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 19:48:07 · 14 answers · asked by The_hacker 1 in Social Science ➔ Gender Studies
I wrote this a VERY long time ago....i wanted to see if my words have been remembered....
2006-10-04 19:50:44 · update #1
Never heard of this manifesto before but I think it's wrong. That you are more intelligent than others doesn't make it right to break laws. If you are that smart you'd find ways to change those laws. (And yes, I do think some laws is ridiculous.) You don't have to beak laws to belong to a group or use your intelligence in a creative way. And I don't think hackers should be stopped, I think their knowledge should be put to use the legal way.
2006-10-04 19:58:54 · answer #1 · answered by *duh* 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I actually read it, though I have not heard of it before.
It is thoughtful, and I agree with the last paragraph alot. Most hackers that I have heard of are not malicious, they just are looking for information about different things, just want to see how things tick. Just want to see what is out there on other peoples machines, though will not do anything with it to try to harm the person.
Hackers are truly some of the smartest people out there. They are the ones that get into cybercorp and make big bucks for national security. I am in awe of some of the things that they can do.
2006-10-04 20:00:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
OK now that you have that off your chest ... Do something with the knowledge! ... Build that better mouse trap .... Show Bill Gates that there is a better way to make a real operating system ... Because you can get in to a system build that system that nobody can get into. .... I know money is not your point right now but, write that billion lines of code and make fools out of them by taking there money
2006-10-05 00:19:05 · answer #3 · answered by Fanuc 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
MORE POWER 2 U!!!!
Id love 2 learn how 2 hack. i agree with much of what your saying.
most of the time hackers are just misundersood and not really malicious. there are some dangerous ones tho so dont bash the laws. they are there to protect us.
the trick is not 2 get caught. ;)
good luck.
2006-10-05 04:17:13 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ooh! Can you help me hack? That would be awesome. I've always wanted to know how. I'm pretty good with a computer and I'm good in school (math especially). I've written programs before, but just simple ones, like a calculator or tic tac toe.
2006-10-04 20:01:09 · answer #5 · answered by JJ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds to me like you've watched the movie "Hackers" too many times.
2006-10-05 03:59:59 · answer #6 · answered by Victoria R 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Beautifully written!!!!
2006-10-05 08:46:57 · answer #7 · answered by Miss B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow!
2006-10-04 19:57:29 · answer #8 · answered by willis_is_40 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe you're all alike.
2006-10-04 21:41:52 · answer #9 · answered by greylady 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ADHD no time to read I'm sure you mean well!
2006-10-04 19:56:44 · answer #10 · answered by jovi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋