> > Once, there were near-legendary myths of some "hero hackers" who worked in the early days of the Internet. These folks, all Unix gurus, had a reputation for social activism such as (for example) breaking into the salary accounts of a major corporation... then emailing everyone to show wage disparity between male and female employees doing the same job... before covering up their tracks and disappearing without a trace. They *were* breaking the law to make their point, but they weren't stupid. Today's hackers, though, are the lamers who fancy themselves "The €l33t d00dz 2B FEARED," who can only show their "power" through wanton destruction and by inconveniencing thousands of users. It's particularly sad when the hackers are children. The thrill of breaking into a network across cyberspace seems pointedly detached from them... like a sort of digital abstraction... and their very immaturity does not allow them to see their acts as crimes.
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> In your description of the legendary hackers, you've left out one important detail - not only were they smart and good, they had a *purpose.* There was a reason that they were doing what they were doing, and they had something they hoped to accomplish. Today's lot of 733t ahck3r d00dz just don't.

Hm. No, I'm afraid I was deliberately avoiding use of the word "purpose", on purpose. :-) Read my response over again... To describe the ahckers of yore, I used the phrases "hero hackers", "social activism", and "breaking the law to make their point". Acknowledging that they had a directed goal in mind is implicit in my post. However, I didn't wanted to validate their nonetheless illegal hacking by saying the said activities were *purposeful*. There is a difference between Conscientious Objection by breaking a stupid law... versus making your point by trampling over the rights of privacy which protect private citizens and enterprises. The old-time hackers broke into networks because they could, but more importantly, in order to *prove* that they could, and get away with it. It's basically a juvenile game of oneupmanship. Ultimately, this isn't that much different than what today's hackers do, except that today's 733t idiots also want the "wanton destruction" of property and privileges as an additional trophy. And I still maintain that it requires no brains to do this type of mass hack attack: when these denial-of-access tools are completely automated, all the would-be "hacker" has to do is aim their missiles at the target, click, then sit back and watch the "fun". Utterly reprehensible.

Wolfspirit