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1992-10-24
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NEWSLETTER NUMBER 8
**********************************************************************
Another festive, info-glutted, tongue-in-cheek training manual
provided solely for the entertainment of the virus programmer,
casual bystander or PC hobbyist interested in the particulars
of cybernetic data replication and/or destruction.
EDITED BY URNST KOUCH, late October 1992
**********************************************************************
TOP QUOTE: We're in the process of creating a true idiot culture.
And not just a bubbling subculture that every society has, but
a true dominant idiot culture."
--Watergate star journalist CARL BERNSTEIN at the
12th annual Jewish Book Fair on a Thursday in
late October 1992.
IN THIS ISSUE: Crypt newsletter declares war on CENTRAL POINT
ANTIVIRUS . . . Crypt newsletter helps YOU declare war on local
"WAREZ" slaves . . . the PEACH virus . . . sneak preview of
the [NuKe] Encryption Device . . . in the Reading Room with
Mark Ludwig's "Computer Virus Developments Quarterly" . . .
viruses in Burbank, Walt Disney rises from grave . . . NESW,
er, NEWS . . . other stuff, too.
URNST went to the City of Angels in mid-October and guess what
he found? Viruses at Disney Studios in Burbank! Disney suffered
a telecommunications failure linked to virus infection in the
backup computers controlling the studio's commo lines.
According to anomyous employees, the virus infection was planted
in retaliation for about 300 layoffs at the company. Disney flack
Terri Press dismissed them as no big deal although others
apparently thought differently. Loyal Crypt readers will remember
a piece on viruses as tools of "empowerment" in the hands of
disgruntled workers a few issues back. Life imitates art.
The Dark Avenger has supplied U.S. virus exchanges with a
"fixed" version of a Mutation Engine equipped virus. This
version creates MtE infections which no longer scan. Here
at the Crypt newsletter, we weren't even aware that the
MtE was "broke."
*****************************************************************************
ETHICS AND THE VIRUS PROGRAMMER: THE DEBATE RAGES ON!
*****************************************************************************
The following essay reprinted from a FidoNet transmission. Cosmeticized
by some anonymous soul whom we thank deeply. File points await you
at Dark Coffin. Come and get 'em.
ESTABLISHING ETHICS
IN THE
COMPUTER VIRUS ARENA
Paul W. Ferguson, Jr.
September, 1992
ABSTRACT
The introduction of the computer into our already complex arsenal
of tools has opened a door to a world in which the limits are seemingly
boundless. The possibilities of electronic information and data exchange
alone are enough to boggle the mind. However, with the computer's
acceptance and its growing implementation, a debate has arisen concerning
the manner in which it is being utilized.
Today, we have a virtual stone wall separating two basic trains of
thought. On one hand, there are those who wish to make all computer
information and resources publicly available, regardless of impact or
damage afforded to unwitting users. On the other hand, we have computer
professionals, advocates and users who think potentially damaging
information should be more effectively managed and controlled,
disallowing damaging code to escape into the public domain.
THE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT OF COMPUTER ETHICS
Perhaps the birthplace of computer ethics was the at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. The addition of a discarded Lincoln Labs TX-0 in
1958 created a more personal and casual brotherhood in the computing
environment at MIT. It was soon after this machine was introduced that
many of the more inquiring minds attending the university became enthralled
with it's presence [1]. "There was no one moment when it started to dawn on
the TX-0 hackers that by devoting their technical abilities to computing
with a devotion rarely seen outside of monasteries they were the vanguard
of a daring symbiosis between man and machine", wrote Steven Levy, in his
landmark book, "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution". This devotion
to the computer led to their version of what they dubbed "The Hacker Ethic".
This "ethic" had became an honor code that outlined ground rules for the
usage of the computer resources and has survived to this day as the
foundation of what is honorable in the computer community. Although
it has been twisted and mired in its journey into the 1990's, its
inception was sincere and beneficial to those who created it during
the early days. Levy outlined five platform values that comprised the
Hacker Ethic:
"Access to computers - and anything which might teach you something about
the way the world works -- should be unlimited and total. Always yield
to the Hands-On Imperative!"
As Steven Levy outlines in his book, this was the primary basis
for computer hacker values in the early days of computerdom. Hackers,
as defined in the above statement, have always felt that whatever
environment exists, they should be afforded the freedom to optimize it.
Whether it is reprogramming an existing operating system or establishing
their own set of behavioral protocols, it is the freedom that they seek
to define their own desirable environment.
"All information should be free."
The principle idea is that if you do not know how to obtain the
information, how could you benefit or pose a threat to others who may
utilize the same resources? The primary ideal that all information should
be free has landed many of its advocates in unprecedented litigation. Is
it appropriate that anyone has the right to examine your credit report?
Or your E-Mail? Or your medical history? These ultimately fall into the
category of "information", by this definition.
"Mistrust Authority -- Promote Decentralization."
This is an ethical factor that is still adhered to rather strictly
by hacker purists. In its beginnings, authority figures in the computer
community were inept or simply did not exist. Most could not afford them
the computing freedom they demanded. This problem still exists and
unfortunately the boundary between what constitutes an acceptable computer
ethic and activities that pose a threat to the computer community is more
complex than ever. We have as many or more inept system administrators in
the present day computer network world.
"Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as
degrees, age, race or position."
An ethic that is perhaps one of the least threatening to other
computer enthusiasts. It is also one of the most respectable values,
considering what the true sense of hacking