moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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+++ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zspitfire04 Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 This should be stickied...This is the true hackers poem.....its more like a constitution than a poem....beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 Yeah I think it should be stickied too... it's the thoughts of a million of us all together in one place. Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tzar Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 iv seen a few bits of this befor but not the whole thing nice find this is truly the hackers bible in my mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 Yeah... :cry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duelus Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 lol bennyq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLSS Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 it is legendary, note he wrote it wen he was only 11/12 years old. o and here's a link for a mp3 of him reading and explaining it @defcon (or was it @ h2k hmmm ?) -> *clicky* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 woah thanks DLSS! not heard that before! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLSS Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 woah thanks DLSS! not heard that before! np Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neod101 Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 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..." That's so true! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 That's so true! I think we're going to see that a lot in this thread ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neod101 Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 That's so true! I think we're going to see that a lot in this thread ;) True! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4RP3D Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 Well it so dam true. Pure brillience! You say he was only 11/12 when he wrote it? What did he actually do, hack a bank or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 it is legendary,note he wrote it wen he was only 11/12 years old. o and here's a link for a mp3 of him reading and explaining it @defcon (or was it @ h2k hmmm ?) -> *clicky* Clicky Clicky, will tell all ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLSS Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 to relief traffic of that mirror here r some more mirrors of that mp3 file ;D original source : http://www.h2k2.net/media/mentor.mp3 (site of the h2k2 (hacker coference (hope) of 2002) this is the original site u can get a lot of the speakers n stuff from on the conference on mp3 on the site .... Probably the most famous single essay about what it's like to be a hacker is "The Conscience of a Hacker" by The Mentor, written in 1986. It's been quoted all over the place, including the movie "Hackers." It remains one of the most inspirational pieces written about the hacker community and it's survived well over time. This year, we're pleased to have The Mentor himself give a reading of it and offer additional insight. u can also get em on following mirrors .... http://audio.textfiles.com/cons/h2k2/mentor.mp3 (so this is the textfiles mirror) http://python.planetmirror.com/ftp/textfil...h2k2/mentor.mp3 (a mirror of the textfiles mirror :D) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4RP3D Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 I just listen to it. That guy frigging ROCKS. He speeks so much sence!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zspitfire04 Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 Whoever wants this stickied on the forums raise your right and and say: "I" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 Aye. /me raises hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melodic Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 umm yeah duno wat its about but any of u bastards try sell my kidney on ebay there will b hell to answer too :P so i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveMan Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 that is soo true 8D :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLSS Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 Aye./me raises hand ditto , i mean i :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted May 7, 2006 Author Share Posted May 7, 2006 Yay! Thanks whoever stickied this, it shall be read by all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wetelectric Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 er........ am i the only one that was cringing when reading this? meh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 OK, whoever stickied this should be slapped. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
401 Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Although it's a good read, this thing has become stale over the years. He wrote this when he was 21. He was 11 in 1976, and he wrote this in 1986. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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