The Conscience of a Hacker

I think you should read it again, for one it indicates what kind of hacking he means in the opening paragraph.

I'm on my phone, I'll write some more when I get home.

Edit: Something came up so I don't have the time to write much. I will say that what you object to isn't snark, it's subculture. Subculture isn't around much anymore like it were in the 80s and 90s. Also information wasn't as abundant back then as it is today. I guess people have to decide for themselves if they want to understand or dismiss it, a starting point could be the "cfi-en" package in ubuntu/debian.

The world has changed a lot since then. It doesn't feel hollow to me, but it definitely feels like a time capsule, some kind of historic document. Man, there was a printout of this on my dorm wall. My hair is going gray now. So it goes.

It was such a different world back then. Linux was new, and most people I knew bought it on CD-ROMs because it took too damn long to download. But it beat paying for a copy of Windows or...well, Windows. There was open source software, but nothing on the scale like you see today. And it was hard to get information on how things worked. Today, I can download the service manual for my TV in a handy PDF. Back then, I would have had to know somebody who had a copy and was willing to photocopy it for me if I paid him a few bucks.

Billy Idol paraphrased The Cyberpunk Manifesto (http://www.sterneck.net/cyber/branwyn-cyberpunk/index.php) when he said "information is power and currency in the virtual world we inhabit". Back then, information was scarce. So was access to hardware and software. Not like today. It's probably cliche to say it, but I have a 1GHz Unix machine in my pocket. That still blows my mind.

It's much easier to learn how to program now. It's much easier to quench that thirst for knowledge. And it's much easier to own a decent computer.

I wish this link was presented with more context of what it was like being a geek in the 90s. Maybe there's a book I can write some day.

I find it interesting that JARGON defines hack as "to carve furniture with an axe"; and that the author of the Hacker Manifesto made a living in later life by selling handcrafted furniture.

the author is more likely approaching 40, which may be more interesting.

Galt's speech is, from what I remember, a 20 pages long ultra-verbose pamphlet rather than a single page fast paced read like this.

But you are right that both read somewhat like "I am so much better than these other evil people who don't understand me". But many manifesto-like writings sound like that. Also lots of stuff written by teen agers/early twenties.

Hacker is to cracker as John Galt is to Ragnar Danneskjöld

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html ... what sticks with me most from this: crackers break things and hackers make things.

Phrack was a staple of the 1990s phreaker/hacker culture. Phreak + Hack = Phrack. It dates back to the days when you had to go to a real book store to get books and magazines, and most didn't carry a big selection of computer magazines because computers still weren't a mainstream thing yet. Sometimes you'd find Dr. Dobbs, but that was for people who wore ties to work and drew Data Flow Diagrams and drank black coffee. Mostly, you'd find fluff about the latest 486 boxes from name-brand manufacturers and reviews of the hottest CD-ROM games.

2600 ("The Hacker Quarterly") was a print magazine, but with limited distribution because carrying a "hacker" magazine was like stocking child pornography. I got all sorts of comments & questions from the people ringing up my purchase.

Phrack sidestepped all that with online distribution, since the people they wanted reading it were already on the Internet and BBSs. They built a reputation for useful content and good writing. There were many imitators, but Phrack was the real deal, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next issue even if I barely understood half of it.

Obama 2012!