Earl Krueger on thu 21 aug 03
Vince Pitelka wrote:
> What kind of demented SOB creates these viruses? How can anyone
> derive pleasure or satisfaction from such an act? I am baffled.
Definition:
HACKER (originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe n. 1. A
person who enjoys learning the details of programming systems and how
to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users who prefer to
learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically,
or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about
programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value (q.v.). 4.
A person who is good at programming quickly. Not everything a hacker
produces is a hack. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who
frequently does work using it or on it . . . . 6. A malicious or
inquisitive meddler who tries to discover information be poking around.
Source: http://www.unusualresearch.com/hacker/cud112.htm
An history:
My first encounter with malicious computer hacking was in the early
'70s. Many times while trying to complete a physics lab using an IBM
360 mainframe with APL hardcopy terminals I would hear other students
say such things as "OK, this time I got it. If we run this program it
will crash the whole machine."
Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. IBM loved them because they
were finding all the holes in their operating system.
Jump to the early '80s; before PC's; before Internet. Then we had 1200
bits per second dial up modems (compare with today's 56,000 bps).
Almost all computers still lived in climate controlled rooms but a few
hackers were building their own microcomputers. A favorite pastime for
some was to program their computer to sequentially dial every phone
number in an area, looking for ones which had modems that would answer.
Then they would try to to defeat whatever security systems were in
place and take control of the remote computer at that number in order
to discover what other computers it was able to communicate with.
(Anyone remember the old movie "War Games.") The advent of the
affordable Apple II and IBM PC (and clones) in conjunction with
lowering long distance phone rates made it possible for many more
people to enter the malicious hacking world, attacking more computers.
Jump again to the '90's and the coming of age of the Internet.
Initially most all machines connected to, or part of, the Internet used
the Unix operating system or some variant thereof. This software,
like that of IBM's in the '70s, was full of bugs and loopholes and
serious malicious hacking of the Internet began. Stories abound of
virus's which would intentionally destroy every file on all of the hard
drives on a system. Over time these flaws in the various Unix OS's
were fixed and more robust software was developed so that today a
properly administered Unix system has very little risk of being
compromised.
Why most virus's today attack Microsoft Windows systems:
First, by far Microsoft Windows systems are the most common computer
operating system in the world. They have become commodities produced
by the millions and are cheap enough that any wannabe hacker can
acquire one.
Second, Microsoft Windows evolved from the rudimentary MS-DOS OS.
MS-DOS never considered the possibility of multiple users and therefore
no consideration was given to security; the concept just didn't exist
at Microsoft ! Since security in the past has generally not been
considered a feature by most users but more a hinderance, Microsoft
has been reluctant and late coming to the table.
So how can a virus be an art form?
By definitions 1, 2, 3 and 5, above, I am a hacker. I don't qualify
under definition 4 as I am too slow and I don't write malicious code
which excludes me from definition 6. The reason I am a slow programmer
is that I am not only interested in the code working correctly but also
it must be aesthetically pleasing to me. When I first began
programming my mentor and I would spend hours discussing the aesthetics
of good programming and I have spent the major part of a lifetime
studying that topic.
To many people mathematics is addition, subtraction, multiplication,
etc. Others, who have studied it , can see a beauty that we who work
in clay or paint or textiles can only aspire to. Computer programming,
for those who look, can have a beauty much like mathematics. I can
hold up a beautiful pot for my mother to see and she can see the
beauty. If I hold up a listing of a beautifully written computer
program all she sees is jibberish. (This is probably one of the
reasons I have started working in clay in that as a programmer very
few people could ever see my art.)
There are " common" virus's and "good" virus's, just as there are
common pots and good pots. Common virus's which use methods like Word
macros or email you a program to run (like SOBIG), are pretty trivial
to create and are pretty lame in that you, the user, must take an
active part in it's replication. A good virus will use unconventional
methods to exploit "features" of an operating system in order to
propagate itself. Some of these methods can, indeed, be beautiful.
Some people view graffiti as an art form and others as malicious
vandalism. The same is true of computer virus's.
Earl...
BTW: I don't do Windows !
BTWW: The patch to protect against the latest virus's has been at
Microsoft's update site for some time now. Keep your system's current.
BTWWW: No matter how tempting don't ever double click an attachment
unless you know for sure what it is. The only way to protect against
virus's propagated this way is you.
Louis Katz on fri 22 aug 03
Art Schmart,
I think the nose of the pedestal on the word 'art' is a set a bit high.
root of art: ars, meaning to put things together.
This could be images, busts of Aristotle, or teapots. It could be
ideas, computer programs or Hondas.
For me definition 1 of art is: Any artifact of intelligence.
The garbage man comes by your house (have I put this on clayart
before?). He had a bad night. He picks up your new, shining galvanized
can (alright I am a traditionalist, its not plastic) turns it upside
down into the truck, nothing comes out. Did I mention that your
watching through the window and concerned about your new trash
receptacle? You despise the garbage men because they destroy your cans.
The garbageman (could be garbagewoman) had a bad night the night
before, broke up with their partner, slams you brand new gleaming can
on the side of the truck. Wham, Wham, Wham! they takes their
frustration out on your can. Finally the recalcitrant garbage slides
from the can. What you have witnessed? Is it expressive movement? Is
that not dance. And this artifact, your tortured can, is it not a
recording of human emotion, an art-ifact?
Of course software is art. The real key is how many people can see the
art in it. How many can interpret it. Same thing is true with the
garbage can. It is hard to read.
Some people argue intent is necessary for art. That the artist must
intend to be expressive. The garbage person intended to vent on your
can, he had intent to express. Of course when the artifact is 15,000
years old intent isn't known and its not an issue in these peoples mind.
I have a very good friend, an actor. He says art has to be
transcendent. Otherwise its not art. He chooses to define art that way.
He calls mediocre art by a name other than art, crap. Its fine by me
that he has his definition and I have mine. I recognize that mine
minces the common use of the word and spreads the meaning out to where
the word can hardly be used. A sort of verbal entropy. But maybe my
definition is like the common little thing about manure, when you
spread it out it helps things grow, all piled up it stinks? I don't
know, but the capital A art world in NYC is a pretty big pile.
For me the transcendence comes from the viewer, the reader. Gleaning
meaning from art (my definition) is often quite hard, harder than
making it and more significant. I continue to marvel at the beauty of a
helical geared oil pump that I saw at the Museum of Science and
Industry in Chicago about 20 years ago. It speaks often to me about the
nature of beauty, the relationships of form and function, and the
relationship of man to his environment; the aesthetics of man in his
environment. I compare in my mind the quality of the beauty in those
gears, and the beauty of natural objects. In the same museum there are
on display, or at least were, some vertical slices of the human body.
They are at simultaneously beautiful, fascinating, and disgusting.
Computer viruses strike me similarly.
Louis
On Friday, August 22, 2003, at 01:46 AM, Earl Krueger wrote:
> Vince Pitelka wrote:
>
>> What kind of demented SOB creates these viruses? How can anyone
>> derive pleasure or satisfaction from such an act? I am baffled.
>
> Definition:
> HACKER (originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe n. 1. A
> person who enjoys learning the details of programming systems and how
> to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users who prefer to
> learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically,
> or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about
> programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value (q.v.). 4.
> A person who is good at programming quickly. Not everything a hacker
> produces is a hack. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who
> frequently does work using it or on it . . . . 6. A malicious or
> inquisitive meddler who tries to discover information be poking around.
> Source: http://www.unusualresearch.com/hacker/cud112.htm
>
>
> An history:
> My first encounter with malicious computer hacking was in the early
> '70s. Many times while trying to complete a physics lab using an IBM
> 360 mainframe with APL hardcopy terminals I would hear other students
> say such things as "OK, this time I got it. If we run this program it
> will crash the whole machine."
> Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. IBM loved them because they
> were finding all the holes in their operating system.
>
> Jump to the early '80s; before PC's; before Internet. Then we had 1200
> bits per second dial up modems (compare with today's 56,000 bps).
> Almost all computers still lived in climate controlled rooms but a few
> hackers were building their own microcomputers. A favorite pastime for
> some was to program their computer to sequentially dial every phone
> number in an area, looking for ones which had modems that would answer.
> Then they would try to to defeat whatever security systems were in
> place and take control of the remote computer at that number in order
> to discover what other computers it was able to communicate with.
> (Anyone remember the old movie "War Games.") The advent of the
> affordable Apple II and IBM PC (and clones) in conjunction with
> lowering long distance phone rates made it possible for many more
> people to enter the malicious hacking world, attacking more computers.
>
> Jump again to the '90's and the coming of age of the Internet.
> Initially most all machines connected to, or part of, the Internet used
> the Unix operating system or some variant thereof. This software,
> like that of IBM's in the '70s, was full of bugs and loopholes and
> serious malicious hacking of the Internet began. Stories abound of
> virus's which would intentionally destroy every file on all of the hard
> drives on a system. Over time these flaws in the various Unix OS's
> were fixed and more robust software was developed so that today a
> properly administered Unix system has very little risk of being
> compromised.
>
> Why most virus's today attack Microsoft Windows systems:
> First, by far Microsoft Windows systems are the most common computer
> operating system in the world. They have become commodities produced
> by the millions and are cheap enough that any wannabe hacker can
> acquire one.
>
> Second, Microsoft Windows evolved from the rudimentary MS-DOS OS.
> MS-DOS never considered the possibility of multiple users and therefore
> no consideration was given to security; the concept just didn't exist
> at Microsoft ! Since security in the past has generally not been
> considered a feature by most users but more a hinderance, Microsoft
> has been reluctant and late coming to the table.
>
> So how can a virus be an art form?
> By definitions 1, 2, 3 and 5, above, I am a hacker. I don't qualify
> under definition 4 as I am too slow and I don't write malicious code
> which excludes me from definition 6. The reason I am a slow programmer
> is that I am not only interested in the code working correctly but also
> it must be aesthetically pleasing to me. When I first began
> programming my mentor and I would spend hours discussing the aesthetics
> of good programming and I have spent the major part of a lifetime
> studying that topic.
>
> To many people mathematics is addition, subtraction, multiplication,
> etc. Others, who have studied it , can see a beauty that we who work
> in clay or paint or textiles can only aspire to. Computer programming,
> for those who look, can have a beauty much like mathematics. I can
> hold up a beautiful pot for my mother to see and she can see the
> beauty. If I hold up a listing of a beautifully written computer
> program all she sees is jibberish. (This is probably one of the
> reasons I have started working in clay in that as a programmer very
> few people could ever see my art.)
>
> There are " common" virus's and "good" virus's, just as there are
> common pots and good pots. Common virus's which use methods like Word
> macros or email you a program to run (like SOBIG), are pretty trivial
> to create and are pretty lame in that you, the user, must take an
> active part in it's replication. A good virus will use unconventional
> methods to exploit "features" of an operating system in order to
> propagate itself. Some of these methods can, indeed, be beautiful.
>
> Some people view graffiti as an art form and others as malicious
> vandalism. The same is true of computer virus's.
>
> Earl...
>
> BTW: I don't do Windows !
> BTWW: The patch to protect against the latest virus's has been at
> Microsoft's update site for some time now. Keep your system's current.
> BTWWW: No matter how tempting don't ever double click an attachment
> unless you know for sure what it is. The only way to protect against
> virus's propagated this way is you.
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
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>
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>
Edouard Bastarache on fri 22 aug 03
Hello Earl,
In my days, APL was the only language
for time-sharing.
Probably the ancestor of the Net.
Later,
"Ils sont fous ces Quebecois"
Edouard Bastarache
Irreductible Quebecois
Indomitable Quebeker
Sorel-Tracy
Quebec
edouardb@sorel-tracy.qc.ca
http://sorel-tracy.qc.ca/~edouardb/
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/smart2000/index.htm
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