Friday, March 25, 2005
Ask ASCII: Is
By Logan Stack
staff writer
Dear ASCII
You talked about War Driving last week,
and said that it could he illegal. What exact
ly does the law say?
- Nervous
Dear Nervous
Last week I wrote about War Driving.
This, for those of you who foolishly neglect
ed to read my column last week, is motoring
around looking for wireless networks.
Those are networks of computers that can be
connected to without wires, you know, like
connecting to the Internet at Starbucks while
drinking that $3.75 latte. This week I want
to talk about a new Pennsylvania law which
may criminalize certain types of War
Driving. As I said last week, if you don't
actually connect to the network, you've done
nothing wrong. However, depending on
how the law in interpreted, "borrowing"
someone's Internet connection may be ille
gal.
The law is Pennsylvania's Act 226 of
2002. It hasn't really been tested in courts,
so no one knows how it will he interpreted
once it gets before a judge.
In the meantime, hear with me as I try to
make its legal language understandable.
Section 7611 says, "A person commits the
offense of unlawful use of a computer if he:
intentionally and without authorization
accesses or exceeds authorization to access
... any computer, computer system, comput
er network ..."
That means if you're sitting at Starbucks
and accidentally connect to the network
belonging to the geek next door, you're fine.
But if you go around the city with a laptop,
intentionally trying to find and connect to
networks that you know you're not author
ized to use, that's probably a crime.
However, the law also says. "it is a
College graduates delay entrance to the Real World
By Aline Mendelsohn
The Orlando Sentinel
(KRT)
Most of Kate Alexander's friends arc stressing
outi!Eibout getting idtei I'AV LiloN. Or landing a job.
But Alexander, ?l. has no tntention of plunging
into the real world right away.
After she graduates from Rollins College in
Winter Park, Ha., in May, Alexander and fellow
English major Christine Bradford will house-sit in
Santa Fe, N.M., while working temp jobs and sav
ing money for a jaunt to London on a six-month
work visa.
What will they be doing there'' They're not sure.
But one thing they do know: They aren't ready to
resign themselves to a 9-to-5 office job and two
weeks of annual vacation.
Like Alexander and Bradford, an increasing
number of twenty-somethings are detouring around
the corporate world. University officials don't have
exact figures, but they report that more and more
graduates are taking time off to travel, volunteer,
work abroad or pursue their passions.
Colleen Kinder calls it the "anti-cubicle revolu-
Kinder, the author of "Delaying the Real World:
A Twenty-something's Guide to Seeking
Adventure," spent a year working at nursing homes
in Cuba and urges graduates to explore their
options
"There is no rush to be boring," Kinder says
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'War Driving' actually
defense to an action fifl the actor: reason
ably believed that he had the authorization
or permission of the owner." (section 7605)
This could cover war driving, as the
courts may decide that you can "reasonably
believe that you had authorization" when
you notice a network set up to allow anyone
to connect to it. That, of course, will depend
on how the courts choose to interpret the
language.
This law is sweeping. It covers everything
from defacing IBM's web site to writing a
virus. It is written in very broad terms and
says that a computer is a "high speed data
processing device or system which performs
logic, arithmetic, or memory functions."
Under that definition, if your boss's secre
tary can file documents quickly, the secre
tary might qualify as a computer. Of course,
the original definition of a computer was
"one who computes," (Webster's 1913
Dictionary) so it seems rather fitting that the
secretary counts as one under this new law.
In addition, the law's definition of a
"computer virus" could land a programmer
in jail if he "knowingly sells, gives or other
wise distributes... computer software or a
computer program that is designed or has
the capability to: ... degrade, disable, dam
age, or destroy the performance of a com
puter" (section 7616). Some geeks would
say Microsoft Windows should be prosecut
ed under that definition for its propensity to
use up all of a computer's memory until the
user is forced to reboot because operations
go too slowly.
Also deemed illegal is sending joke e
mails. The law says you can't send mail
"with the intent to falsify or forge electronic
mail transmission information" (section
7661). That could include sending mail
from an e-mail address which you don't
own, like all the old pranks where you send
an e-mail to your friend from
billy_g@microsoft.com or dubya@white-
house.gov could be illegal. The upshot of
Time off can strengthen young people's inde
pendence and critical-thinking skills and broaden
their perspective on the world, says Nadene
Francis, assistant director for public relations in the
Career Resource Center at the University of
Florida.
"It can be an exciting time, something that
recharges them and gives them goals," Francis
twenty-somethings have more options than ever,
says Jeffrey Arnett, a professor of psychology at
the University of Maryland.
Because more are waiting to marry and start
families, they are creating a period when they're
not strongly committed to adult roles.
"A lot are very reluctant to get on that (corporate)
track," says Arnett, author of "Emerging
Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens
Through the Twenties."
"Once you're on it, it's hard to get off. Once you
do get married and have children and have a long
term career path, you're going to be on that road for
the rest of your adult life until you retire."
Of course, some graduates have no choice but to
start chipping away at their student loans.
The price of a college education continues to
rise, and with it, student debt. The average college
graduate leaves school owing $17,000 to $20,000
in college loans, according to the Princeton
Review, which publishes annual academic guide
books.
Those who financed their educations through
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that is that any spammer who sends you
mail from your address or the address of
your friend probably has committed a crime
too.
Unfortunately, your spammer won't be
forced to wear stripes for it because under
the law this is a misdemeanor, with a maxi
mum fine of $2,500 and no jail time. Before
you start imagining the spammer paying
$2,500 for each the tens of thousands of
people he mails, you have to keep in mind
that part of this falsification is almost
always to conceal the original sender, mak
ing it nearly impossible to track down who
ever could to be paying millions of dollars
in fines.
So what happens if you're spammed by
someone in Florida or someone in
Pennsylvania defaces a web site in Utah? A
translation of the legalese in section 7602
says "an offense was committed either
where they did it or where the victimized
computer was." The person from Florida
can be extradited to a Pennsylvania court,
and Pennsylvania will indite a local criminal
for defacing the web site in Utah.
The law isn't that obtuse or long. You can
read it online at http://www.legis.state.pa.-
us/WUOI/LUB UB T/2001/0/S B 1402P2429.
HTM. However, as the law itself points out,
it's certainly not the only regulation on the
subject; there are additional federal and state
laws addressing computer issues.
investing in lifetimes Three Sessions/ HE 300 classes
Make the Most
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Ilegal?
Pennsylvania Act
226 of' 2002 states
that it is illegal to
intentionally access
another person's
wireless network.
parent contributions, work-study, scholarships or
financial aid can afford to be more flexible. And
society has become more accepting of alternative
plans after college, Arnett says.
Yet it's still not the norm in this country.
In the United Kingdom, taking time off is a tra
dition known as a "gap year." In Australia, an
extended period of travel is seen as a rite of pas
sage.
But in the United States, it's work, work, work
"There's a real sense that you need to immediate
ly engage yourself in the career world," says Rolf
Potts, author of Vagabonding, a guide to long-term
global travel. "The Puritan work ethic has been
such a huge part of the culture."
Too strong a work ethic early in life can lead to
regret later in life, another author says.
Matt MacKelcan has never been one to follow
the herds.
When he was a communications major at
Appalachian State University in North Carolina,
MacKelcan took a year off and worked at a golf
course in Hilton Head, S.C.
The time off helped him realize what he really
wanted to do: pursue music professionally.
MacKelcan returned to school and earned a
degree in vocal music from Rollins College. Since
graduating in 2003, he has been chasing his musi
cal dreams full time.
The Matt MacKelcan Band has played through
out the country, from Austin, Texas, to
Philadelphia, and MacKelcan hopes to launch a
• Undergraduate - education, business, science, computers, history, math, English.
• Gradixttet: tion, special education, library science, MBA
• Classes that Act 48 requirements
• Gasses WO* on-line
Murders and wages
draw group to Mexico
THECITIESOF.COM
This year, eight University of Kansas students travelled to Ciudad
Jarez, Mexico, pictured above, to participate in community service.
Rachel Mehl's done the community-service thing for spring break
three times: senior year in high school and freshman and sophomoie
years at the University of Kansas.
She's taking eight other KU students to Ciudad Juarez, a poor,
sprawling Mexican border town just across from El Paso, Texas.
There they hope to learn about the economic, gender, and political
issues surrounding the murders of hundreds of girls and young women
and the problems with the investigations.
Sound dry and intellectual for the week when college students are
supposed to get a break from bookwork?
Not to Mehl, a 22-year-old from Lawrence, Kan.
The idea of going to Ciudad Juarez emerged from her work on an
honor's thesis about women's lives as manifestations of border issues
such as human-rights abuses, labor exploitation and gender inequali
ty. More than 300 girls and young women have been found murdered,
many of them disfigured, raped, and bearing evidence of torture in the
Ciudad Juarez area in the past decade. Most of the murders have gone
unsolved.
The group left recently for the 900-mile drive to El Paso, where
they will stay all week. The students are paying for the trip them
selves, Mehl said. It costs about $250 per person for food, lodging and
transportation
"I think a lot of people. including myself, start with community
service. That's an easy way to start giving back to your community.
Everybody can sec that's a good thing," Mehl said
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A Sufninalwo - July 11 - August 11
By Lynn Franey
Knight Ridder Newspapers
71 lot are very reluctant to get on that
(corporate) track."
college tour later this year
In general. though, the work is unsteady.
Sometimes MacKelcan will play nine shows in two
weeks. Other times he'll perform much less fre
quently and supplement his income with his job at
a restaurant in Winter Park.
MacKelcan constantly worries about money.
But when he's onstage, all of those worries dis
appear and he thinks, There's nothing else I'd rather
be doing.
Alexander knows the feeling.
During her junior year, she spent a semester in
London and fell in love with the city. Bradford,
who lived in London the following semester, had a
similar experience.
"Everyone comes back from London saying
they'll go back," Alexander says.
She and Bradford decided to actually do it.
Bradford says her mother was at first dismayed
with her plans. For a while, the two didn't speak.
Christine Bradford can't wait to graduate and
embark on her adventure.
"It's the first time where I don't know what the
next step will be," she says.
at Clarion University - Clarion Campus,
Pittsburgh site & Venango Campus, Oil City
Evening & weekend classes available.
jCLARION
A MEMBER OF THE STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION
The Behrend Beacon I
(KRT)
- Jeffery Arnett
UNIVERSITY
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author