Participating in a discussion is a great way to learn and contribute to ideas for superstructing. When you post a comment, try to provide information that others may not know, and avoid getting into arguments. Winning discussions are all about working together to get smarter.

Please login or register to post


    OutlawPlanet: Social or Technical Fix?

    Does mass griefing have a social fix?

    Started by: phil jones Raves:6

    Subscribe » RSS

    When I look around at the solutions posted by my fellow Hopefuls I notice that it seems easier to suggest social solutions to the problems of ravenous or ReDS. At least, people seem to realize that it's naive just to call for a new variety of wheat or think we can simply invest in a program to "find the cure" for ReDS. But Outlaw Planet looks different. How are we going to deal with all the griefers and crackers (call me old fashioned but I will NOT call them "hackers") without a *technical* fix? Is the solution better cryptography? Is it a new internet protocol which can't be spoofed? Is it coherent-crystal holograms? Or the speculative "entangled-electron signets"? Or are these as naive as claims of a super-medicine or alt.energy source that can be served up on a whim? Can someone come up with a way of influencing our culture and behaviour which can attenuate the desire to grief? (Or, more ambitiously, the desire to be a terrorist or criminal or mercenary!) What are the social fixes to Outlaw Planet?

    I believe that we must attack the problem at its roots, that is, the mentality that drives one to become a so-called \\\"hacker\\\". While better cryptography, etc. may delay or retard the onslaught of recent attacks, ultimately it will be breached, and we will be back to where we started. It is merely a temporary fix; not without merit, but not the solution. We must, somehow, ascertain the motives behind these characters. Are they simply after money? Or do they just enjoy wreaking havoc? Though both difficult, the former would probably be easier to resolve. We must also find out about these hackers\\\' backgrounds, as much information as possible, in order to find the best way to fight. Perhaps we will need to fight fire with fire, or hacking with hacking.

    To say that we should find the motives behind such characters is to suggest that the human mind is rational and predictable, which is not the case. There are those who would simply destroy just because something exists. I am not quite certain where we may find a resolution to this but I feel that we should consider transparency to the public. By being transparent with even our most classified documents we can trust the \\\"whole\\\" of society to make the right choice. However, I could be terribly wrong.

    As a grey hat hacker myself, I find myself being called upon by several occasions to fight hacker threats or, as my colleague points out, fire with fire. But this situation cannot continue like this. While some might throw up their hands and surrender, many of the black hat hackers (or crackers, if you will) will simply redouble their efforts to succeed. Their motivations seem to point to terrorism, but a good number of these griefers suffer from severe superiority complexes. They feel the desire to show the world that they are better at computers, that they are above the law, that they have no regard for the feelings of others. There is no easy way to deal with such people. Nevertheless, a way must be found before it is too late.

    I fear that full transparency would lead to security threats on our uppermost officials. These rogues may be after classified information purely for the sport, showing their superior skill, but if the classified information they steal next is a presidential motercade route, or a prime minister\\\'s emergency evacuation plan, the outcome could be very deadly. Some things simply must be secret. As long as we have necessary secrecy, we\\\'ll also have spies in whatever form necessary to gain the knowledge.

    And here we have our biggest problem. People arbitrarily divide into grey hats and black hats depending on how they view each other: nobody thinks they\\\'re a black hat! So let\\\'s get everyone under one tent, let\\\'s have a conversation, and everybody who wants to save the world gets to stay. Surely the only way to stop people griefing is to ask them why they\\\'re griefing, and then to ask ourselves whether they\\\'re demands are so obscene that they\\\'re worse than the extinction of humanity. Read An open letter to the Griefer community

    Let us keep in mind the kind of threats we\\\'re concerned with. Large-scale hacks and griefings that can threaten the infrastructure, well-being, and possibly lives of thousands of people. I think those who say that jerks will always be with us are correct - nothing can be done about them. But the amount of harm that adolescent asshattery can commit is somewhat limited. IT security in the first few years of the internet was like this - people cracking system becuase they could, as a test of their skills or show off in their social circles. The occassional out-of-control worm notwithstanding, those kinds of hacks don\\\'t threaten the world. We need to move our thinking on to seeing hacking/griefing as a means to an end. Groups with criminal, commercial, or social agendas are most likely to break technology to get what they want, or deprive others of what they don\\\'t. We can attempt to generically build network systems to prevent the spread of inadvertent worms. But for determined griefers, I question whether or not its best to attack them at the root of the issue, their agendas.

    Implementing social fixes to these problems of hacking, griefing et al will require communicating across cultural boundaries. Each group must be looked at relatively, not with a \\\"modern\\\" or Western approach. When we isolate the groups causing the attacks, we will have the way to start this process.

    I hope this doesn\\\'t sound naive, but I think that while we wait for technical fixes (which seem absolutely necessary in the long-term) there is a social fix -- give the griefers something productive to do that harnesses their strengths for good. Okay, yes, that sound naive, no doubt about it. But I guess what I\\\'m wondering is there something \\\"destructive\\\" for griefers to do that isn\\\'t actually bad in the big picture? What is it helpful to destroy and damage? I\\\'m no hunter, but I think a parallel would be hunting to control populations in the wild... I would love to see a superstructure brainstorm griefing for good. It sounds ridiculous on the face of it, but that\\\'s the kind of problem I like to chew on...

    There is, nor will there ever be, a technical "magic bullet" for griefers, hackers, crackers, etc. There is no technical solution that cannot be unthought or reverse-engineered by another technical mind. Often, we black hats are called upon by govts. and corporations in times of extreme duress to improve security systems. Fighting fire with fire as someone said. Yet we are the same people compromising these systems in the first place. It's a vicious cycle. At the root, this is a social and psychological issue. Yet still, it may remain unfixable. There are those who will destroy because in destruction they find joy. Others seek to crack systems just for the fun of solving a complex puzzle. Then there are those who do it for money, fame, or vengeance. The list goes on indefinitely. There may be no true social magic bullet either, but it is a verifiable fact that any movement of change will have to begin within the community. It cannot be a force imposed, or an idea suggested, from the outside.

    Also, keep in mind that many 'hackers' see their actions as a social fix for other things, such as drones recording secret meetings of power companies and making them public. Tech fixes have to continue either way...the cycle of 'break it, improve it, break the new version, improve again' will always be there. The best bet in my opinion is to get them working together for a common goal that is in the worlds best interests. I will look for a superstruct for this and create one if one does not already exist.

    One common thread among vandals of any type seems to be proper expression in improper channels. One way to alleviate mass-griefing would be to simply provide a socially acceptable venue for it. My first Chief had a very elegant solution to a graffito-tagging wave on our campus- we put up two blank, white walls and gave them to the taggers.




    Nominate For A Badge

    Badge:
    More detail on badges



    NOMINATE CANCEL