Politics Comes Calling
It's funny how things change. For so many years, any time we alluded to government policy, social injustice, or abuse of power, we were urged by a sizable contingent to keep politics out of hacking. But as one millennium led into another, we saw the prevailing attitude start to change. People began to realize that there was a very distinct relationship between what happens in government and the world of hacking, and that it needed to be confronted. The unfair prosecutions of hackers over the decades combined with absurd laws and regulations put forth by legislators without a clue were quite familiar to us. It was when we began to fight back through organizing, demonstrating, and petitioning that many of us realized that we had a true voice after all and a whole lot to communicate to the populace and the powers that be. Whether it was shutting down the Clipper Chip, fighting to Free Kevin, being forced to defend our actions/existence in court, or leading online protests from web page hacks to global displays of solidarity, the hacker community has become so much more active in the political sphere than at any time in history. Add to that the revelations that people with names like Assange, Manning, and Snowden have contributed, and the hypothetical scenarios many of us were pondering have turned into stark reality. Fighting the level of surveillance that we now know is being built and used against us became the raison d'être for a growing number in the hacker community. And here we are, as relevant to politics as any community is.
But we have never used these pages as a platform to push one political ideology over another. For one thing, we believe all of the major players are corrupt and simply versions of the same overall problem. Plus, we know hackers come from many different backgrounds and philosophies; it's not up to us to label one side as better than the other. Such a distinction hasn't really been necessary from our perspective. Until now.
We don't know how we got here and we suspect much of the world doesn't either. But as we go to press, it appears there is nothing that can stop Donald Trump from becoming the Republican Party nominee for president this summer. And what we do know is that we're facing a very scary future if sanity doesn't prevail in November.
This is not about left versus right, liberal against conservative. We would be saying the same thing if Trump were the Democratic candidate, which many traditional Republicans have accused him of being closer to than what they believe in. People from all corners of the political spectrum - and certainly all corners of the globe - are visibly worried about where this is all going.
Let's put aside the racism, sexism, ultra-nationalism (except for Ukraine and China), and overall ignorance of domestic and world issues that Trump has become known for - and which, incredibly, seem to make him even more popular. You can read specifics on all that almost anywhere else. What we need to focus on here is what a Trump presidency would mean to the hacker world and to technology, the Internet, and free speech. It's not pretty.
Let's examine one Donald Trump quote from this past December:
"We're losing a lot of people because of the Internet and we have to do something. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them, maybe in certain areas closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh, freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people... we've got to maybe do something with the Internet because they are recruiting by the thousands, they are leaving our country and then when they come back, we take them back."
It's painfully clear that Trump doesn't understand how the Internet works. But that won't stop him from dictating how he believes it should work and making the lives of anyone who gets in the way absolutely miserable. The disdain with which those concerned about freedom of speech are referred to makes it abundantly clear that such people will not be looked upon kindly in a Trump administration. And when such freedom is seen as a threat, it's the beginning of a significant downward spiral. How do you suppose he would deal with an anonymity network like Tor? Or the use of encryption? Or hackers in general?
Donald Trump is certainly not the only politician out there with uninformed ideas about technology and how to control the population. But never before has someone with such radical views been this close to the most powerful job in the world. Sure, we can find crazier people at lower levels of government and we can find much to criticize in the platforms of Trump's opponents. None of that is enough to make us any less concerned over what might happen in November.
If Trump had been in power when Apple stood up to the FBI's demands to crack their own security this February, the outcome could have been very different. While he could only call for a boycott against them as a candidate, he could have taken actions to cripple the company as president. And it wouldn't have ended there. The impact to technology companies, not to mention our very right to privacy would be severely impacted with this type of mentality calling the shots. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Trump is opposed to net neutrality or that organizations like (((The Free Press Action Fund))) have rated him as the worst candidate for "citizens' digital lives."
So there's that. Now try and imagine what his attitude and shoot-from-the-hip mentality would actually do to the world of hackers. Trump has publicly called for the execution of Edward Snowden, which ought to give you an idea of how anyone who embarrasses his regime would be treated.
We've all had these uncomfortable interactions with individuals who believe hackers are the equivalent of terrorists and, if these people had their way, all of the hackers would be locked up or worse. We can laugh when it's a misguided relative at Thanksgiving because they're only speaking their minds and they really don't know any better. But give someone with such massive gaps in knowledge the power to actually get their way and it quickly stops being funny. Look at the history of fascism in the last century and you'll see that it always starts with someone in power echoing people's misguided perceptions that revolve around fear and misinformation. Not only does the power make these thoughts turn into policy, but it also emboldens more misguided members of the public to become authorities, and ultimately monsters. Before you know it, the mere suspicion of being different or of posing a potential problem is enough to have someone prosecuted, locked away, or simply kept from living a normal life. There is no nation on Earth that is safe from this sort of threat. Believing otherwise is the quickest way to learn that lesson.
We don't doubt that some will see this as an overreaction, to which we say it's a nice contrast to the under-reaction we've been seeing over the past year. Trump is not just one unqualified and dangerous person; he represents many more who have no qualms about putting policies of hatred and anger into practice. We've seen it happen before and we'll see it happen again. If there's one thing we've gained from the Trump campaign, it's the realization that we are not immune. Sometimes change isn't funny at all.
We know there are many opinions out there on this topic and we don't presume to speak for the entire hacker community. We'd like to hear what you have to say on the dangers of a Trump presidency for people like us. (Or tell us why we're completely wrong.) Our next issue will come out a month before the election and we will print some of the best submissions. Please share your thoughts - anywhere from 500 to 2000 words. If we print yours, we'll send you a subscription and a 2600 or HOPE t-shirt. The address is articles@2600.com or PO Box 99, Middle Island, NY 11953 USA.
