Hackers Called Truthseekers, Problem-Solvers

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103595,00.asp

Sam Costello, IDG News Service
Monday, August 05, 2002

LAS VEGAS -- Hacking is not about creating viruses, breaking into 
computer systems, or even rainbow-dyed hair, but is instead about the 
search for truth, critical thinking, and the pursuit of knowledge, 
according to Richard Thieme, an author, consultant and former 
Episcopal priest, who addressed attendees here at DefCon Saturday.

Thieme discussed hacking in its original meaning--the discovery of and 
mucking about with the basic components of any system--rather than the 
more popularized definition that connotes malicious computer use.

"My belief is that hacking, above all ... is about the passion and 
obsession for knowledge and truth," Thieme said. Hacking is also about 
freedom and the attempts to maximize it, he said.

Changing Times

Such values are more important than ever, in the post-September 11 
world, he said. After September 11, "the stakes are different, the 
game has changed. And therefore, you have to be more careful," he 
said.

Hackers need to be more aware of what their actions mean, but they 
must also agitate for freedom and truthfulness, he said. With the rise 
in government surveillance, the possibility of propaganda campaigns, 
and disinformation and other responses to terrorism, hackers can help 
guard American freedoms, he said.

"The danger is that through the fighting ... we will come to look just 
like the enemy ... because we will use the same techniques and 
tactics," he said.

Thieme said it was troubling that those who seek to maximize personal 
freedom after September 11 also feel the need to simultaneously 
declare their patriotism in order to stave off criticism.

Telling the Truth

"This community is the only antidote to the distortion of the truth in 
the public space" because it is obsessed with knowledge, passionate 
about understanding things, and committed to discovering the truth, he 
said.

Hacking is "the antidote to the all-too-human tendency to not caring 
or not finding the truth," he added.

Truth must be searched for in daily interactions, not just online, he 
said.

Thieme told the convention attendees from government and law 
enforcement agencies not to assume that hackers were automatically the 
enemy. By the same token, he cautioned hackers not to see everyone is 
government as out to get them.

"You don't know who the enemy is until you test their heart and soul," 
he said.

Inside Their Minds

Though it may not have tested their hearts and souls, a pair of 
Canadian researchers have been spending the past three years studying 
the minds of hackers.

In a study consisting of a questionnaire and longer-form answer 
section started at the hacker convention H2K and Def Con 8 in 2000, 
Bernadette Schell, dean of Business Information Technology, University 
of Ontario Institute of Technology and John Dodge, professor at the 
School of Commerce of Commerce and the Department of Math and Computer 
Science at Laurentian University, profiled 216 hackers and their 
styles of thinking, coping with life, and problem-solving.

The researchers found that the respondents, whose median age was 25, 
have "extremely low" tendencies towards terrorist and obsessive traits 
and possess "relatively balanced temperaments," according to Schell.

Respondents also tested as particularly creative, she said, noting 
that the top score for creativity was 20 and that 62 percent of those 
polled scored 15 or higher on the test.

The combination of creativity and problem-solving styles revealed a 
commonality between hackers and a group that might not expect they 
have much in common with hackers: corporate presidents and chief 
executive officers. The combination of analytical and directive 
problem solving styles is shared by both hackers and corporate 
executives, Dodge said.



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