Stockholm, Sweden, Pionen high-security computer storage facility, where WikiLeaks is hosted. As hackers target the servers, the Swedish government plans to retaliate (via AFP & Jonathan Nackstrand)
The term hacker, to most people, congers the thought of a person commanding esoteric computer nonsense running down the screen matrix-style. To those in the tech savvy world, the term stands for a type of master, who through cunning and precise code, can impose their will on all tech, even against otherwise impenetrable authorities. Authorities quiver in fear when you mention hackers, as they have proven to wreck havoc on servers, websites and infiltrate databases to spread hidden truths that those who dominate would rather keep under wraps while proving they are not so dominant. To me hackers play the role of a modern age digital Robin Hoods. As you know, Robin Hood was seen by many as a hero and painted as a criminal by those atop hierarchies.
The Swedish government saw firsthand what hackers are capable of as they clogged the servers of a government website and infiltrated another, soon after this government raided the Stockholm-based webhosting company, PeRiQuito (PRQ), that still houses WikiLeaks servers. PRQ also hosts websites like the Pirate Bay that dedicates itself to person-to-person file sharing free from the monetary shackles that enslave most of the physical world. These cyber attacks were conducted, at least in part, by the group Anonymous, and police say they may also be a retaliation to the charges of sexual assault against the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.
In their own attempts to retaliate, the Swedish government is increasing the severity “for large-scale data theft and other types of attacks against computer systems," said the Swedish ministry of justice. These penalties have not been changed since they were implemented 30 years ago. The new legislature will be written after a committee reports its findings on June 3rd 2013. These hacker's days are numbered.
Hacker Pinky Pie hard at work (via Google)
On the other hand, tech giant Google is embracing an “If you can’t beat them, join them” approach when it comes to hackers (perhaps Google shares the ‘masters’ point of view instead of the ‘criminal’). Google awarded the teenage hacker Pinkie Pie with $60,000 for finding a security hole in the Google Chrome Web Browser during the Hack in the Box conference in Malaysia. Pinkie Pie won the same sum of money in March for exploiting six Chrome vulnerabilities during the “Pwnium Competition”.
The company will not release specifics to these vulnerabilities until they are sure most users have updated their browsers with patches to fix them. Still, Google is setting aside $2 million to give away in such rewards. $60,000 will go to those who find “full Chrome exploits”, $50,000 to partial Chrome exploits and even $40,000 to non-Chrome flaws in Flash, Windows etc.,as Google says the want the entire web to be safe.
Google calls to hackers to make the web safer while the Swedish government looks to punish them more severely. This hacker dichotomy is a perfect example of the nonexistent good and bad polarization that is used so widely by the media, governments, banks, corporations etc. to simply express their private interests. Whichever side these hackers are on, depends on who you ask.
Cabe
