Keep Out Some Ones, Not Everyone

As a teenager, I never locked anyone out of my room with skull and cross bones. I did, however, guard my privacy zealously; my space was a haven that would not be polluted. Though I never intended to isolate myself, my attitude did more than isolate my space: I kept everyone out. Hackers prompt an attitude like mine: keep everyone out. In The Cuckoo’s Egg, Cliff Stoll speaks of computer networks and the hackers who pollute them: “[Networks are] a fragile community of people, bonded together by trust and cooperation. If that trust is broken, the community will vanish forever.” Hackers break trust and prevent valuable social interactions.

Stoll personally watched trust leave a community as a hacker infiltrated his system, a system miniscule when compared to our world of connectivity. Stoll’s idea of computer networks as communities of people applies more to our world than his. The internet is a platform for spreading ideas and interacting as never before. The internet is also a platform for destroying trust and invading privacy. Predators and hackers seek to take advantage of the world’s vast connections. Their threat is serious. We cannot parade our private information around in perfect trust. However, we cannot allow the possibility of intruders keep us from participating.