Terry Lambert <tlambert2mindspring.com> types:
> Peter Leftwich wrote:
> > > A hacker looks, but does not touch; hacking is a result of a curious nature.
> > Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. The nature of the act of observation
> > alters what it is you are observing, thus curiosity can crash a system
> > and/or land your butt in jail near Big Joe's...
>
> Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle doesn't apply to macro
> events, only to quantum events. Specifically, it states
> that you can not simultaneously know the momentum of an
> electron, and it's position within h-bar/2.

While Heisenberg's uncertainty doesn't apply as described to macro
events, the concept certainly works. If you instrument a kernel to
find performance problems, you've just slowed the kernel down, and
changed what routines get used when. And I'm sure we've all had the
experience of adding a print to try and catch a bug, and the bug
vanishes.

Anyone who breaks into a computer system they aren't legally allowed
to use is a cracker. The mere act of logging in takes cycles, which
effects other processes on the system, especially if they are
participating in a distributed computing project.

Given that computers are so blasted cheap these days, and the
availability of open source software, there's a lot of learning that
can be done without stealing cycles from someone else.

> Unless you have a Schroedinger's Cat device hooked up to
> your computer, observations are not going to collapse any
> probability wwaves to a certainty, thus effecting the
> outcome of later observations.

No, they'll just slow them donw, possibly screw up the accounting, and
similar things that can make peoples lifes miserably. Read the book by
the guy at LBL who helped track down a couple of crackers, even though
they mostly used a "look but don't touch" methodology on his
computers. His web site seems to be gone, or I'd send over there to
order a Kleine bottle from him as well.

        <mike

--
Mike Meyer <mwmmired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.
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