Computer security -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Privacy, Right of -- Fiction; Records -- Access control -- Fiction
"It is the most responsible thing we can do," retorted Che2. "It
is our moral duty, our responsibility to the world to protect our
privacy, our rights, before they are stripped away as they have
been since the Republicans bounced in, but not out, over a decade
ago." He turned in his chair and glared at Scott. Maybe thirty
years old, Che2 was mostly bald with great bushes of curly dark
brown hair encircling his head. The lack of hair emphasized his
large forehead which stood over his deeply inset eyes. Che2
called the Boston area his home but his cosmopolitan accent
belied his background.
The proper British man known as Doctor Doctor, DRDR on the BBS's,
was over six foot five with an unruly frock of thick white hair
which framed his ruddy pale face. "I do beg your pardon, but
this so violates the tenets of civilized behavior. What this
gentleman proposes is the philosophical antithesis of common
sense and rationality. I suggest we consider the position that
each of us in actual fact is working for the establishment, if I
may use such a politically pass
descriptor." DRDR's comment
hushed the table. He continued. "Is it not true that security
is being installed as a result of many of our activities?"
Several nods of agreement preceded a small voice coming from the
far end of the table. "If you want to call it security." A
small pre-adolescent spoke in a high pitched whine.
"What do you mean . . .I'm sorry, I don't know what to call you,"
asked Scott.
"GWhiz. The security is a toy."
GWhiz spoke unpretentiously about how incredibly simple it is to
crack any security system. He maintained that there are theoret-
ical methods to crack into any, and he emphasized any, computer.
"It's impossible to protect a computer 100%. Can't be done. So
that means that every computer is crackable." He offered to
explain the math to Scott who politely feigned ignorance of
decimal points. "In short, I, or anyone, can get into any
computer they want. There is always a way."
"Isn't that a scary thought?" Scott asked to no one in particu-
lar.
Scott learned from the others that GWhiz was a 16 year old high
school junior from Phoenix, Arizona. He measured on the high-end
of the genius scale, joined Mensa at 4 and already had in hand
scholarships from Westinghouse, Mellon, CalTech, MIT, Stanford
to name a few. At the tender age of 7 he started programming and
was now fluent in eleven computer languages. GWhiz was regarded
with an intellectual awe from hackers for his theoretical analy-
ses that he had turned into hacking tools. He was a walking
encyclopedia of methods and techniques to both protect and attack
computers. To GWhiz, straddling the political fence by arming
both sides with the same weapons was a logical choice. Scott
viewed it as a high tech MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction, com-
puter wise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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