Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 07:19:07 -0600 From: TruthMonger <tm@dev.null>
[someone wrote]
Can anybody teach me the abc's on Hacking, Cracking, Phranking, Cryptomography, I know that to be a good hacker you have to know all, but speciallize on one. Or do any of you are in the LA area that willing to teach me face to face.
I usually ignore people whose clue meter reads in the negative, (hint: cypherpunks want people to have *better* security, not less), but there's a long standing tradition on cpunks of being creative with other people's typos. Lets see: "Phranking" This seems to draw from the word 'franking' which is related to snail mail cancellation, and 'phreaking' which is a contraction of 'phone freaking', refering to stealing phone service. Therefore, 'phranking' must mean the art of faking stamps and postal cancellations in an effort to steal postal service. I don't think anyone on this list can help you. Ask again after the PO introduces it's 2D barcoded stamps, when the privacy implications may spark some interest (btw, I spotted something very much like this on a UPS package last night). 'Cryptomography' seems to draw from 'crypto', meaning 'secret' and 'tomography' the art of making crossectional images (tomography is the T in CAT scan). Therefore, 'cryptomography' is the art of making secret crossectional images. I think the query should have been directed to the people who make airport luggage scanners, or some very weird subset of voyeurs, not us. Peter Trei trei@process.com aka 'Etymologymonger' Peter Trei Senior Software Engineer Purveyor Development Team Process Software Corporation http://www.process.com trei@process.com