The Hackers Manifesto

Science, Engineering, & Tech Security
1

I thought, just a bit of history. Since I think many people haven't read things like this these days.

http://www.phrack.org/archives/issues/7/3.txt

                               ==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+++
_______________________________________________________________________________
14 Likes
2

it all seems so far away, reading through the early issues about phone phreaking and the like, with the writers having [now] ultra cheesy names. but this was going on, and happened. hacking has been mostly relegated to films, governments, nude scandals, and 12 year olds figuring out their friends' Facebook passwords, and i'm probably prone to romanticise it like 14 year old me watching Hackers for the first time did.

but i would've loved to have been there when it was all new and people were learning.

4 Likes
3

when i worked at my first it job, i had to work with a novell netware server.
meaning: whenever there was a system failure or an error, call novell and do as your told by novell,
but i tryed to learn everything about it and work with it.
my boss found out and told me: if you break it i will kick you out and have you pay for it
when he later found out the down time of the server was almost zero and other errors where almost zero, the directory services worked better than before he came to my desk and told me to keep up the good work
But don"t ever go hacking again!!
:grin::grin: he never noticed any hacking again :grin:

5 Likes
4

Now you brought me in mind the 11 laws of a hacker (taken form a magazine in my country) :
0. I make, I exist.
1. The world is full of fascinating problems, which are waiting for solution.
2. The solving of a fascinating problem is more addictive than political power, sex or food.
3. The big ideas belong to those who implemented them.
4. All can become better, simpler, cheaper.
5. Wealth and social recognition are sad substitutes for recognition by ourself or our own kind.
6. No problem must be solved twice.
7. Boredom and careless work drive to mediocrity, freedom and enthusiasm to creation.
8. Show off attitude does not substitute ability.
9. It is a big power to solve a problem by your own, but even bigger if you cooperate with others of your own kind to solve a greater problem.
10. The power of deceit and destruction can only fascinate the mediocre and weak.

6 Likes