Just because you can doesn't mean you should. We've all heard this phrase before. It rings true in every situation. The 1983 film WarGames embodies this principle. An intelligent slacker teenager figures out how to break into a military computer system using his telephone and dial-up modem. Why does he do this? Not because he doesn't like the military. Not because of some moral (or immoral) obligation. It's just because he can. And he gets in a load of trouble. While the unsecured computer networks of yesteryear have disappeared, the opportunities for fledgling young hackers are far from gone. As with most things digital, doing illegal things with a computer is much easier and far more removed than doing illegal things in person. Who's going to teach tech savvy youth not to do these things? While this question calls for a more general approach to morals, parents, teachers and church leaders would do well to instruct kids about ethics and how it relates to what they do on their computer.
It raises the question of what is wrong? Is breaking into a system, causing no damage, informing the sysadmin of their vulnerability and never returning, wrong? It's a tough call.
ReplyDeleteI just watched this movie 2 days ago! It is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that hacking isn't as simple as it was back then, but then again it is simpler. Technology is more available, but there is more encryption and protection. It would be interesting to see how many hacking problems there were then and now.
Heh, I'm reminded of the Megaman Battle Network games where everything, including appliances, are connected to the internet in some way, and there are real net-personas with AI and everything surfing the web and battling hackers using their net-personas to cause real damage to a given system. Now I have context for those games! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun game! I would play that game for hours on Virtual Boy Advance.
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