The Victor Spoiled

What could possibly threaten the hacker world more than government raids, selective prosecution, Orwellian surveillance, and mass hysteria?  The answer will no doubt come as a shock to many.  Success.

Success a threat?  What kind of insanity is this?  Success is what everyone dreams about; it's the goal, after all.

Well, yes and no.  There's a difference between true success and perceived success.  One is a lot easier to come by than the other.  And one is a great deal more likely to be obscured.

The unusual problem we face is that much of our curiosity and talent has led to a good deal of marketability.  In other words, hackers are now in great demand.  This is a rather recent phenomenon.  Despite initial misgivings and warnings from people who really never knew what they were talking about, "reformed" hackers are being hired in great numbers by corporate America for everything from system administration to research and development to tiger teaming.

This in itself isn't a bad thing.  We've long known that hackers are a great resource and it's certainly a lot better to be hired than thrown into prison.  But too often, this allegiance comes at a price that isn't realized until it's been paid.

Hackers tend to be an idealistic lot.  Some might even say naive.  We believe in freedom of speech, the right to explore and learn by doing, and the tremendous power of the individual.  Unfortunately, this doesn't always sync with the corporate world, which oftentimes sees an individual aware of free speech with a desire to explore as their biggest threat.

It may seem like a trivial notion to dismiss this corporate world when it conflicts with your own values.  But what happens when you realize you can make a tremendous amount of money because your skills happen to be in demand?  Would that be worth... suppressing your ideals a bit?  It's very hard to say no.  Ideals don't pay the bills and it's not unheard of for high school dropouts to wind up making 100 grand with the talents they've picked up while not attending classes.

Plus, in our money-based society, stature is everything.  The more you make, the more of a "success" you are.  That is the perception.

But what we define here as true success is so much harder to achieve.  To believe in something, to not compromise your ideals, to be at peace with yourself... these are the elements of that success.  Yeah, it may sound like a vision left over from Woodstock.  But it is an important and an enriching aspect of life.  Not very many of us manage to get there and remain there.

The people who have it easy are those who don't have that many ideals to begin with.  You'll find them in abundance in politics or the music industry where insincerity and changing what one believes in at the flick of a switch are par for the course.  We wish them luck.

Things are so much more complicated in our weird little community where there are people with all kinds of strong beliefs and values.  With a combined intelligence and an awareness of where technology is heading, the importance of our perspective cannot be overstated.  In the years ahead, we are going to be facing some milestones in human development with regard to free speech, communications, access, and privacy.  It will be the equivalent of the civil rights movement, the American Revolution, and the Age of Enlightenment all mixed together.  How it pans out will depend in large part on who is around to help steer the course.  And that is what's worrisome.  Imagine if all of the cypherpunks were whisked away to Microsoft to work on a high-paying project that took all of their skills and all of their time?  Who would make encryption safe from the prying eyes of governments?  What if hacker organizations like the L0pht, cDc, or the Chaos Computer Club went out of existence because its members feared losing lucrative corporate positions if it were revealed that they were part of a community of hackers?  Who would show the public how insecure Microsoft really was?

The result would be obvious and very sad.  We would lose a perspective that we need quite badly at a critical turning point in the world's history.  And those people would lose touch with something unique that they would be unlikely to find again.

The simple cliché tells us that money isn't everything.  In fact, when looked at objectively, it's very little, in some cases even a negative thing.  Finding people who share your true beliefs, expanding your mind, learning and exploring these are the precious things that can be forever wiped away when success becomes a commodity.  In the hacker world, this is doubly tragic as we have so much to gain from each other for an almost indefinite period.

In some ways, what we are facing parallels what has been happening to the Internet.  Vast commercialization has completely changed the net's tone in recent years.  We see the same corporate powers slowly gaining a stranglehold on every element of connectivity, at the same time merging, engaging in takeovers, and gathering strength.  The future of the net as a safe haven for individual thought and independent development of new and competing technologies is very much in jeopardy and this is without even introducing the government's efforts to muck things up.  By finding yourself in a position where the money is good but the work is a waste of your brain, you're experiencing a variation of the same thing.

It's a good idea to occasionally ask yourself a few questions such as what is really important to you, what is your definition of real success, and where do you want to be in the future?  There are a great number of people who can answer all of those questions with a high-paying corporate career and who have always felt that way.  And that is just fine.  But then there are the others, the ones to whom we are addressing this, who face a conflict at some point.  It may seem as if the only logical course to follow is to sacrifice your ideals for the sake of materialism, especially when you're young, impressionable, and watching a lot of television.  It's what everyone would do the path of least resistance.  Looking out for number one.  And most of all, it's what's encouraged in society because idealists are the ones who cause all the trouble.

But there are alternatives.  It's not impossible to get the best of both worlds especially if your skills are truly in demand.  You can set conditions and draw lines that you absolutely will not cross.  You can use some of the money you make to somehow strengthen the community that helped bring you to this point.  And, most importantly, you can remain a part of that community and not lose touch with those heading down different paths.  The learning process never ends.

We've deliberately avoided mentioning all but the most general goals since everyone has different priorities.  The only real common goal we should all share is keeping our community alive in some form and using our gains to advance the future.

And for those who reject the corporate allure altogether, you have a real opportunity to channel your talents to places and people who need them the most.  And to do it entirely your way.  Anyone suggesting you're a failure for taking this road deserves nothing more than your pity.

Oddly enough, one can actually draw a comparison between this dilemma and credit card fraud.  You're young, you can get virtually anything you want if you play the game, and all you have to do is throw away a few of your values, which you may or may not have in the first place.  It can be almost impossible to resist, especially if you feel you're owed something.  Most people who bow to the temptation of credit card fraud eventually wake up and realize it's wrong one way or another.  Far fewer get such a wake-up call from the all-enveloping corporate mentality.

If nothing else, the spirit of hacking can teach you to hold your head up and maintain your values no matter the cost.  If you take this approach into the corporate environment, you might even have a chance to change the system from within and make a real difference.

The thinkers and dreamers of our little niche in society have an interesting ride ahead.  There will be all kinds of triumphs and defeats and what comes out of all this will change history.  It's entirely up to you where your knowledge and skills take you.  Not us.  Not the Fortune 100.  Not any government.  You're at the steering wheel.  And we wish you true success.

Mitnick Update

At press time, the trial of Kevin Mitnick had been moved from January 19, 1999 to April 20, 1999 to allow him time to look at the evidence, which the government had failed to provide by the agreed upon deadline.  Oddly, the prosecution was not chastised by the judge for this violation, yet Mitnick's lawyer was scolded for requesting a delay.  In addition, it was found that an FBI informant may have had access to the offices of Mitnick's previous attorney with the full knowledge of the government.  This action also has not been addressed by the court.  What was addressed was the fact that a 2600 staffer had requested the financial disclosure documents of Judge Mariana Pfazlzer, something entirely within our rights and a routine method of looking for conflicts of interest among judges.  Pfaelzer's reaction, however, was anything but routine, demanding to know from Mitnick who was behind this and implying that something nefarious was going on.  No doubt she believes that Mitnick will mastermind the destruction of her financial records by whistling Touch-Tones into a Walkman.  It's become rather difficult to believe in the impartiality of this court.

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