Hacker Manifesto

[T. Wedd]

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 a 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...
Come on... Ain't Got All Day!!
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to the
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 threatend 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 junk through an addict's veins, an
electronic impulse 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 herre... 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...
Come on... Ain't Got All Day!!
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 sadist, or ignored by the apathetic. The
few that had something to teach us 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
knoledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin
color, without nationality, without religous 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.

Come on... Ain't Got All Day!!

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.

[RancidPunkMJL]

i dont know why some people are against hackers... its kinda wierd when you think bout it

[Stone]

The government is scared of Hackers because of the power they hold. Therefore, they make them look bad.

[forumwhore]

Pardon my naivete, but isn't the Manifesto like, years old?

How about the difference between hackers and crackers?

[D°©tª·D [DD]]

As far as I remember, the Hacker Manifesto is as old as me.

The difference between hackers and crackers is basically maturity.

An immature hacker would be a cracker, as in having the ability to destroy a stranger's computer through a remote client, for no reason at all, and actually doing it.
As the word hacker is used so lightly, the actual meaning has little relevance in today's society. I know that a hacker is someone who is devout to exploring and finding out more about computer systems and networks, but hackers are known as kids who try to break into websites and deface them.

If the ability is being used purposefully; hacker
If the ability is being used destructively; cracker

[Prometheus]

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.

Excellent phrase.Quite poetic if must I say.

[Vegito]

Hackers can do something that no government wants, they can find the truth. However, if hackers were so ''bad'', why haven't they released the confidential information that they hacked?

[Kakkaraun]

Actually, a /hacker/ is anyone who does something (this act of doing being referred to as a /hack/, and this something usually of a technical nature) faster, better, et cetera, than it's usually done. Write a chunk of code in 10 lines instead of 15? That's a hack. Assemble a rifle in half the time it takes most people to do it? That's a hack.

"Mah momma always said, life was like a box of shit. Because Ah'm retarded."

However, the term has evolved to mean "uhm...breaking into those computer things over the Intarweb."

[ZBoxDemon]

The above definition is an accurate one ^. Another problem is the government has portrayed hackers as malicious and evil teenagers who break into systems, teal information, delete files, and wreak general havoc. As the public has been lulled into mistaking hackers for crackers. Hackers are merely people who are inscesently(sp?) hungry for knowledge. And the computer is one of their means to achieving this end.

[Kakkaraun]

ZBoxDemon said:

The above definition is an accurate one ^. Another problem is the government has portrayed hackers as malicious and evil teenagers who break into systems, teal information, delete files, and wreak general havoc. As the public has been lulled into mistaking hackers for crackers. Hackers are merely people who are inscesently(sp?) hungry for knowledge. And the computer is one of their means to achieving this end.

Well put! If you think about it, the entire basis of this forum is that of the Hacker's thoughts and ideals--information is strength, knowledge is power.

[ZBoxDemon]

And yet the general public has mistaken information seekers for thieves and criminals. I think they should be seen as heroes for having the balls to look in the wrong places. They are just obeying the Freedom of Information Act .

[Kakkaraun]

ZBoxDemon said:

And yet the general public has mistaken information seekers for thieves and criminals. I think they should be seen as heroes for having the balls to look in the wrong places. They are just obeying the Freedom of Information Act .

As long as there's a Sheriff of Nottingham, there will always be a Robin of Loxley.