Computer Crime:

The Crime of the Future

English II
6 April 1996
Computer Crimes
Explosive growth in the computer industry over the last decade has made
new
technologies cheaper and simpler for the average person to own. As a result, co
mputers
play an intricate part in our daily lives. The areas in which computers affect
life are
infinite, ranging from entertainment to finances. If anything were to happen to
these
precious devices, the world would be chaotic.
There is a type of person that thrives on chaos, that is the malevolent
hacker.
Some hackers act on revenge or just impersonal mischievousness. But whatever th
eir
motives, their deeds can be destructive to a person's computer. An attack by a
hacker not
only affects the victim, but others as well.
One case involving a notorious hacker named Kevin Mitnick did just that.
Mitnick
is a very intelligent man. He is 31 and pending trial for computer fraud. When
he was a
teenager, he used his knowledge of computers to break into the North American De
fense
Command computer. Had he not been stopped, he could have caused some real natio
nal
defense problems for the United States (Sussman 66).
Other "small time" hackers affect people just as much by stealing or giv
ing away
copyrighted software, which causes the prices of software to increase, thus incr
easing the
price the public must pay for the programs.
Companies reason that if they have a program that can be copied onto a
disc then
they will lose a certain amount of their profit. People will copy it and give t
o friends or
pass it around on the Internet. To compensate, they will raise the price of dis
c programs.
CD Rom programs cost more to make but are about the same price as disc games.
Companies don't loose money on them because it is difficult to copy a CD Rom and
impossible to transmit over the Internet (Facts on File #28599 1).
One company in particular, American On-line, has been hit hard by hacke
rs. The
feud started when a disgruntled ex-employee used his inside experience to help f
ellow
hackers disrupt services offered by AOL (Alan 37). His advice became popular an
d he
spawned a program called AOHell. This program, in turn, created many copycats.
They
all portray their creators as gangsters, and one of the creator's names is "
Da Chronic."
Many also feature short clips of rap music (Cook 36).
These programs make it easy for people with a little hacker knowledge t
o disrupt
AOL. These activities include gaining access to free accounts, gaining access to
 other
people's credit card numbers, and destroying chat rooms. The following is an ex
cerpt
from a letter from the creator of AOHell to a user:
What is AOHell? AOHell is an AOL for Windows add-on, which allows you to
do
many things. AOHell allows you to download for free, talk using other people's
screen
names, steal passwords and credit card information, and much more. AOHell is ba
sically
an anarchy program designed to help you, the user, and destroy AOL, the enemy:
No matter what AOL says to you, nor what even Steve Case* himself may sa
y
about AOHell, don't be too quick to judge. America On-line may say anything to
get you
to stop using AOHell. They may say it's a virus, they may say it'll cancel your
account,
hell, they've even tried to suggest it may steal your password and send it to th
e author.
None of this is true however. Free AOL does not interest me, as I have many way
s to
accomplish that. You should always keep that in mind when you hear such rumors.
It's
AOL and their sick pedophiles I'm against, not you, the user. You are the ones
who are
making it possible for me to achieve my goal, which is to make AOL a virtual Hel
l. Now
stop reading, and go destroy a Mac room with the bot or something. :) (Cook 36)
The quote above was in defence of AOHell which has received a lot of neg
ative
feedback. The loopholes for hackers and freeloaders may be closing, however. A
merica
On-line is reluctant to discuss specifics of its counterattack for fear of givin
g miscreants
warning. However, many software trading rooms are being shut down almost as soo
n as
they are formed. Others are often visited by 'narcs' posing as traders. New acc
ounts
started with phony credit cards are being cut off more promptly, and other card-
verification schemes are in place.
AOL has now developed the ability to resurrect a screen name that had be
en
deleted by the hackers, and is rumored to have call-tracing technologies in the
works
(Alan 37).
Hacking is not just a problem in America. All across the world hackers
plague
anyone they can, and they're getting better at it. In Europe they're known as "
Phreakers"
(technologically sophisticated young computer hackers). These self-proclaimed P
hreakers
have made their presence felt all the way up the political ladder. They managed
to steal
personal expense accounts of the European Commission President Jacques. They re
vealed
some embarrassing overspending (PC Weekly 12).
Was this stealing justified? Was it done to protect the public from was
ting their
tax money? The European judicial system did not think so. The accused were sen
tenced
to six months in prison (PC Weekly 12).
This punishment might seem harsh, but not to Bill Clinton. He has appoi
nted a
task force to try to enforce laws on the Internet. The new laws would try to st
rengthen
copyright laws by monitoring information being transferred and if a violation oc
curred, a
$5,000 fine would be implemented (Facts On File #28599 1).
Clinton thinks this will protect businesses as well as consumers by keep
ing
copyrighted material at a reasonable price. The only exception would be that li
braries
would have the right to copy "for purposes of preservation" (Phelps 75).
Some people view hackers as the "Robin Hoods" of the Internet. They wre
stle
with the heavyweight businesses to try to gain leverage for individuals. But in
doing so
they make businesses increase prices to pay for security. It is an ongoing cycl
e.
Many anti-hacking groups think they are gaining some ground on hackers b
y
making more sophisticated software. But like a virus that becomes immune too qu
ickly,
the hackers find another way. The loopholes of the hacker are infinite. Just a
s one cannot
leave their shadow behind on a sunny day, the hacker will be around as long as t
here is
something to hack.

Works Cited
Alan Robert, "AOL's Piracy Woes: Attack and Counterattack"
Macworld 16 June 1995: 37-38
"Computers: On-line Copyright Protection Proposed"

Facts on File World News Digest 14 September 1995

28599
"Data Busters"
PC Weekly 8 August 1995: 12-14
Phelps, Alan Abstract "On-line Slime"
PC Novice 1995 74-75 Pro Quest, DiscII
Sussman, Vic: "Hacker Nabbed"
Us News & World Report 27 Febuary 1995 66-67
Cook, William "Aol's battle with AOHell"
Internet Underground 22 April 1995: 36-37