Chapter 4 Discussion

Hackers – Dangerous Criminals or Misguided  Geeks

Everyday we read articles in the newspaper about electronic crime.  I can almost guarantee that  everyone knows somebody who had been a victim of identity theft, and if you use the internet or email at all you are going to eventually wind up downloading a computer virus.  So why does the movie industry still mis-represent hackers.  We have all seen the movie “Hackers” where A young Angelina Jolie and her group of cyberpunk hacker friends take the law into their own hands and save mankind from the bad guy corporate hackers.  Or how about the original hacker movie “Wargames” where Matthew Broderick starts world war III after hacking into the NORAD computer by mistake and tries to play a game of thermonuclearwarefare with it, of course he eventually saves the world and in the course shows NORAD the flaws in their system.  Then there are the multitude of movies and TV shows where the hackers have turned over a new leaf and is now helping the police, CIA, FBI, secret service, U.N.C.L.E., or whatever organization.  All of these are great entertainment but hardly conveys the fact that hackers are criminals.  What they are doing is a crime plain and simple.  Hacking into someone else’s computer, whether it be a personal computer, a school network, or a major corporation is the same as breaking into the building.  It is a crime and should be punished as a crime.

So what should that punishment be? Should there be a minimum sentence for computer crimes?  Should it be treated as a serious crime, or just a misdemeanor?  My thought is that just like any other crime the punishment needs to fit the severity of the crime.  For example if a student hacks into the school computer and changes his grade he should probably be expelled from school at a minimum and possible fined, but does this student deserve a criminal record that will affect him the rest of his life?  Did he do anything different than the student who bought his term paper to get a better grade?  I can assure you that this student wouldn’t serve jail time.  On the other had if a student hacks into the school computer to change his financial record has now committed a more serious crime.  But again a first offense burglary would probably not serve any jail time, receiving instead a fine, so why should it be any different because it was an electronic crime.    Then you have student three who hacks into the school computer to obtain information on other students so he use this information at a gain.  In one fail swoop he has committed what, 100, 200, 300, crimes, depends on how many records he gets and how he uses them.

The next situation is the malicious hacker.  He is not out for personal gain, but just wants to see if he can get away with something.  When I was younger I was arrested for vandalizing a construction site with a bunch of friends.  Don’t ask me why we did it, I don’t know, we were young and it sounded like fun at the time.  I am guessing that a lot of the people who upload a virus are the same type of people.  Not necessarily bad people, but they just want to see if they can get away with something.  The main difference is where my little prank destroyed about $1000 of construction materials, one of these viruses can cost billions of dollars.  So what do you do with someone like this?  You can’t just let them get away with it and at the same time locking them up will not benefit anyone.  My suggestion is that they have already shown they have a talent, put it to work.  Force public service on them as punishment.

In conclusion the point I am trying to make is that computer crimes have to be treated just like any other crime.  Each needs to be looked at on and individual basis the punishment must fit the crime and be lenient where leniency is warranted.   Zero tolerance is always a cop out.

Standard File-Naming Conventions

Why should you follow standard file-naming conventions when you create and save files?  First and foremost your file may not work if is not named correctly.  Unlike the old DOS days when we were only allowed eight characters and a three character extension, Windows allows 256 character’s including spaces.  Therefore you are not required to become as creative in naming your files, you can have file names such as “Essential Knowledge.txt” instead of “read.me”.  You still have to keep in mind that if you are going to use your files on other platforms you will have to comply with their naming conventions, and if you are going to use your files on the Web you will have to comply with those standard naming conventions.

The second reason is so other people will know what your file is.  Imagine if you will a world where everyone spoke a different language.  OK, bad example, imagine if everyone one you knew spoke a different language.  How would you communicate?  You would all have to agree to use one language and everyone learn that language to talk to each other.  The people that refused to learn that language would eventually be left in the cold.  The same applies to file naming.  If everyone decides on a certain naming convention, the person who refuses to comply is left in the cold.

CIT-212 Assignment 2

This assignment was pretty easy because I completed it a couple of weeks ago. I had decided that with both my wife and I in school at the same time that it was time for a second computer. I went to newegg.com and purchased all of the components to build a new computer and they are stacked up in my office waiting for me to find the time to assemble them. So this in not my dream computer but it is the actual components I purchased. Sure I would love to have a $10,000 super computer but in the real world I have to balance performance with dollars and get the most bang for my buck. First a word about purchasing, I have been building my own computers for about 8 years now and after shopping around the Internet for the best price and the best reviews I found that Newegg.com was always at the top of the list, finally I quit shopping around and just go to Newegg for my computer needs. I am sure there are other companies just as good but please do your research and stay away from fly by night computer part suppliers.

I am not a big gamer so my computer is built more for productivity and Internet use, but since I am doing quite a bit of programming lately I did want something with a bit of speed. So here is my system.

First the motherboard. For this project I chose an MSI K9N Platinum. I have used MSI boards since the first computer I ever built. I have never had a problem with them and and they are easy to set up. I selected this board because it had a lot of the features I wanted and price. This board has a AM2 socket for an dual core AMD processor and it is Vista certified. The board supports a 1000MHz Hyper Transport front side bus with a NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP chipset. Four memory slots support up to 8 gigabytes of DDR 800 ram. Expacnsion slots include two PCI Express x16 slots, two PCI Express x1 slots, and 3 PCI slots. Drive controllers include 6 onboard SATA 3.0 gb/s controllers PATA 1x ATA100, and RAID controllers for both SATA and PATA. Onboard audio is a six channel Realtek ALC883 audio. I know that purist will claim you can’t get good sound from on board, but personally I can’t hear it. Another nice feature is the on board Dual 10/100/1000Mbps lan port.

The next item is the processor. I like AMD processors. Of all the computers I have owed lots of computers and have only had two lemons and both had Intel processors. I know that Intel’s have better benchmarks but for my experience and the price I will stick to AMD’s. For this system I chose an AMD Atholon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0 GHz. This is a dual core processor. It has 2 x 1MB L2 cache. It includes a recommended fan and since I don’t plan to do any overclocking at this time I will probably stick with the stock cooler.

For my main memory I chose to install two sticks of G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2. This is probably not the best memory on the market but it got good reviews. Again when you are tyring to balance price with performace you have to compromise. I have this memory installed in my current machine and it seems to work well with the MSI boards so I chose to use it again.

I since my motherboard does not have on board video I added a EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX video board. This is a G-Force 7800 GT with 256 meg of video ram. As with all of the componets in this system I had to sacrifice some performace for price so I felt this was the best board for under $100.

For my main storage I chose a Samsung SpinPoint T Series HD 501 HD501LJ 500GB SATA drive. This is a 7200 RPM drive with 16MB Cache. I have usually stuck with either Maxtor or Seagate drives in the past but about a year ago I took a chance on a Samsung DVD burner and it worked so well I decided to give their hard drives a chance plus again the price was right and it had good reviews.

I also decided to update my DVD so I added a Samsung SH-S203B DVD burner. This is a SATA DVD burner with 20x write speed and 16x read speed. As I mentioned above I was really impressed with the last Samsung DVD writer I bought so I decided to try another one. I would have liked to add lightscripe to the drive but I couldn’t find one on Newegg so I guess I will have to use the other computer to make my lightscribe labels or add another drive later.

As I mentioned in a previous assignement I don’t go for flashy cases so this is your basic functional case. It is a Cooler master Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW ATX mid tower case. It has a 120 MM rear fan and a mesh front for cooling. With 5 5.25 inch drive bays and 5 3.5 inch bays I can add as many drives as I want. The 7 expansions slots should accomidate my new motherboard.

Finally I added a LOGISYS ATX12V 550Watts Power Supply. This supply should handle this system but I start adding a bunch of drives to it I may have to update it. One of the features that this supply had is that it supports SATA drives and since all of the drives in this computer are SATA. Again I had to balance performance with price and this was my choice.

So here is the bottom line for my new computer

MSI K9N SLI Platinum AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard – Retail $119.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADX6000CZBOX $169.99
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory $39.99 x 2
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 760 Video Card $90.95
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $109.99
SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B $34.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $49.99
LOGISYS Computer PS550ABK ATX12V 550Watts Power Supply $24.99
Shipping $36.13
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Total $717.86

As you can see I ended up with what I hope is a good system for well under the $1000 mark. Now all I have to do is get a break from doing homework to actually put it together and up and running.

Chapter 3 Lab

This was by far the easiest lab so far.  I already had a steel account for another class so it was just a matter of creating the file with the pico editor.  The only problem I had was that the editor saved the file outside of my WWW directory.  I used an FTP client to move it into the WWW directory and everything worked fine.

http://mypage.iu.edu/~lkprathe/chapter3.txt

Chapter 3 Discussion

Microsoft dominates the operating system market for microcomputers with its Windows operating system. Discuss the pros and cons this creates for computer users. Does the dominance of Windows make it easier or harder for you to use computers?

Regardless of how you feel about  Bill Gates and Microsoft you will have to admit that they have set the standards for computer software and set  it high enough that most other manufactures cannot reach it.  Yes there are alternatives to Microsoft’s empire but they also have their disadvantages.  So what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of this dominance?  It is pretty much a double edges sword, for every positive aspect there seems to be a negative aspect.  For example, having one major operating system insures that software will be compatible, but on the other hand Microsoft can keep an stronghold on the software development.  Since Windows is a proprietary source code software developers are forced to use Microsoft’s developmental package for writing software.  Another problem is that since Windows is the dominant operating system, there may be, and in fact are better operating systems available, but they may not ever be used by the masses because of this dominance.   It is the VHS-Beta scenario, even though Beta was a much better video format, it was one feature that made VHS the standard and put Beta off of the market.  With Windows being the main operating system and is loaded on every PC based system sold in the United States I really don’t see how another operating system can get a foothold.

Do you think software licenses are fair? If you developed an application that proved popular with your friends, how would you distribute it to others?

This depends quite a bit on the software.   Software licensing varies by manufactures.  I do feel that you shouldn’t be required to purchase a separate license for each computer you use the software on.  I feel that you should be able to try out the software before purchasing it, I know that I have been burnt more than once on a crap software that didn’t perform as I had hoped it would, or was not compatible with my computer for some reason and the manufacture would not take it back.

If i was to develop a software package I would more than likely make it open source.   I personally use quite a bit of open source software and yes I do donate to the development of it.

What are your thoughts on software piracy? What is the impact short-term and long? What is your solution to the problem? How do you feel about these different circumstances of piracy: a student copying a friend’s game, a company in a poor country pirating word-processing software, a business woman using copies of her office software on her home computer.

Back when we had stereo records, you could buy and album by your favorite group, bring it home and record a tape of it, give it to your friends, and even though this was essentially illegal, no one really cared.  Mainly because it was a lot of work and the word of mouth advertising outweighed number of copy’s that you gave away.  Today with digital data you can copy a something with a keystroke and then give it to the entire world.  So who is it hurting, some big company, yes but it also hurts the consumer.  Lose in revenue causes higher prices, this is eventually passed on to the consumer.  On the other hand how much revenue is really lost.  If a office worker brings home a copy of Microsoft Office and installs it on their home computer, there was a very slim chance that they were ever going to buy that software to begin with.  If Bobby buys the new hot game and makes a copy for Jake, then Jake takes the money he was going to spend on that game and buys a different game was any revenue lost?   The two boys only had so much to spend on software regardless of how it was spent.  Now when someone or a company makes copies of software to sell for a profit, this is wrong and there is no justifying it.

As far a solution to this problem, I don’t think there is one.  Over the years software manufactures have tried many different techniques to stop illegal copying of programs.   While they may stop the honest person from making a copy, in most cases they make their product harder to use, and the hackers still break the code.  The only real solution is to make people aware that it is wrong, and if you use a program that you should be morally obligated to pay for it.

Chapter 2 Lab

Computer Modding – A fresh look for an old tin can. I guess that modding is the latest big thing for young hip computer nerd. It involves adding lights, colors, and sculptures to your computer or game system. Here is a good example of what can be done with lights. I located this photo at Tom’s Hardware. Fans are another component that is subject to modding as shown in this image from Byte Sized Reviews Input devices such as mice and keyboards can also be subject to modding as depicted below. The mouse was found at http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/cryo/index_eng while the keyboard was found at http://www.xoxide.com/computer-keyboards.html

The next part of this lab was to tell about my ultimate modded computer. This is rather difficult because I could never see myself spending time or money on lights, whistles, and bells that don’t really have a purpose. My computer is almost always in some state of disrepair. It seems that I am always upgrading something or another so it hardly ever has the complete case assembled anyway. It is under my desk where I never see it and I really don’t care if it glows in the dark. I would rather use the money wasted on modding a computer to purchase more RAM or upgrade my processor.

Therefore my ultimate computer looks like this.

So what do I feel is the future of computer hardware?  Processors will continue to get faster and more powerful.  We are now seeing quad core processors entering the market.  I see solid state memory replacing hard disks and CD Roms as primary storage devices.  I see more and more external USB peripheral devices be used.  I see better audio, faster networking and better graphics and all of this will be offered at a lower price.

Chapter 2 Discussion

In the article “Redefining the Architecture of Memory” printed in the New York Times Technology section on September 11, 2007, suggests that we are on the verge of a new era for data storage. Stuart S. P. Parkin, a physicist for IBM has developed a new method of storing data. Parkin’s new technology is called “Racetrack Memory” and if successful could not only replace current hard disk technology, but also solid state memory such as DRAM and Flash memory.

Mr. Parkin’s is no stranger to breakthroughs in data storage. In the early 1990’s Parkin’s “was able to manipulate the alignment of electronics to alter the magnetic state of tiny areas of a magnetic data storage disc, making it possible to store and retrieve information in a smaller amount of space. The huge increases in digital storage made possible by giant magnetoresistance, or GMR, made consumer audio and video iPods, as well as Google-style data centers, a reality.”

In the short time I have been fooling around with computers memory giant leaps. My first real real computer was an IBM 8086 with 640 K of RAM and a 20 meg hard drive. When I bought it I couldn’t imagine filling that hard drive with software, and it did take a long time, of course back then most programs would fit on a 360 k floppy disk. When I purchased my next computer, a 486DX, I bought the largest IDE drive availble at the time, 120 meg, with the same thought, “I will never fill this up”. I just ordered the parts for my new computer. The addition of this machine, which has a 500 gig SATA drive brings the storage of my home network to well over a TetraByte.

I have seen the solid state memory device develop in leaps and bounds over the past few years. Larger capacity for less money and even though this new technology is still in the developmental stages and it has yet to be proven that it can be marketed at a competitive price, I suspect that it won’t be to long before I’ll be replacing all my hard drives and thinking to myself, “I’ll never use all of this storage space.”

Source
Redefining the Architecture of Memory, New York Times Technology section, September 11, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/technology/11storage.html?em&ex=1189656000&en=b645d89ec5cae691&ei=5087%0A

Chapter 7 Discussion

On-Line Shopping

I have used the web for online shopping for more than 10 years now and have had very few problems.  In the early days I limited my purchases to small expensive items but since then I have purchased many items over the internet including computer equipment, cameras and electronics.  Some of my favorite shopping sites are NewEgg.com for computer parts, Amazon.com for books, music and electronics, DeepDiscount.com for DVD’s, CD’s and Books, and Ebay to buy other peoples crap.  I do take precautions when shopping on sites that I am not familiar with or first time purchases.  I normally use a one-time credit card number or PayPal.  I am also careful to not use a debit card since it does not carry the insurance that a credit card does.

There have been instances where I have been contacted by a web site or my credit cared company that my information has been compromised,  but this has happened on non web based purchases also.  In these cases my credit card company issued me a new card.  The only real unpleasent experiences I have had is dealing with some photography stores.  These sites will list a camera for sale but then you are required to call to confirm the purchase.  You are then told that the camera does not include all the options that you would expect and they try to sell you and upgrade.

Steps to take for online purchases. 

• Make sure you are on a secure site.
• Use a temporary credit card number or secondary service like PayPal if you do not know the service.
• Do not use a debit card
• Research both the product and vendor before you buy.
• Don’t believe the user ratings on buyers guides.  Research the vendor.
• Use a trusted vendor when ever possible.

Business Email Practices:

There is a lot of discussion on just how much privacy should we have in the workplace.  While in the workplace you are there to support your employer and he should have some say in what you do but should your employer be able to search through your personal items?  I feel that while you are at work you should be working, not sending emails to your friends are exchanging photos with your co-workers.  Employers should have access to your email to assure that there are no illegal activities are being performed.  I don’t think that an employer should necessarily read every email an employee sends but use this athority to if there is a complaint or a suspicion that the employee is breaking a rule or engaging in inappropriate behavior.

Employees have a responsibility to use the resources supplied to them for the best the the employer and to not waste these resources.  Employers on the other hand have a responsibility to trust their employees and respect their privacym unless the trust is in some way compromised.