The 21st Century Hacker Manifesto
by Prisoner #6
1.) Hackers are no longer anonymous independent operators or groups: We are now a known and calculated factor in the machinations of the most powerful individuals, groups, mega-corps, governments, cartels, mafias, etc. on Earth... except for the very best - and even then, for how long?
2.) Being a hacker is no longer synonymous with: "phreaker, inventor, tinkerer, genius, security expert, oddball, eccentric, helper, trickster" or any other benign adjective. Let's not fool ourselves. Our new titles are: "terrorist, threat, intelligence agent, anarchist, snitch, gov/mob recruiter, honey trap, fool, mentally disabled, sociopath, psychopath, career criminal, desired asset, puppet," and similar.
3.) Hackers are being treated by all global-scale organizations as "natural resources." History shows quite clearly how these organizations treat "natural resources" - raping, pillaging, fighting for ownership, using each skilled hacker until they are burned out, used up, dead, or otherwise disabled.
4.) The new global arms race is no longer about who controls the most atomic bombs. It is about who controls/owns the most hackers, botnets, and exploits (zero-day and otherwise).
5.) Being an elite hacker with current knowledge of the actual state of global dynamics (a.k.a. "politics, news, propaganda"), the kind never released to the public, may make one feel very "kool," but attempting to inform and/or discuss any of your very real privileged information with, basically, any other non-hacker will not result in praise. Just the opposite. We are disbelieved, mocked, and even scorned. Being a member of the new digerati may be intellectually gratifying, but ultimately only isolates us from the majority of other humans.
5a.) This isolation serves the interests of global organizations by offering us a "place among peers," "a chance to work with tech only dreamed of by most isolated civilian hackers" and non-obtainable otherwise, the possibility of having our genius rewarded and recognized and "the chance to use our skillz to help change the world." Though some sizable truth exists to these claims, the fact is that once employed by any of these global elites, we immediately become slaves (rather than "valued operators," as in the sales pitches), where traditional rules of espionage reign supreme and not the "corporate ethic" most of us expect and are used to.
5b.) Espionage rules dictate that all hackers are "assets to be controlled by any means necessary." Sadly, but quite seriously, this includes torturing, killing, threatening, pressuring, etc. of family, friends, and loved ones; public exposure of our "shameful secrets" or, if none exist, simply creating them; unlawful criminal prosecution ensuring little possibility of other "straight" jobs; and worse.
5c.) Once an asset of any global organization, it is extremely rare to ever be allowed to leave. Any of us that seem to be "former-blanks" are to be treated with extreme suspicion.
6.) World War Three has been going on for some time now and its battlefield is cyberspace. By labeling yourself a "hacker," you are now volunteering as a combatant.
7.) The "Internet" is not now, nor has it been for some time, a "simple network of computers." With smart phones, iPads, Wi-Fi, NSA-everything, IPv6, botnets, etc., it would be far more accurate to call it a "four dimensional tesseract hypernet." It's a completely chaotic clusterf*ck, basically. As per beginners' network theory: a device or program existing on a network is accessible by anyone with network access. What NSA can do, so can the Yamaguchi-gumi, with the same tools!
8.) As a simplified model, there are essentially no more "governments" or "countries" with any true global power anymore. The world, as we elite hackers know it to be fact, is comprised and controlled purely by:
- Multinational corporations (including NSA, CIA, etc.)
- Organized global "criminal cartels," including the previously Russian Brothers' Circle; the Japanese Yamaken-gumi and Kodo-kai, the largest and most powerful of which is the Yamaguci-gumi; the Chinese Hong and Tong societies (who, along with the respected Japanese Yakuza are actually quite formal and completely legal components of their country's government; traditional "Mafia families," such as the respected Sicilian, Colombian, Mexican, etc...
8a.) What remains as the "public face" of the United States and other governments is a mere public relations shell which exists solely for the purpose of continuing to extract and export all remaining possible valuable resources from the ignorant hardworking wage-slave public and placing it permanently into the hands of the globals.
8b.) For the time being and in the near future, there are plenty of resources being extracted from the public for all the true global players to be perfectly happy with the arrangement and, as such, very little actual conflict or competition exists between them. This is why there are no obvious large scale violent conflicts (outside of propagandized isolated incidents) to indicate this new global "arrangement," as fairly accurately predicted and described by such authors as William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Marshall McLuhan, and others.
9.) Be aware that as a "natural resource" and "desired asset," many, if not most, modern "hacker spaces" quite suddenly appearing in major cities everywhere are either openly (more often secretly) funded and controlled by DARPA and/or aforementioned organizations with the primary purpose of counting, monitoring, investigating, and eventually recruiting you.
10.) If you are one of us - a young or older, yet-unknown hacker - the smartest course is to stay that way. An author in a previous 2600 article was foolish to say that "hacker nicks" were a thing of the past. I honestly (though respectfully) think he was being egotistical to publish articles under his real name. Respectfully, because his "point" was sort of later proven by Edward Snowden and others: any well known hacker is probably also well known to the NSA, nick or no nick.
10a.) The best policy in these interesting times is to:
- Stay alone.
- Stay unknown.
- Repeat after me: "Me, a hacker? Ahahahahaha! I wish! Nah, I just keep up with tech stuff to help my parents protect their desktop and hopefully get a decent job one day. I love computer tech and all, but I've never been smart enough to be a hacker! I just don't have the time to study and keep up with all that stuff. I do have a life, you know!"
11.) Linux is the only "safe" OS left (if one exists at all!) and then only when heavily modified and encrypted. Really, NetBSD and/or custom kernels are required even to imagine, arrogantly, that you may be "private."
12.) Public-key encryption may (I say with heavy doubt) be the one last hope we have and then only with ridiculously huge prime numbers. At least for the time being, where public tech is concerned; math still beats tech.
Shout-outs to: The Mentor (for his first one, thanks and luv for inspiring a generation); Kevin Mitnick's latest book Ghost in the Wires (best of his, by far!); Patrick McGoohan's TV series The Prisoner (Oh yeah, global village? You'd better believe it!); The United Socialist Republic of Barrett Brown's (all of them, even the one I trash I like and best MySpace group ever!); Best Truth, a Princeton study in intelligence agencies by Berkowitz & Goodman (speaks for itself); and Adrian Lamo (Mucho amo amigo! A most misunderstood hacker and excellent case study of "the path to Hell is paved with good intentions.")
P.S. Wasn't (((Emmanuel Goldstein))) a fictional character created by the global intelligence agency to capture people who were too smart? Trust 2600, do ya? Lolllzzzz...