Even From Its Humble Beginnings, The Internet Has Always Been A Battle

Even from it's humble beginnings, the Internet has always been a battlefield between phreaks and administrators Thesis: Even from it's humble beginnings, the Internet has always been a battlefield between phreaks and administrators. I. Introduction II. Background of the Internet A. Origins B. Growth 1. Colleges 2. Private Institutions C. Early Users D. Recent Changes 1. Easy Accessibility a. Online Services b. Public Dial-Ups 2. Resource Explosion III. Design A. No Central Hub B. Easy Additions 1. Little Discipline 2. Hard to Remove IV. Breaking In A. How to Do it B. Examples 1. Voice Mail Box 2. Kevin Lee Poulsen 3. Tonya Harding 4. Mark Abene V. Prevention A. CERT B. Newer Security Systems 1. Not Effective 2. Part of the Game VI. Conclusion The Internet is a wondrous place. Practically anything you could ever want is available on the Net. It's like a big city, it has the highly prestigious areas, and the sex-ridden slums. It has the upstanding citizens, and it has the criminals. On the Net, crime is more abundant than in a large city, though, mainly because of the difficulties in tracking and prosecuting offenders. Even from its beginnings, the Internet has always been a battlefield between phreaks and administrators. The Internet hasn't always been a public forum. In fact, the Internet has been around for years. The Internet is just a new fad ("The More I Learn" A1). The Internet originally began as DARPANET, a government-created network, which was designed for defense communications. The Net structure is such that it could survive a nuclear war ("Internet History"). The creation of the Net can not be blamed for the existence of hackers though, hackers are older than the Net itself, but the Net is the largest 'hacker haven' today (Spencer, "Hacking McDonalds" 6). The growth of the Net since its creation has been nothing less than astounding. In the 25-plus years since its creation, the Net now has over thirty million users using four million sites worldwide. Estimates rate the growth of the Net anywhere from ten to fifteen percent per month (Spencer, "Hacking McDonalds" 6). The Internet was first released to major universities in the United States of America. Since then, the universities have offered connections to small business, service providers, and even to the individual user. Sometimes these connections cost a fortune, and sometimes they can be obtained for free ("Internet History"). Although some of the original universities have dropped off the Net for various reasons, every major university in the United States, and now, most others in the world, have a connection to the Internet (Quittner 61). Although it isn't easy for an individual to get a direct connection to the Net, many private institutions are getting connections. This is mainly due to the fact that in order to support the very high speed of the Net, a fast computer is needed and a fast connection. A fast computer can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, at least, and a fast connection can cost twenty thousand dollars or more, followed by a few thousand dollars a year. Individuals can still get on the Net through these private institutions. The private institution spoon-feeds the Net to the slower computers over their slower connection lines (Spencer, "Stranglehold" 8). The Internet began very high-class, due to the fact that only superintelligent college students and professors could access it. The discussions tended to stay intellectual, with very little, if any, disturbance ("Internet History"). However, relatively recent changes in the availability of the Net have changed that atmosphere. Now, almost anyone can access the Internet. Internet access is offered by every major online service (Himowitz A1). The fact that the major online services charge for their use keeps many people away from them. Those people simply turn to public dial-ups, which are free connections offered by universities that are available to the general public (Spencer, "Know Your Territory" 27). Because accessing the Net is easier, and a lot more people are doing it, naturally the amount of information on the Net is increasing at the same rate, if not faster. In what is often referred to by Net users as the Resource Explosion, the amount of information circulating the Internet has increased more than proportionately with the number of users (Spencer, "Hacking McDonalds" 6). Of all the other factors contributing to the large percent of online crimes, perhaps the most influential is the design structure of the Internet. Experts agree that the underlying structure with no central hub, where each computer is equally powerful, gives unchecked power to the undeserving (Spencer, "Stranglehold" 8). The design also makes controlling the frequency of break-ins almost impossible as well. Both politicians and so-called 'experts' believe the Internet as a whole will be regulated