"Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity" (123). This is The Mentor's claim in his essay entitled "Hacker's Manifesto, or The Conscience of a Hacker." If hackers are only curious citizens, then why are they considered criminals? The law says that hackers are invading our privacy. There are in fact trials going on right now involving the prosecution of hackers. We automatically say that being a hacker is wrong because of invasion of privacy, but we must also look at this problem from a hacker's point of view. Hackers say that they are satisfying curiosity with good, old-fashioned American ingenuity, but the other side says hackers are trying to breach these secured locations for their own personal gain. People accused of being hackers can recieve jail sentences for their curiousity.

The case of The United States vs. Kevin Mitnick is a high profile trial in the eyes of many people. Mitnick was charged with 25 counts of alleged federal computers and wire fraud violations. It was found that he was in possession of many unauthorized access codes. He was sentenced and restricted from using almost any kind of computer hardware. Mitnick claims that he was simply satisfying his curiosity and that he did not do this for any kind of financial gain. The government tells us that Mitnick caused eighty million dollars worth of damage to computer systems with his "curiosity." Mitnick breached a secure government area that will have to be completely changed to insure that it doesn't get compromised again.

Other hackers have set up web sites expressing their outrage over this trial. The general consensus is that the government is using Mitnick as an example to scare other hackers. Many times, hackers express a feeling of rebellion because they believe in the right to satisfy their curiosity and search for knowledge. Hackers all over the world come together every year to proclaim their outrage to the rest of the world.

DEFCON is a hacker convention held in Las Vegas every summer. The website is easy to access. The creators of the convention give the exact location of where the convention will be and the events that will take place. Many speakers are booked at this conference. People from all over the world come together to share their secrets: "That's what it is all about. Meeting other spies, er, people and learning something new." If being a hacker is wrong, then why hasn't the government dispatched these confrence attendees? Law officials tell us that hackers are criminals and that they deserve to go to jail for the crimes they commit in cyberspace.

I agree with the law. I don't want a stranger violating my privacy. I also agree that all hackers are not criminals. Indeed, many of them are probablysimply curious. But there are many who could use other people's secrets for personal gain. I don't want hackers finding secret codes for defense weapons. What if they decide to sell the information they find to terrorist groups? The search for knowledge should go on, but not at other people's expense.

The Mentor responds to this concern in the following way:

We explore and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. (124)

Who is right and who is wrong in this debate? I believe that there is no completely correct answer. We cannot make everyone happy. The majority of us are probably not hackers, and the majority rules. Hackers must ask themselves one question: How far are they willing to go to satisfy their curiosity? Terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. These terrorists used the Internet to facilitate successfully their act of war. If law officials do not patrol the Internet, this devastating action could happen again. Curiousity could cause many innocent people to lose their lives if hackers continue going into places they are not supposed to enter. Boundaries are placed for our protection, but they won't protect us if they are breached by curious criminals.

"Dark Tangent." Home page. October 2001. <http://www.DEFCON.org>.

The Mentor. "Hacker's Manifesto, or The Conscience of a Hacker." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 122-123.

Mitnick, Kevin. Home Page. 2001. <http://www.freekevin.com/articles_interviews.html>.

"Netculture." 25 September 2001. <http://www.netculture.about.com>.

Randolph, Donald. Home page. 30 April 2001. <http://www.freekevin.com/about.html>.

Megan Schlicht

Links to my writing samples:
Back to my home page
Summary response
Argumentative analysis
Reader response
My résumé