CyberPsychology 101: Inside the Mind of Flooders and Hackers

Let’s take a look on how the mind of flooders and hackers work.

According to Suller, in his article, Techno-Crimes (Hacking): Managing deviant online behavior, all deliberate flooders are driven by a need to feel powerful. Having to disrupt other people's ability to communicate probably reflects their own inabilities and insecurities about relating to others.
On the other hand, Suller said that hackers are motivated by the challenge and excitement of venturing into forbidden territories. They derive a sense of accomplishment, mastery, and power from doing what others can't. Hackers have a constant need for affirmation of their ego. Impressing other users, especially one's fellow hackers, is a source of self-esteem. Some are motivated by a rebellious nature. Cracking the system of the "institution" reflects a defiant attitude towards authority figures. In extreme cases, a hacker - and especially hacker wannabes - feel pressured to demonstrate that they are better and smarter than anyone. The cat-and-mouse drama of beating the system becomes a tireless, relentless quest to prove oneself.

Understanding how the flooders and hackers think may allow people to think of interventions as how to effectively protect the system and dissuade these flooders and hackers from doing further damage.

Reference:
http://www.enotalone.com/article/3237.html



List of Previous Entries:
1. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/06/online-catharsis.html

2. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710072057

3. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/within-everyones-reach.html

4. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/long-distance-relationships-now-and.html

5. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/killing-time.html

6. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/peek-in-philippine-piracy.html

7. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/all-answers-in-world.html

8. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/051010.html

9. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/suddenly-jejemon.html

10. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/living-in-rurals.html

11. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/e-burol-experience.html

12. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/words-of-wisdom.html

13. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/10/cyberpsychology-101-cyberchondria.html

14. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/10/cyberpsychology-101-online.html

15. http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/10/cyberpsychology-101-online_02.html

Link of my posts (17 articles posted in total)

Dear sirs:

As advised, since I used my other classmates' accounts in posting six (6) of my entries, I will post here the links of all of the articles I have written for the blog for easier counting plus my last entry for the blog as well totaling 18 posts written for the semester.

Posted using my account:

1 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/facebook-can-make-you-lose-your-job.html

2 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/good-thing-i-dont-use-twitter-because.html

3 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/tracing.html

4 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/art-scams.html

5 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-do-i-love-deviantart-i-love.html

6 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/hp-sues-its-former-ceo-to-protect-trade.html

7 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/09/funeral-parade_12.html

8 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/deviously-yours.html

9 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/mac-urban-decay-and-ebay-scams.html

10 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-to-do-if-youre-victim-of-phishing.html

11 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/p-p-poke-her-face-and-youll-land-in.html

Posted using my classmate's accounts:

12 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/06/dont-let-them-steal-your-photos.html

13 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/06/online-transaction-security.html

14 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/poupee.html

15 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/ito-ba.html

16 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/process-serving-ict-style.html

17 - http://lawandict.blogspot.com/2010/07/dropboxit.html

18 - Plus last article : Online Privacy Infringement and Suicide

Deleted last article as I just realized it's our final exam question

CyberPsychology 101: The Online Disinhibition Effect (Part 2)

I’ve summarized some of the factors responsible for the increased online disinhibition of people. The following factors are taken from the book, CyberPsychology and Behavior (2004) by John Suler.


You Don't Know Me (dissociative anonymity)
People can keep their identity hidden in the Internet – they can have no name or at least they can opt not to give their real name. When people have the opportunity to separate their actions from their real world and identity, they feel less vulnerable about opening up. Whatever they say or do can't be directly linked to the rest of their lives.


You Can't See Me (invisibility)
In many online environments, people cannot see each other. Invisibility gives people the courage to go places and do things that they otherwise wouldn't as they won’t have to worry about how they look or sound to others and vice-versa.


See You Later (asynchronicity)
In e-mail and message boards, communication is asynchronous. People don't interact with each other in real time. Others may take minutes, hours, days, or even months to reply to something you say. Not having to deal with someone's immediate reaction can be disinhibiting. In real life, it would be like saying something to someone, magically suspending time before that person can reply, and then returning to the conversation when you're willing and able to hear the response.


It's All in My Head (solipsistic introjection)
Reading another person's message might be experienced as a voice within one's head, as if that person magically has been inserted or "introjected" into one's psyche. In their imagination, where it's safe, people feel free to say and do all sorts of things that they wouldn't in reality. At that moment, reality IS one's imagination.


It's Just a Game (dissociative imagination)
People may feel that the imaginary characters they "created" exist in a different space, that one's online persona along with the online others live in an make-believe dimension, a dream world, separate and apart from the demands and responsibilities of the real world. They split or "dissociate" online fiction from offline fact. Under the influence of anonymity, the person may try to be invisible, to become a non-person, resulting in a reducing or simplifying of identity. During dissociative imagination, the self that is expressed, but split-off, tends to be more elaborate.


We're Equals (minimizing authority)
If people can't see you or your surroundings, they don't know if you are the president of a major corporation sitting in your expensive office, or some "ordinary" person lounging around at home in front of the computer. Everyone - regardless of status, wealth, race, gender, etc. - starts off on a level playing field.


Reference:
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html

Alive

Since watching the movie "Alive" on HBO a couple of months back, I have become quite obsessed with the movie and the novels on which it was based upon. The movie "Alive" is based on the acclaimed book "Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors" written by Piers Paul Read in 1974. The novel tells the story of a Uruguayan Rugby Team, the Old Christians Club, who chartered the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, for an upcoming match in Chile. On the way, the plane experienced engine troubles while flying over the Andes Mountains and crashed, killing a few but leaving most behind. The struggle to survive then becomes apparent as the survivors are faced with the difficulties of living in extreme weather conditions, lack of food and worsening medical conditions while waiting for their rescuers. As days passed and they realized they needed food in order to survive, they make one of the most difficult decisions which was deciding on whether they can eat their dead friends' bodies or not. As depression sets in, they also realize that they cannot lounge in the mountains forever and wait for their rescuers, but they needed to undertake the steps themselves to get rescued. I won't spill any more of the movie's ending as I'm sure some of you would be curious by now and would want to see the movie or read the book.

Their stories made me wonder a lot of times on whether I would have survived the same situation if I was part of that group. The answer always leads me to No, maybe not. I'm a weakling. I easily panic, lose hope and easily give up on tough situations.

But then again, I tend to forget that hey, I survived three years in law school, didn't I? Doesn't that prove otherwise? Maybe it does. I remember my first year in law school when I would cry every night because of stress, fatigue and the thought of quitting this things which I really hated. Then, I changed my perspective and took it one semester at a time. And look at me now. Just waiting for the rescue that I know would inevitably come.

Malcolm Hall, you are my personal Andes Mountains.

The Internet is a Drug Dealer

The internet makes it so easy for people to find anything and everything, which makes it so much easier for people to get addicted to whatever they're looking for. Take me, for instance. When I saw my favorite Spanish singer, Alejandro Sanz, in his Grammy performance with Destiny's Child, I started getting interested in him and I just went ahead and google-ed his name. My search came up with links for his songs, videos, pictures, biography, you name it! As i read more about him, listened to his music and watched his videos, I got to love him more and more. Truly, like a druggie on a binge. And who was my drug dealer? The trusty internet.

*photo not mine, obviously. credits go to owner.

If it's on the Internet...

I was watching Cougar Town and in one of the episodes, Christa Miller's character came across this article on the internet which says that drinking alcohol keeps women skinny. Courtney Cox-Arquette's character then goes ahead and announces the news to all their friends because according to her, "If it's on the internet, it must be true!"

Of course, we all know that isn't true, what with the internet being so accessible to everyone. It has become so open to anyone who can just create a fake site with fake information a la The Yes Men. At this point, we're not even sure which sites are reliable, and which information is true . While allowing so many people to contribute to the internet has enriched it, such that we can find something about anything and anyone under the sun, there is also a risk that not all that is contributed is necessarily legitimate.

On The Shark & Minnow Of "Wall Street: The Money Never Sleeps"

Shrewd and cunning Bretton James, hearing of Winnie Gekko’s modest success in whetting attention and shaping opinion via her nondescript news blog company, instinctively proposed a substantial capital infusion for the latter’s affair. A keen and headstrong player in a securities and money market that drastically moves on the impulse of but a speculation, James was quick to foresee the benefit in acquiring an ostensibly reliable information channel through which he can float rumors and insider tips to suit his interests’ dictates.

But, Gekko politely retorted that it was precisely by reason of her business’ non-profit platform that breathed credibility into its reportage and drew the trust and confidence of its subscribers and patrons. Truly, positioning herself against profit insulated her from the necessary compromises, meanderings and considerations inescapably entwined with a corporatist profit-driven policy. After all, the truth as found in news used to be a public good.

On Gekko’s philosophy can be drawn the unpretentious power of small and simple in delivering the purest of services. Although the obvious inclination is to assume the reliability and credibility of the big media players’ reportage, since profits presumably obtain only so far as institutional reputation is impeccable, it is equally valid to advance that purveying news as accurate and bold as William Tell gets fudged the moment it is touched by the force and allure of profits. Then, free and straight reportage turns circumspect and if needs be, censored; and created and piecemeal facts pass as news on the whole. News is then delivered in shrouded angles and commentaries instead of unobstructed lines and narratives.

In these times, public and individual opinion alike hinge, no longer on one big reputed supplier of news, but on various small sources, informal or otherwise, blogs included. Now, the truth drawn from news depends not on what is heard from the big players, it’s what’s gathered from and compared among the small, scattered players.

Raul S. Grapilon

Entry No. 16