Internet Hackers

Internet Hackers

Today's information is highly interconnected by the Internet. With this interconnection of computer systems through the Internet comes computer crime. Breaking into computer systems, damaging information on computer systems, and stealing information on computer systems, more commonly known as hacking, has become extremely common on the Internet. As hacking becomes more frequent, and as some would say, more of a problem, should we consider hacking a criminal activity?

Information from across the world is stored on computer systems-most of which are connected, networked, to other computer systems through the Internet. In the ideal situation, this interconnection of information enables others from outside a specific computer network to access that specific computer network and its information. This has created a world in which information is extremely important and extremely easy to access, which in turn has created a government, business, and personal society that is dependent

on and successful from the networked information.

But this network also has its drawbacks. Besides enabling people who need to use the information for legitimate business or personal use to gain access, the network also-often unknowingly-enables unauthorized people to gain access to the information in one way or another, no matter what kind of network security they have implemented. Gaining access to a computer system that does not intentionally allow you access is called hacking.

Hacking causes many problems for networked information. Hackers can change and damage information. They can sell information. They can destroy information. They can destroy the computer systems the information is stored in. It is estimated that hackers have caused between $145 million and $5 billion in damage to hacked systems annually in the United States (Skinner 1). The destruction or damaging of information is why it is important to determine whether hacking should be considered a criminal activity.

But along with hacking comes the terms to prevent hacking. Some suggest creating strict Internet laws that could be used to make and prove hacking a crime. Some suggest that the government sniff-a type of eavesdropping of the Internet-Internet traffic and monitor such things as e-mail. But both of these actions to prevent hacking, to make it a crime, also infringe on the privacy rights of everyone who uses the Internet. This is another reason why it is important to determine whether hacking should be considered a criminal activity, because if it is, it could affect a lot more people than just the hackers.

There are two primary sides to the hacking controversy: the hackers and the non-hackers. The hackers believe that what they are doing does not constitute a crime. One argument is that they provide a service to organizations by breaking into them. Specifically, by hackers breaking into an organization's network, they are showing the organization what their security holes are so that they can fix them.

Hackers also believe that hacking shouldn't be a crime because it is not