The Hacker Manifesto

The following was written shortly after my arrest, January 8, 1986.

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal," "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...

Damn kids. They're all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950s technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?

I am a hacker, enter my world...

Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...

Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."

Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...

Or feels threatened by me...

Or thinks I'm a smart ass...

Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...

Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found.

"This is it... this is where I belong..."

I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all...
after all, we're all alike.

-The Mentor

The Hacker Manifesto

introduction

In January 1986, "The Hacker Manifesto" was penned by a writer known only as The Mentor, whose real name is Loyd Blankenship. Published in the underground hacker magazine *Phrack*, this manifesto quickly became a cornerstone document for the hacker community and those interested in the ethos surrounding this subculture. Written after the author's arrest for computer hacking, "The Hacker Manifesto" is both a defense and a philosophical statement that articulates a hacker’s psychological and social drivers.

The document, also known by its alternative title, "The Conscience of a Hacker," captures the frustration and alienation felt by a generation that grew up with the budding personal computing movement of the 1980s. The Mentor articulates a perspective that sees hacking not as an act of criminal malice but as an expression of the thirst for knowledge, a rebellion against a society that, in the hacker’s view, fails to understand or appreciate their curiosity and technical ingenuity.

"The Hacker Manifesto" declares that the true hacker craves knowledge, challenges, and the joy of exploration, rather than material gain or destruction. It positions hackers against the prevailing societal norms that value profit over knowledge and control over freedom. The text resonates with themes of freedom of information, anti-authoritarianism, and the empowering potential of technology to liberate and protect personal freedoms.

Today, "The Hacker Manifesto" remains a critical piece of hacker literature and has been referenced in discussions about digital rights, cybersecurity law, and the ethical dimensions of hacking. As we continue to grapple with issues of privacy, security, and the role of technology in society, The Mentor’s manifesto offers a window into the early digital counterculture and remains a poignant reminder of the complex motivations that drive individuals to explore and expand the boundaries of digital realms.

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