Where Have All the Hackers Gone

This is one of the more common questions circulating today.  Only a couple of years ago, things seemed very different.  Hacker bulletin boards were everywhere.  Knowledge was spread freely on a multitude of topics, from telephone switches to all of the latest operating systems.  Looking back, it all seemed so magical.

So what has changed?  Two things primarily.  One, naturally, is the technology itself.  Antiquated telephone equipment is rapidly becoming a memory, to be replaced by sleek, modern paraphernalia that too often seems to miss the point entirely.  Computers are becoming increasingly integrated into our everyday lives.  The other change, however, is more troublesome.  The people who make up our unique community are becoming affected by the draconian measures of a misguided few who are determined to rid technology of hackers, apparently at almost any cost.

We've seen many innocent people victimized in countless hacker hunts.  Bulletin board operators who allowed hackers to communicate have repeatedly found themselves the targets of raids by government agencies, even though they themselves were not hackers.  It happened to our own system operator in July of 1985.  Other examples include parents returning home to find their front doors smashed in by the Secret Service, their child having been suspected of being a hacker.  In some cases, no charges were ever filed.  Yet much that had been confiscated was never returned.  More recently, goons from the New York State Police forced their way into a Manhattan apartment, apparently believing that the best way to calm down an hysterical parent was to reveal their shotgun.  Not surprisingly, this didn't work.

The absurdities and indignities that decent people have been subjected to in the search to weed out the hackers could fill every page of this publication.  In the beginning, it was easy to laugh when confused government agents confiscated TV sets and rotary telephones.  But the mood has slowly been changing over the years.  People are really getting hurt now.  Students are being taken out of school and sent to prison for such offenses as copying files, accessing systems that had no password protection, or just being mischievous.  It's reached the point where their "crimes" are viewed by some as more worthy of punishment than crimes of violence, primarily because of the potential for damage if they decided to be malicious.  The fact that the overwhelming majority of hackers are not malicious is simply brushed aside as is the weak security that allows easy access to so many.

We can't say we're surprised.  As soon as it became clear that our courts were primarily interested in protecting corporate rights, it was only a matter of time before individuals began paying a heavy price.

Let's examine the facts.  An individual cannot take TRW to court because they collect personal data on the individual without his/her permission.  But TRW can claim its privacy was violated if a hacker figures out how to access the system.  Ironically, most people didn't even know what TRW was doing until hackers revealed the system back in 1984.

When IBM's Prodigy recently was found to have faulty software that gave the appearance that they were able to read personal files on users' computers, they explained themselves and everybody listened.  But a hacker found with a corporate document on his system is given no such luxury.  It's assumed that he was up to no good and he is treated like a criminal.

BellSouth is able to put people in jail for absurd, trumped up charges.  (The Atlanta hackers were imprisoned for merely accessing a system that had no password!)  Yet BellSouth is caught red-handed lying about the value of a document in court.  (The 911 document that they claimed was worth $80,000 was actually worth less than $15.)  The ridiculous pricing scheme they use to justify their actions (revealed on page 6) is believed without question.  But if an individual whose life has been shattered by this corruption wishes to be compensated, he soon learns how impossible justice is becoming.

Again, there are countless examples of corporate "privacy" being protected at the expense of individual liberty.  It's a very frightening scenario and we have to wonder how long it will take for mainstream society to see the threat.  Now that we live in the world's only superpower, what or who will become the new enemy?

All of this is a bit much for the average hacker to take.  It's not surprising to see people keeping a low profile.  But inertia cannot be forgiven.  Things are changing all around us and by allowing what is clearly wrong to take place, we are as guilty as if we had done it ourselves.

Freedom of speech must be preserved at any cost.  You can still exercise that right in a very meaningful way by running a computer bulletin board where people can communicate freely.  You may get your door kicked in if government agents or corporate security people don't like or understand what is being said.  You may get a file started on you.  But it's a risk you must be willing to take.  After all, what is the alternative?  If we continue down this road, restrictions on speech and assembly will extend beyond the world of computers and into our everyday lives.  If registration of bulletin boards with the government becomes the norm, newspapers and magazines will be next.  If you doubt this, consider the fact that there are more electronic newspapers and magazines emerging every year.

Admittedly, a lot of us are really only interested in learning.  It makes sense not to get involved in all of this crap.  But the fact is that we have become pawns in a much larger game.  To submit to unacceptable terms and remain underground like criminals is the worst thing that can happen to the hacking community.

We have to accentuate the positive elements that once were so common.  As well as an increase in boards, we want to see more people writing from the hacker perspective.  The hundreds of legendary files about various operating systems need to be updated and rewritten.  There are an incredible number of topics waiting to be tackled.  There are also many people who want to learn about technology from an individual perspective but don't know how to begin.  The key is to share information.  The rest will follow.

We must also get rid of our negative tendencies.  The most prevalent of these is the habit of suppressing information.  It's a double-standard to be on a quest for knowledge and then keep it to yourself when you obtain it.  It's also self-defeating.  And it's playing the same game that the people who stand against us are playing.  There are an incredible number of people who want to learn, not just share results.  A populace that knows how to manipulate technology to its advantage will result in a much healthier society.  The opposite is too terrifying to even contemplate We are in the unique position of greatly influencing which becomes reality.

"Elite" hackers and hacker "gangs" do more harm than good in the big picture.  Egos and machismo tend to cloud the reason we got involved in the first place.  They also serve as the means to lock out others.  And, of course, anybody who crashes systems, wipes data, or does anything malicious for no apparent reason is doing more against hackers than any government agency ever could.  Fortunately, these kind of people are extremely scarce in the hacker world, a fact that speaks volumes.

Another form of elitism can be found in older hackers who want to distance themselves from what the younger hackers are doing.  They believe the way to do this is to create a new label for the "undesirables" and call them "crackers."  It's an ill-conceived attempt at manipulation that simply serves to split the community.  This description of hackers comes from the book Cyberpunk (reviewed on page 42): "The earliest self-described computer hackers, those at MIT who abhorred computer security, or anything else that would inhibit the sharing of information and free access to computers, had it in for Multics from the start.  MIT hackers often tried to bring the system to its knees, and occasionally they succeeded."  Those were the "old-style" hackers, not the "young punks" of today.  The tact is, we all speak a common language.  While there are many different forms of hacking, further categorization is not the answer.

Where have all the hackers gone?  They haven't really gone anywhere, although some would like you to believe they have There are more hackers today than ever before.  But they are becoming invisible out of fear.  We hope to see more people do whatever they can to get ideas and information flowing again.  The strength of our efforts will determine whether we move into new and uncharted territory or simply repeat history yet again.