Most states have local ordinances against dumpster diving and cops have been known to arrest and fine people since they assume people are trying to get information for identity theft.
Back in the day, hacking university systems was generally frowned upon, but never really punished. Today, it's a federal offense to tamper with university systems. See Aaron Schwartz case.
Back when analog cell phones were out, you could program your Motorola cell phone to be a scanner and pick up conversations people were having in your area. Safe harmless fun. You could also clone your analog phone as well because of a loop hole in FCC laws. Now, it's still possible to do on GSM systems, but you run the risk of getting caught and cloning GSM devices is federal offense with hefty jail sentences attached.
Back in the day, you could hack your cable box so you could get all the premium channels for free. Cable companies half heartedly tried to track down people who used them, but it was pretty low on their radar. Try that today and within hours, the feds will most likely be on your doorstep asking why you were tampering with private property and the cable company will most likely file a lawsuit against you.
Times have changed man. The 80's and 90's were like the last frontier, until the feds jumped in and started creating laws to really hamper people from pushing the boundaries. Hacking went from really fun, and having inside knowledge to everything you considered doing you had to think about the possibility of doing hard time and dealing with prosecutors with a hard on to convict hackers and send them to jail for long periods of time.
I guess I'll play devils advocate. All of the things you mention should have been (or were) illegal at the time, but the technology was ahead of the law.
you could program your Motorola cell phone to be a scanner and pick up conversations people were having in your area. Safe harmless fun.
Maybe for some people it was harmless fun, but what about the people who did this as a form of espionage? Or any criminal?
Back in the day, you could hack your cable box so you could get all the premium channels for free.
Illegal then, but now the technology and laws have caught up so that finding the people that do this is trivial.
The 80's and 90's were like the last frontier, until the feds jumped in and started creating laws to really hamper people from pushing the boundaries.
Curious why you think this is. Do you think people really aren't pushing the boundaries today like they did back then?
>>> Curious why you think this is. Do you think people really aren't pushing the boundaries today like they did back then?
Not at all. The law hasn't just caught up, it's like a boot on the throat of the people trying to push existing technologies to new places and uses.
Just take GeoHot. Guy jailbreaks the PS3 and all hell breaks loose. Sony says they're going to patch the way he broke into the system. Then GeoHot says he's writing firmware to go around that. Then Sony sues him, then Sony wanted all the users who watched his videos on YouTube. Then Sony finally settled out of court after he agreed not to hack any more Sony products.
All this because he wanted to run some custom software on his PS3.
There are definitely people out there seriously pushing the hacking boundaries, but my point was the consequences have gotten way out of hand. When I hacked the university email system in 97', I got my network privileges revoked for a year. What do you think the punishment would be nowadays?
You're just not able to hack for fun anymore since anything you do could be construed as a crime, and a serious one at that. Even a guy using his neighbors wireless service is now a federal crime.
Comments
Most states have local ordinances against dumpster diving and cops have been known to arrest and fine people since they assume people are trying to get information for identity theft.
Back in the day, hacking university systems was generally frowned upon, but never really punished. Today, it's a federal offense to tamper with university systems. See Aaron Schwartz case.
Back when analog cell phones were out, you could program your Motorola cell phone to be a scanner and pick up conversations people were having in your area. Safe harmless fun. You could also clone your analog phone as well because of a loop hole in FCC laws. Now, it's still possible to do on GSM systems, but you run the risk of getting caught and cloning GSM devices is federal offense with hefty jail sentences attached.
Back in the day, you could hack your cable box so you could get all the premium channels for free. Cable companies half heartedly tried to track down people who used them, but it was pretty low on their radar. Try that today and within hours, the feds will most likely be on your doorstep asking why you were tampering with private property and the cable company will most likely file a lawsuit against you.
Times have changed man. The 80's and 90's were like the last frontier, until the feds jumped in and started creating laws to really hamper people from pushing the boundaries. Hacking went from really fun, and having inside knowledge to everything you considered doing you had to think about the possibility of doing hard time and dealing with prosecutors with a hard on to convict hackers and send them to jail for long periods of time.
I guess I'll play devils advocate. All of the things you mention should have been (or were) illegal at the time, but the technology was ahead of the law.
Maybe for some people it was harmless fun, but what about the people who did this as a form of espionage? Or any criminal?
Illegal then, but now the technology and laws have caught up so that finding the people that do this is trivial.
Curious why you think this is. Do you think people really aren't pushing the boundaries today like they did back then?
Not at all. The law hasn't just caught up, it's like a boot on the throat of the people trying to push existing technologies to new places and uses.
Just take GeoHot. Guy jailbreaks the PS3 and all hell breaks loose. Sony says they're going to patch the way he broke into the system. Then GeoHot says he's writing firmware to go around that. Then Sony sues him, then Sony wanted all the users who watched his videos on YouTube. Then Sony finally settled out of court after he agreed not to hack any more Sony products.
All this because he wanted to run some custom software on his PS3.
There are definitely people out there seriously pushing the hacking boundaries, but my point was the consequences have gotten way out of hand. When I hacked the university email system in 97', I got my network privileges revoked for a year. What do you think the punishment would be nowadays?
You're just not able to hack for fun anymore since anything you do could be construed as a crime, and a serious one at that. Even a guy using his neighbors wireless service is now a federal crime.