home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- TES Presents
-
- -------------------------------
- | The Ethics of Hacking |
- -------------------------------
- written by Dissident
-
- I went up to a college this summer to look around, see if it was where I
- wanted to go and whatnot. The guide asked me about my interests, and when I
- said computers, he started asking me about what systems I had, etc. And when
- all that was done, the first thing he asked me was "Are you a hacker?"
- Well, that question has been bugging me ever since. Just what exactly
- is a hacker? A REAL hacker?
- For those who don't know better, the news media (and even comic strips)
- have blown it way out of proportion... A hacker, by wrong-definition, can be
- anything from a computer-user to someone who destroys everything they can get
- their evil terminals into.
- And the idiotic schmucks of the world who get a Commodore Vic-20 and a
- 300 baud modem (heh, and a tape drive!) for Christmas haven't helped hackers'
- reputations a damn bit. They somehow get access to a really cool system and
- find some files on hacking... Or maybe a friendly but not-too-cautious
- hacker helps the loser out, gives him a few numbers, etc. The schmuck gets
- onto a system somewhere, lucks up and gets in to some really cool information
- or programs, and deletes them. Or some of the more greedy ones capture it,
- delete it, and try to sell it to Libya or something. Who gets the blame?
- The true hackers...that's who. So what is a true hacker?
- Firstly, some people may not think I am entirely qualified to say,
- mainly because I don't consider myself a hacker yet. I'm still learning the
- ropes about it, but I think I have a pretty damn good idea of what a true
- hacker is. If I'm wrong, let one correct me...
-
- True hackers are intelligent, they have to be. Either they do really
- great in school because they have nothing better to do, or they don't do so
- good because school is terribly boring. And the ones who are bored aren't that
- way because they don't give a shit about learning anything. A true hacker wants
- to know everything. They're bored because schools teach the same dulll things
- over and over and over, nothing new, nothing challenging.
- True hackers are curious and patient. If you aren't, how can you work
- so very hard hacking away at a single system for even one small PEEK at what
- may be on it?
- A true hacker DOESN'T get into the system to kill everything or to sell
- what he gets to someone else. True hackers want to learn, or want to satisfy
- their curiosity, that's why they get into the system. To search around inside
- of a place they've never been, to explore all the little nooks and crannies
- of a world so unlike the boring cess-pool we live in. Why destroy something
- and take away the pleasure you had from someone else? Why bring down the
- whole world on the few true hackers who aren't cruising the phone lines with
- malicious intent?
- True hackers are disgusted at the way things are in this world. All the
- wonderful technology of the world costs three arms and four legs to get these
- days. It costs a fortune to call up a board in an adjoining state! So why
- pay for it? To borrow something from a file I will name later, why pay for
- what could be "dirt cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons"?
- Why be forced, due to lack of the hellacious cash flow it would require to
- call all the great places, to stay around a bunch of schmuck losers in your
- home town? Calling out and entering a system you've never seen before are
- two of the most exhilirating experiences known to man, but it is a pleasure
- that could not be enjoyed were it not for the ability to phreak...
- True hackers are quiet. I don't mean they talk at about .5 dB, I mean
- they keep their mouths shut and don't brag. The number one killer of those
- the media would have us call hackers is bragging. You tell a friend,"or you
- run your mouth on a board, and sooner or later people in power will find out
- what you did, who you are, and you're gone...
-
-
- I honestly don't know what purpose this file will serve, maybe someone
- somewhere will read it, and know the truth about hackers. Not the lies that
- the ignorant spread. To the true hackers out there, I hope I am portraying
- what you are in this file... If I am not, then I at least am saying what I
- think a true hacker should be. And to those wanna-be's out there who like
- the label of "HACKER" being tacked onto them, grow up, would ya?
-
- Oh yeah, the file I quoted from... It has been done (at least) two
- times. "The Hacker's Manifesto" or "Conscience of a Hacker" are the two
- names I've seen it given. (A file by itself, and part of an issue of Phrack)
- Either way, it was written by The Mentor, and it is absolutely the best thing
- ever written on the subject of hackers. Read it, it could change your life.
-
-
- Spread it around, but don't change anything please. . .
-