• How can we condone learning by experimentation and exploration, commonly known as Hacking, while encouraging computer enthusiasts to follow the community standards represented by the 10 Commandments of Computing and the ACM Code of Professional Conduct? Do the The Hacker's Code of Ethics contradict other "professional" codes of conduct?

• Read the articles entitled "Reformed Crackers Reveal Their Secrets To Paying Audiences of Former Victims", New Dimensions International, 1997 and NOW HIRING: HACKERS (TATTOOS WELCOME), Special to the Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1998. Then answer the following questions:
  1. What is the difference between a hacker and a cracker?
  2. What is a sniffer?
  3. Can a consultant who has not been a "true hacker" actually provide any advice to potential targets for hackers?
  4. Is there a difference between benign and malicious hackers?
  5. In Virginia Law, is there a difference between benign and malicious hackers?
  6. Is it appropriate for "criminals" to benefit from their previous misdeeds?
  7. Is hacking becoming an industry?
  8. Should hacking tools, such as password crackers, be controlled by the government? If not, why not?
  9. Should a university computer science such as ours have a course on hacking?
  10. Is it not better to have enough knowledge about hacking to protect your company against it? How much knowledge is sufficient?
  Print your answers on a single sheet of paper with your name on top, and be ready with your answers for a class discussion.

Scenarios for Debate:

• Hacking into a Computer to get Publicly Available Documentation
• Should colleges teach Computer Science students courses on HACKING?
• COMPUTER HACKER ("BREAKER"): ACCESSING COMMERCIAL COMPUTER SERVICES
• Just a friendly little virus ... - Is there such a thing?
• Hacking across national boundaries. Is this legal? Or is it just a case of attempted hacking not truly being an offense?