The Conscience of a Hacker

[Jinsei]

==Phrack Inc.==

Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The following was written shortly after my arrest...

\/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/

by

+++The Mentor+++

Written on January 8, 1986
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
Damn kids. They're all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a hacker, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."
Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is
cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...
Or feels threatened by me...
Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

+++The Mentor+++

[Talon Sky]

*claps*

We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forget. We do not forgive. EXPECT US.

A simple sentence that means a lot to those who know it, and nothing to those who don't. ^_-

[Icarus]

Well, maybe I'm the only one that sees it this way, but everyone has/had issues. Everyone was bored. Everyone was ignored, or talked down to, or mistreated in some way. That doesn't mean we all become criminals-of any kind.

It sounds like the author of this piece is very angry and vengeful. And that is nothing to applaud. Sure, the author has his reasons, and they are valid ones, but geez... Everyone has a valid reason. Maybe the only reason this person became a "hacker" is because they couldn't or wouldn't do anything else.


Tell me, what does a hacker do?

Do they just look at stuff, or do they screw with other peoples' lives and information? If it's only curiosity, then there isn't a problem... But... if they are screwing around with other people and their personal information, then there is a problem because that is not their right to do so. Period. I don't care if they hack the ex-quarterback-that-picked-on-me-in-high-school's bank account and steal every bit of money they have-It's WRONG!


I know and have known hackers in the past. One was a genius who was bored and ignored, but absolutely brilliant. He had nothing better to do than mess around on a computer. Then one day, he got a life, realized the past is the past and let some stuff go... then he got a girlfriend! woo hoo!

I know people have issues. I do. I have LOTS of issues. But, that doesn't give me the right to become a hacker or any other sort of criminal. It's just another excuse.

[Adona Mara]

Have to second Icarus' comments. Finally finding a world where you're not the only one with a brain is amazing -- wish I'd had it when I as in high school. I had to make do with books "beyond my reading level."

True hackers aren't just the curious -- they're the curious that can hurt people, and do so, frequently. Because, in the Hacker's mind, those people are just as "anonymous" as the hackers themselves -- they're not "people" to be cared for and assisted.

To me, the "bored kids" who would hack into someone's bank account and mess with their balance, or who would develop a worm or virus that could destroy someone's computer, are no better than the punks who stand on bridges over a highway and drop rocks onto car windshields. They can, and have, caused serious injury and death -- destroyed people's lives. But they giggle and run away, "getting away with it" because they're "anonymous," and growing more callous because they've never had to look into the face of the person who's life is destroyed and explain to them they were just "bored."

[Talon Sky]

As a proud hacker myself, I really have to bring something up here:

There is a difference between a hacker and a cyber criminal. And no, I'm not trying to be condescending, because on a whole society does not know the difference.

But if you call a hacker, someone who works and reworks into a system for non-illegal reasons a criminal, it's offensive to them. But cyber criminals hide behind the term 'hacker', and in turn it brings a bad name to all hackers.

A 'true' hacker doesn't work for any monetary benefit (unless it's his employment....the US government has hired hackers in the past to track illegal operations online), or to prove to anyone that 'they can', or to damage a website (Anonymous learned their lesson a while ago). You're right, it's out of curiosity for what's out there, and the right to knowledge.

[Icarus]

Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I think that people who "hack" for legitimate reasons are very valuable. It's the "cyber criminal," as you call it, that I think is just as bad as any other thief or assailant.

And yeah, many "cyber criminals" are hired by the government because they are just that good-after they get caught, you know.

But, this article is just an excuse maker and a whine.

[Jinsei]

"Hackers" aren't criminals. They do tear apart stuff, find errors or flaws, and improve it. You see a lot of people who tear apart something like a radio, modify it, and put it back together where it suddenly picks up an extra hundred miles of stuff. They take old computers, rip the guts out, and put ten of them together as a computer housed in a case made of Legos that rivals most of the computers that the government can think of buying... Google had to do this just to have a computer that could keep up with all of the searches. Very few hackers are interested in anything criminal, even though they may technically be violating copyright, trademark, etc. in the process of making something better, generally for themselves and bragging rights to other hackers. They're talented at writing their own computer programs to make things do what they want... unless they're a novice and ask friends for help that are able to write the code.

"Crackers" are the punks who download, buy or steal programs, tools, etc. that allow them to crack passwords, penetrate computer systems, and whatnot. These are the people you generally hear refered to as a "hacker" that broke into a computer, stole information, then planted a virus to cover their tracks... and they're usually using an outdated virus which leads to them getting caught. They can't write their own programs, because they generally don't know crap about code.

"Phreakers" specialize in telephones. Most of the originals now work for either the government or AT&T. They build electronic boxes, which are given the names Blue Box, Red Box, etc. the colors don't have anything to do with what the boxes do, but they're usually the available case that the creator of the first one had to use. The boxes do different things, like allow free long-distance calls, allow you to use an unused phone number, etc. Sure, it's technically breaking the law by using a box, but it essentially doesn't hurt anyone, so a lot of people built them. The guy that built the first Apple computer is a famous phreaker.

[Adona Mara]

Well, I must be getting old then . All those other terms are new to me.

[Talon Sky]

Don't feel bad, Adona, even I've never heard the term 'Cracker' before lol.

"Crazy Cracka's!" Ah, that's good old fashioned family racism ^_^

[Adona Mara]

HaHa .. yeah .. I've heard the term "Cracker" before -- just not in this context.

[Loretta Anakin Skywalker]

There are criminal hackers and curious hackers. I suppose the curious hackers are the cool hackers The movies portray hackers as cool.

Here is my favorite hacker from the movie "Core". His name is Rat and he saves the world by, you got it hacking.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYFGEeOp-8k&feature=related

Here above Rat is being recruited. Unfortunately the scene I was looking for is not on YouTube. I wanted the really cool scene where Rat is secretly hacking the electric grid to stop the government from starting up this machine called "Destiny" to help the scientists who are in the Earth's center saving the Earth.

Another famous hacker which was the first I saw in the movies was David Lightman. The link under is from the trailer advertising the movie "War Games".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAcEzhQ7oqA

The link underneath is the scene where David gets into the military's computer by using the original password left in by the inverter.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLJ3zcdPtl8&feature=related

In these two movies hackers are portrayed as cool and curious people. These movies make you wish that you were a hacker. Of course I can barely run my computer because I am a BCer (Before Computer) person. I graduated when computer was used for some math and Pong. Many times my computer is close to becoming a skeet so I am not even close to being a hacker.

[Adona Mara]

LOL .. BC = Before Computer, eh? When I was in high school computers were still those huge machines, with lots of tape banks that had to be stuck in huge rooms at 60 degrees F. I was excited when we got our first electric typewriter when I was a senior -- so much easier to type my thesis. As for "calculators" about 20 kids who were the school's math/science whiz kids had them. The rest of us were still using slide rules in science class, and fingers in math. Mind you, I knew what a "Personal Computer" was. It was that thing on Star Trek that sat on the Captain's desk in his quarters. Pong came a couple of years after I graduated.

[Loretta Anakin Skywalker]

Adona Mara

Your reply made me laugh and enjoy how it was "in my day when I was young".

I guess you are a little older than I. So you, like me remember Captain Kirk. I own the Classic Star Trek series on DVD all 79 episodes.

[Adona Mara]

Ah yes .. Scotty crying for his "poor bairns" .. Bones passing his modified salt shaker over a body and saying "He's dead, Jim" .. and those poor slobs in the red shirts -- a guarantee you're toast on your next landing party. And, of course, being soooo excited when we got to watch it at a home that had color TV (we didn't get our first color TV until 1970 -- we only knew the "red shirt" guys from the rare color viewings and comments in the magazines ). Memories, memories .. but always remember -- "You're in good hands with Tribbles."

[Empress Palpatine]

I always liked the hackers in the movies. I never knew one personally.

I am a BCer too! It was a very big deal when they finally allowed calculators in school in the 11th grade.

Personal computer of yesteryear:



Gotta love that steering wheel!