The Conscience of a Hacker
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 *** 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 *** 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+++
2006-10-04 19:44:04 · 9 answers · asked by The_hacker 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
I wrote this a VERY long time ago....i wanted to see if my words have been remembered....
2006-10-04 19:49:56 · update #1
Poor baby wasn't understood, wasn't stimulated enough... Cut the crap. You felt like being bad and couldn't get laid, had no money for drugs and no guts for any real evil. I'm a bored genius too but I've never felt the need to interfere with anyone else's business. Well, okay, I've thought about doing some nasty things to the American Nazi Party but that's personal.
I don't want to have my mom get redirected to a porn site when she does homework for her master's program online. I don't want my neighbors to be scared to pay their bills by computer. I don't want to pay more for everything because some people would rather pay nothing.
I will not be blamed for atomic bombs that were built before my birth or for wars that I actively protested. I have not murdered anyone yet and do not plan to. I explore and seek after knowledge and only know skin color, nationality or religion if a person chooses to disclose it and do not judge by those factors if they do become known. The difference is that I pay a few dollars a month and don't interfere with anyone else trying to communicate the same way I do.
I don't have a problem with your curiosity. I do have a problem with your trying to limit the curiosity and free speech of others just because you view them as inferior. If all you do is peek behind the curtain, that's not really a problem. However, the vast majority of hackers can't keep themselves from shutting down websites or stealing or terrorizing the less tech savvy. Censorship by an arrogant teen with bad skin is no better than censorship by government. Whatever excuse you give for breaking into banking files, you know that it's just wrong and hurts innocent people, possibly even ones you care about, assuming you care about anyone. Have you asked your grandmother if her retirement plan includes overseas investments that may include the bank you "innocently pranked"?
Use your brain and natural curiosity to do some good for the world or at least for yourself.
Addition:
Dammit, I knew I saw this before. I think I read it in high school. Well you got me.
2006-10-04 20:14:50 · answer #1 · answered by Kuji 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I love that movie Hackers.
2006-10-04 19:52:17 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Join a high IQ society and you may find alternative ways to express yourself/learn stuff..
:-)
2006-10-04 19:50:30 · answer #3 · answered by Andreba 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
what about it? it was written 20 years ago, lol
p.s. you are a lamma not a mentor
2006-10-04 19:48:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
interesting...hackers remain in the underground circuit...they don't brag
2006-10-04 19:46:24 · answer #5 · answered by Chris™ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
interesting
2006-10-04 23:16:47 · answer #6 · answered by John 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'M NOT IMPRESSED!.....TRY PUTTING A 360 PAGE TOGETHER THAT SHOULD TAX YOUR BRAIN!
2006-10-04 19:53:04 · answer #7 · answered by expatriot1000 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
hmmm fine...
2006-10-04 21:41:33 · answer #8 · answered by Moinu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ok
2006-10-04 19:45:11 · answer #9 · answered by twysty 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋