[WEB4LIB] RE: Gray Hats Re: Re: Jack Valenti: Copyright and

[Chris Deweese]

Again we see hacking being classified in a "dark" manner.  As matt said, hacking is about the method and not the context.  Might I suggest this story:
Seven-Line Perl code beats DVD Crypto
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/17444.html
A seven-line program written in perl script beats the MPAA's DVD encryption scheme.  The program was written by a former MIT student and a currnet undergrad.  A pure example of hacking being about the method.
These guys didnt write this program to copy dvd's.  They wrote it to prove how weak the system currently used is.  deCSS the original program to decrypt dvds was written by a 15 year old kid.
I see no wrong doing in this.  But the MPAA has been in an uproar about it.  Why? Because it shows how little money they really invested in coming up with a copy protection system.  More money is probably invested in child safety caps for medicine.(thats a guess not a fact)

Hackers do not do things out of some "evil" motive.  Most of them do it because they want to learn and to prove that things can be better.  The hackers who deface pages and blatantly do things to be noticed, they are the ones we call hackers.  But I argue that they arent true hackers, they are just someone who has taken the tools and used them for their own evil.

To draw a parallel- The hammer is a useful tool, however I can go take a hammer and injure someone.  In the same manner, security auditing tools are useful but you can use those tools to look for vulnerabilities on other networks.  Also, by showing how weak CSS is, the MPAA should use that information to invest in revamping their copy protection system.

Chris D

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Matt Theobald <mtheobal at ihets.org>
Reply-To: mtheobal at ihets.org
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 14:21:08 -0800 (PST)

>What if it is a DVD about Rosa Parks?
>Mrs. Parks broke the law pure and simple.  That was her point, no.
>
>Hacking is really about methods and not about context.
>
>I suppose my point is that there is no black and white when it comes to 
>security.
>As long as traditional publishers control the medium, artists and consumers 
>will get less for more.
>And as we watch the Internet be concentrated to TV-like models s and the 
>like, we watch libraries
>and librarians become marginalized as well.
>
>-Matt
>
>
>At 3/20/01 02:00 PM, Drew, Bill wrote:
>>I'm really bothered by classifying hackers of DVD and other entertainment
>>products as white hats.  What they are doing is not true civil disobedience
>>in the same vein as sitting in the front of the bus because you are supposed
>>to sit in the back.  A hacker of a DVD movie is not Mrs. Parks.  They are
>>stealing pure and simple.  Now, if those same hackers were out taking down
>>tobacco company sites,  sites spouting hatred, and such then they might be
>>able to justify their actions.
>>
>>Bill Drew
>
>