Hackers Manifesto
Hackers Manifesto
ghost | 19200 Reads | 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 willing 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+++
ghost 19 years ago
Good article i agree to what you say!;) only problem is i'm still learning to become a hacker. :D
ghost 18 years ago
man, i wish the mentor didnt get arrested :( that is really good, ive read it before on HTS, and i could kinda relate to it, but i have no idea how, becuase i only just started hacking :p ok i dont make sense now so ill shutup
ghost 17 years ago
I first read this in Jolly Rogers anarchist cookbook not too long after it was written.(20 years ago…shit showing my age there) It's still relevant today.
ghost 17 years ago
The mentor can bite me. The smart arse shouldve just learnt to get along rather than call everyone sadists.
I could agree with only one sentence. What a waste. Its still a good read, the mans got style ;)
ghost 17 years ago
I like. I think it would make a great intro for a great movie. That is if they ever made a movie telling it like it is.
ghost 16 years ago
they are all media-brainwashed idiots. no one sees us for who we are. the mentor understood this; I agree 110% with this; it is my own personal creed as well. I have copies of it in my bindsers, by my computers, on my wall, you name it. I just wish people could be more understanding… That's why Mr. Spock is on my wall, too!
The-Scarecrow 16 years ago
That was pretty good. We own the net! let them try to take us down. They can remove one from our ranks and we replace with 10.
[]O[] [][]O OOO
ghost 16 years ago
Lol @ this being quoted on the film "Hackers"
Still you can see why as it is a 10/10 all day! Shame about mentor though.