Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontierDreyfus, Suelette
Science
Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier
Dreyfus, Suelette
Computer crimes -- Australia; Computer hackers -- Australia -- Biography; Computer security -- Australia
As an institution, the AFP has recently gone through a major
reorganisation, designed to make it less of a command-and-control
military structure and more of an innovative, service oriented
organisation.
Some of these changes are cosmetic. AFP officers are now no longer
called `constable' or `detective sergeant'--they are all just `federal
agents'. The AFP now has a `vision' which is `to fight crime and
win'.3 Its organisational chart had been transformed from a
traditional, hierarchical pyramid of square boxes into a collection of
little circles linked to bigger circles--all in a circle shape. No
phallo-centric structures here. You can tell the politically correct
management consultants have been visiting the AFP.
The AFP has, however, also changed in more substantive ways. There are
now `teams' with different expertise, and AFP investigators can draw
on them on an as-needed basis. In terms of increased efficiency, this
fluidity is probably a good thing.
There are about five permanent officers in the Melbourne computer
crimes area. Although the AFP doesn't release detailed budget
breakdowns, my back-of-the-envelope analysis suggested that the AFP
spends less than $1 million per year on the Melbourne computer crimes
area in total. Sydney also has a Computer Crimes Unit.
Catching hackers and phreakers is only one part of the unit's job.
Another important task is to provide technical computer expertise for
other investigations.
Day still runs the show in Melbourne. He doesn't think or act like a
street cop. He is a psychological player, and therefore well suited to
his opponents. According to a reliable source outside the underground,
he is also a clean cop, a competent officer, and `a nice guy'.
However, being the head of the Computer Crimes Unit for so many years
makes Day an easy target in the underground. In particular, hackers
often make fun of how seriously he seems to take both himself and his
job. When Day appeared on the former ABC show `Attitude', sternly
warning the audience off hacking, he told the viewers, `It's not a
game. It's a criminal act'.
To hackers watching the show, this was a matter of opinion. Not long
after the episode went to air, a few members of Neuro-cactus, an
Australian group of hackers and phreakers which had its roots in
Western Australia, decided to take the mickey out of Day. Two members,
Pick and Minnow, clipped Day's now famous soundbite. Before long, Day
appeared to be saying, `It's not a criminal act. It's a game'--to the
musical theme of `The Bill'. The Neuro-cactus crowd quickly spread
their lampoon across the underground via an illicit VMB connected to
its own toll-free 008 number.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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