TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu> (06/17/90)
About a month ago, I posed some survey questions for you. As some
readers pointed out, the results were flawed because of the
methodology, so we started all over again in V 10 #424, June 9.
Now I have the results a second time, and hopefully these will be more
meaningingful. The questions had to do with cracking and phreaking:
1) Have you made one or more phraud phone calls in the past six
months?
2) Have you broken into a computer or gained unlawful access to a
computer in the past six months?
You were asked to flip a coin: One way, answer the above questions
honestly; the other way, toss the coin a second and third time to
detirmine your answers.
If a second a third flip were required, then the questions were given
yes or no answers, depending on the coin toss.
We received about the same number of replies this time as last. 570
this time versus 636 earlier. The responses were different this time,
as to be expected, but the majority were still no-no! Here is the
breakdown, NOT adjusted for the coin toss -- just the raw data. Apply
your own formulas in interpreting it:
84 (14.7 %) answered YES to both questions. Have cracked, have
phreaked in the past six months, at least one time.
72 (12.6 %) answered YES they had phreaked, but NO they had not
cracked in the past six months.
78 (13.7 %) answered NO they had not phreaked, but YES, they had
cracked in the past six months.
336 (58.9 %) answered NO to both questions. Have not cracked or
phreaked in the past six months.
So, about 59 % of you don't do these things, and about 41 % of you
indulge occasionally, or more often in one or both activities.
One person wrote me to argue about definitions, such as what did I
mean by 'unlawful access' or 'breaking into a computer'. I put him
down for yes-yes.
All individual responses have been erased from my disks. I no longer
have any record of the individual responses. Thanks to everyone who
participated.
Patrick Townson