Phrack!
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Language is constantly evolving, not only by time and location, but also because of usage and changing cultural associations.
When I think of the word “manifesto”, the example which leaps to mind is the Communist Manifesto, obviously due to the title, but also because it is short and clearly laid out. Manifesto is defined as “a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer”, and such statements are generally associated with a movement rather than an individual.
It’s a loaded term, though, and it is easy to argue about whether a given document is best described in this way. For example, the US Declaration of Independence is brief, clear, and intended to describe the views and intent of the Second Continental Congress. As such, I would consider it a clear example of a manifesto, though I rarely hear it described as such.
It’s also true that a document can fall into multiple categories. While the Communist Manifesto and the US Declaration of Independence both seem to meet the definition of a manifesto, what about Mein Kampf? It includes elements of a manifesto, but could also be described as an autobiography, a treatise on political theory, propaganda, or simply as a narcissistic, genocidal rant. Or, what about the so-called “Unabomber Manifesto”? While Ted Kaczynski appears to have acted alone, and the document was 35,000 words long, it appears to meet the criteria for a manifesto, particularly since some of the ideas expressed in the document “resonate” rather broadly.
In other cases, the term is sometimes stretched, either by the author, or by others. NPR writer Mark Memmott noted two examples of documents written by mass shooting suspects, in New Zealand and in El Paso, USA, noting that the use of the word “manifesto” might suggest that the statements are on behalf of a broad movement, rather than a single individual. The writers clearly seem to want people to think that they represent a broader movement, but when others use “manifesto” to describe their writing, does that give them more “credit” than they deserve?
In my opinion, documents such as these latter two are better described as “rants” or “screeds” which either pretend to be “manifestos” in an attempt to acquire credibility, or are described as such by others with their own goals in mind.
At any rate, that’s how we get to a document which, in my mind, fits the “pure” definition of a manifesto.
The Hacker Manifesto was written by a hacker named Loyd Blankenship, better known as “The Mentor”. The actual title was “The Conscience of a Hacker”, and it is available in the archives of Phrack, where it first appeared. It can also be found in the Internet Archive, though the original presentation feels better, somehow. (For more on all of this, check out the excellent episode of Darknet Diaries: Episode 170: Phrack)
“Hacker” is a word that I keep trying to define, both to myself and others. Part of the problem is that it means different things, to different people, at different times. My latest attempt included references to the Chaos Computer Club, and came close, but still didn’t fully satisfy me.
This is different. While I would have appreciated it when it was written (had I known about it), it hits me in a far more visceral way now, particularly when I see how much things have changed from those early days. It makes me sad that the world has gotten so much darker in many ways, where the online world is now full of government and criminal organizations trying to find and exploit talented young people. But it also makes me realize that the hacker ethos is still there, and that young people can read something like this and feel the same recognition that we can do more and the urge to make that happen.
While I was researching this, I found a playlist for an album called Crime of Curiosity, by an artist known as Amplitude Problem. The album is based on The Conscience of a Hacker, and closes with the track “Can’t Stop Us All”, which features the The Mentor.
I include the original version of the manifesto, below, in its entirety. Everyone should read it, think about it, and feel it.
There will always be hackers.
Cheers!
==Phrack Inc.== Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The following was written shortly after my arrest... \/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/ by +++The Mentor+++ Written on 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 1950's 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 will- ing 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+++ _______________________________________________________________________________