Chapter 6: Where the Hackers Are

OVERVIEW

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows.

--DAVID T. WOLF

PERHAPS THE MOST UNUSUAL SOURCE OF ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION COMES FROM COMPUTER HACKERS THEMSELVES. Although the term hacker often conveys an air of mystery and intrigue, hackers are simply people who are very skilled at using technology. To differentiate between "good" and "bad" hackers, the media has created a variety of terms such as white hat hackers (the "good" ones) and black hat hackers (the "bad" ones). Other terms for a "bad" hacker include malicious hacker and cracker.

Whatever you call them, the fact is that hackers are people, and, like any group of people (Americans, police officers, teachers, accountants, Christians), some will be good and some will be bad. But unlike most other groups, hackers rely exclusively on computers and the Internet to communicate with each other.

Finding a hacker on the Internet is fairly easy if you know where to look. Just as you can quickly find a drug dealer or policeman if you know where to look in a city, you can also find good and bad hackers if you know where to look on the Internet.

Warning 

Hacker sites tend to appear and disappear with disturbing regularity. When a hacker site disappears, a pornographic site inevitably takes over the domain name. If any of the websites listed in this chapter suddenly disappear, you may find an X-rated site appearing when you type in the domain address, instead of the expected