Computer Crimes and Ethics
Neal said that he and his friends, who named themselves the "414s" after the Milwaukee area code, did not intend to do any damage and did not realize they were doing anything unethical or illegal. In fact, when asked [at a Congressional subcommittee hearing] at what point he questioned the ethics of his actions, he answered, "Once the FBI knocked on the door." It's no secret that a mature sense of ethics is something a person develops over time. Parents are supposed to exercise authority over their children because the children are not expected to know how to make certain decisions for them. We have a juvenile court system separate from the adult criminal court system because we believe that a young person is not capable of criminal intent in the same sense that an adult is capable of it. Compare a bunch of adolescents breaking into a computer system with another bunch of kids hot-wiring a car for a joyride. The latter would probably argue, with complete sincerity, that they were doing no harm, because the owner of the car recovered his property afterward. They didn't keep or sell it. It's a "naughty" prank to borrow someone's property in that way, but not really serious.
His argument is that keeping information secret is inefficient; it leads to unaesthetic duplication of effort. Some involve the disabling of a critical component. Apprenticeship: challenging problems and access to expertise. The philosophy behind this policy is that most "malicious" computer abuse is the result of ignorance, misunderstanding, and thoughtlessness, rather than truly malign intent. Is it surprising that young computer enthusiasts want a slice of the pie too? Adolescents are excluded not only from access to equipment but also from access to ideas. Our heros are the ones who become millionaires by doing a slick marketing job on yet another spreadsheet program. Mafiaboy faced 68 criminal charges. We can give special public recognition to computer professionals who choose a life of disinterested public service over the quest for personal gain. Popular opinion at MIT posited that there are two kinds of students, tools and hackers. Treated as legitimate members of the community, even young tourists quickly learn to act responsibly toward the group. And a "password hacker" knows how to find out someone else's password. The basis of his own choice, of course, was Christian faith. That's not how things work with computers. Steven Levy, in the book Hackers, talks at length about what he calls the "hacker ethic.
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Acceptance Essays
