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HAVE I HELPED?
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INTERNET WACKOS and INTERNET TERRORISTS
There should be a distinction between the words "hacker" and "cracker." The term "hacker" is actually a term of some distinction and renown, dating from the early days of PCs and computing. "Hackers" were very seldom nefarious in their exploits. They just wanted to learn how to do things, and how things worked, not take advantage of people and systems and steal, or destroy property. "Crackers" are people who run exploits in order to destroy or compromise, or steal or cause chaos. They are really computer terrorists, and need to be shut down, and prosecuted. They, and the spammers are making life miserable for most of us on the Internet!
In the last year, criminal elements have now entered the quest to screw up our Internet. With their phishing and trojan exploits, in league with the spammers, they are making life hell for all of us. This is pretty sad. I can see the day when there are largely private networks, much as AOL was, and is, but with strictly controlled access and behaviour, and elaborate gateways to the "real" Internet. I am afraid the Internet terrorists, along with the real world terrorists are going to make our lives very much less free in the future. I am willing to bet that we choose security over unlimited freedoms.
"Black Hats" are another term for these crackers. Those people who are trying to discover all the security vulnerabilities in order to inform companies and people are called "white hats." You can guess what "grey hats" are.