
    you still may go to prison.

    Penalty for acting with reckless disregard: Fine and/or up to 1 year in prison.

    6. Furthering a fraud by trafficking in passwords or similar information
    which will allow a computer to be accessed without authorization, if the
    trafficking affects interstate or foreign commerce or if the computer
    affected is used by or for the government. (The offense must be committed
    knowingly and with intent to defraud.)

    A common way to break this part of the law comes from the desire to boast.
    When one hacker finds a way to slip into another person’s computer, it can
    be really tempting to give out a password to someone else. Pretty soon
    dozens of clueless newbies are carelessly messing around the victim
    computer. They also boast. Before you know it you are in deep crud.

    Penalty: Fine and/or up to 1 year in prison, up to 10 years if repeat offense.

    Re: #4 Section 1030 defines a federal interest computer as follows:

    1. A computer that is exclusively for use of a financial
    institution[defined below] or the U.S. government or, if it is not
    exclusive, one used for a financial institution or the U.S. government where
    the offense adversely affects the use of the financial institution’s or
    government’s operation of the computer; or

    2. A computer that is one of two or more computers used to commit the
    offense, not all of which are located in the same state.

    This section defines a financial institution as follows:

    1. An institution with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance
    Corporation(FDIC).

    2. The Federal Reserve or a member of the Federal Reserve, including any
    Federal Reserve Bank.

    3. A credit union with accounts insured by the National Credit Union
    Administration.

    4. A member of the federal home loan bank system and any home loan bank.

    5. Any institution of the Farm Credit system under the Farm Credit Act of 1971.

    6. A broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange
    Commission(SEC) within the rules of section 15 of the SEC Act of 1934.

    7. The Securities Investors Protection Corporation.

    8. A branch or agency of a foreign bank (as defined in the International
    Banking Act of 1978).

    9. An organization operating under section 25 or 25(a) of the Federal
    Reserve Act.

    WHO’S IN CHARGE OF BUSTING THE CRACKER WHO GETS A BIT FROGGY REGARDING
    SECTION 1030?

    (FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation, USSS for US Secret Service)

    Section of Law Type of Information Jurisdiction

    1030(a)(1) National Security FBI USSS JOINT

    National defense X
    1030(a)(2) Foreign relations X
    Restricted atomic energy X

    1030(a)(2) Financial or consumer

    Financial records of X
    banks, other financial
    institutions
    Financial records of
    card issuers X
    Information on consumers
    in files of a consumer
    reporting agency X
    Non-bank financial
    institutions X

    1030(a)(3) Government computers
    National defense X
    Foreign relations X
    Restricted data X
    White House X
    All other government
    computers X

    1030(a)(4) Federal interest computers:
    Intent to defraud X

    1030(a)(5)(A) Transmission of programs, commands:
    Intent to damage or deny use X

    1030(a)(5)(B) Transmission off programs, commands: Reckless disregard X

    1030 (a)(6) Trafficking in passwords:
    Interstate or foreign commerce X
    Computers used by or for
    the government X


    Regarding 1030 (a)(2): The FBI has jurisdiction over bank fraud violations,
    which include categories (1) through (5) in the list of financial
    institutions defined above. The Secret Service and FBI share joint
    jurisdiction over non-bank financial institutions defined in categories (6)
    and (7) in the list of financial institutions defined above.

    Regarding 1030(a)(3) Government Computers: The FBI is the primary
    investigative agency for violations of this section when it involves
    national defense. Information pertaining to foreign relations, and other
    restricted data. Unauthorized access to other information in government
    computers falls under the primary jurisdiction of the Secret Service.

    MORAL: CONFUCIUS SAY: “CRACKER WHO GETS BUSTED DOING ONE OF THESE CRIMES,
    WILL SPEND LONG TIME IN JAILHOUSE SOUP.”
    try reading this ( a guide to Mostly harmless hacking ) a fairly Newb stuff but a very good reading for NewB

  5. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    500
    Most hackers actually don't break into anything. They are the people you see releasing all those fine Linux Distros and finding all the security holes in programs. They also are the admins that test servers and websites for holes and weaknesses. Crackers are those that try to break into hotmail accounts, release warez, and try to deface someone's site/
    A hacker is one who creates; A cracker is one who destroys
    You shall no longer take things at second or third hand,
    nor look through the eyes of the dead...You shall listen to all
    sides and filter them for your self.
    -Walt Whitman-

  6. #16
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    219
    well, in my views, hacking is legal also...
    when you are bound to a contract by a company to check the vulnerability of their systems, you need to check the security of the systems by trying to hack it by yourself.. like you check the door after locking it... this is called ethical hacking, which is not having a wrong purpose behind it...
    It is better to check the security of the system yourself, before a malicious hacker tries his/ her hand!!
    Now is the moment, or NEVER!!!

  7. #17
    Yea, I've heard of "Vigilante Hacking" before... I heard a story similar to that one that extreamez told... A hacker monitored some ppl who were downloading kiddie porn, and one of the people turned out to be a judge! I've got an idea... how about the FBI declares that Kiddie porn sites aren't sheltered under the protections of the information security act.. Therefore allowing hackers to shut them down legally. hahaha! There wouldn't be too many kiddie porn sites on the net after that

  8. #18
    rebmeM roineS enilnOitnA steve.milner's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Posts
    1,021
    Originally posted here by Amplifiedgirl
    the word hack sound illegal
    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hack

    Doesn't read that way to me.
    IT, e-commerce, Retail, Programme & Project Management, EPoS, Supply Chain and Logistic Services. Yorkshire. http://www.bigi.uk.com

  9. #19
    We can't judge on something still questionable?
    Some Cyber experts claims that Hacking is completely legal,,,,
    And they categorize the people who have a malicious intentions
    to Crackers...
    So, this is a very complicated question?
    Don\'t Be So HumblE>>>>
    You aRe N0T tHaT GreaT<<<<

  10. #20
    Senior Member Raion's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    New York, New York
    Posts
    1,299
    I heard that in China/Japan it is legal to hack? the other day some kid got arrested though for hacking the goverment of china's website and in da headlines stating that it is rare for some hacker to get arrested in china. he was arrested because he was defacing the websites and putting porn on the websites.
    WARNING: THIS SIGNATURE IS SHAREWARE PLEASE REGISTER THIS SIGNATURE BY SENDING ME MONEY TO SEE THE COMPLETE SIGNATURE!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •