Comment by notastartup | Hacker News Reader

Comment by notastartup | Hacker News Reader

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I remember in the late 90s I was 10 or 11 and I figured out how to use the public library internet for more than the limit of 30 minutes.

I wanted to use internet so bad but I was not allowed a computer so I always hung out at the public library and I wished more than anything to use the internet as much as possible.

I thought by asking how does the computer know when the 30 minute is up? There must be a timer! Can I prevent the timer?

Sure enough, for half a second there's a dos terminal in windows 95 that is displayed when I restart the computer. It took a few tries but I managed to close it. 30 minutes passed and I was still on it. then an hour, another hour passes and I'm still not logged out!

I used the internet all the day from morning to dark. I let my sister use it too when I wanted to take a 'break'. I would see people check the wait list look over at me and leave very annoyed.

The next week, the librarian who remembered me told me they would need my library card as collateral, and that they will be keeping tabs on the time. the jig was up.

This was my hacker moment. not exactly sophisticated but I wanted something so bad and I got it.

Now I will have to share my own library story. When I was in middle school I loved going to the library, reading books, comics, manga , magazines. In summer I used to go very often to the library. I would walk from my house to my local public library and go straight to he bathroom so that I could wipe the sweat from my face and arms. I've had some of my happiest memories in that library. I will share my most significant experiences.

The computers at the local public library had Windows (XP maybe?), we could use them for an hour or more depending on how many people wanted to use the computers. They also had computers in a kid section which had some games and limited internet access (the library's portal) and some more computers in another section which only had access to the library's portal. Once I was using a computer which was only supposed to be used to check books, somehow I discovered that a lot of times the library's portal also had a link to the item in Amazon, and from Amazon I could get into Google and then to any website. I got caught and scolded by a librarian, she told me "If you ever used this computers to get into the internet again, we are going to cancel your library card" or something like, well I never used those computers for the internet again. I used the ones in the kids section and it felt awesome.

Another significant thing that at that time didn't seem that significant was when I checked out a thick programming book on C or C++ I am not sure. I had a vague idea about what a program was and I had read thick books before. I didn't even had a computer at my house but I was so curious. I opened it tried to make sense out of the text but I couldn't, it seemed like Chinese. The next day I returned the book and I never again got interested in programming until high school.

    Another significant thing that at that time didn't seem 
    that significant was when I checked out a thick 
    programming book on C or C++ I am not sure. I had a vague
    idea about what a program was and I had read thick books
    before. I didn't even had a computer at my house but I 
    was so curious. I opened it tried to make sense out of 
    the text but I couldn't, it seemed like Chinese. The next
    day I returned the book and I never again got interested 
    in programming until high school.

I did a similar thing, but being so desperate for a computer around the late 90s, I eventually found an old Intel 286 computer that was abandoned in the closet. It had monochrome monitor and I found something called QBASIC. I went to the library and took out very heavy book on it and ended up just copying the source code from the book. I didn't understand the code a great deal but the game ran after running through several pages. I thought it was interesting but realized trying to make a game is going to be very tough.

What sparked my interest soon after that was creating my own website after my dad helped me host it on a free server. I still have a copy of it backed up on a cd somewhere. It was created with Netscape Navigator. I showed my teacher and classmates. It was magic. It was so awesome.

I took a course that taught Visual Basic and also QBasic in junior high. It bored me because we were making very simple apps that I already knew. Wasn't learning anything new. Also whenever I sped ahead or began working on other things instructor would emphasize that I was to follow her step by step in an excruciatingly slow pace that the rest of the students had to follow. If she saw someone speeding ahead she would get angry and say STOP. Killed my interest in programming.

Then came along counter-strike and and things pretty much went downhill from there. It ruined my academic career playing it so much. I found out that the guy who created counter strike also graduated from the university I would attend some years after.

It wasn't until I saw my high school friend (nerdy guy who I used to tease in high school but was secretly jealous of his programming knowledge) in University that he inspired me to do what I thought was unthinkable, learn how to code again. "You just stick with it" is what he told me when I asked how he did it. He would show me the windows apps he made and I would be amazed how one could create something from nothing. Even now, that is the magic that drives me. Something out of nothing, and I stuck with it.

I was 15 at the time. I was on the internet 24/7 frequenting various communities, back when any "scene" had its own "official" forum.

I was primarily interested in gamehacking and web exploitation. I made a few friends from these communities and we often shared stupid exploits with eachother such as uploading some html file deep in a large corporations file structure and linking it between us for laughs.

My friend messages me one day that he managed to upload a c99 shell on a large website. He linked me to it, but deep within the structure to a plain text database of millions of credit cards.

Fast forward two months later: I'm ratting out every connection I know along with emails/names/info to the police, after they kicked my door down and seized literally every computing device in my house.

Phones, computers, tablets, desktop computers, and my NAS'. It's been 8 years and I have yet to hear from the police and they have dodged my emails, in person visits, and calls every time.

I lost over $10,000 worth of computer equipment. This was my hacker moment.

Ouch, that hurts.

Pre-internet, early 80s, I had my first computer, a Commodore 64. I was pretty active on the local BBS's and some long distance ones via an open modem relay I discovered at a local General Motors plant while wardialing.

I started using a new service called Quantum Link and hung out with a lot of shady characters that were doing phreaking and credit card number passing.

That's a path I probably would have continued down until one day I received a call from a guy saying he was with the FBI, that they new what I was doing, and were going to be paying me a visit.

Being something like 12, 13 years old, I freaked out and quickly hid all my pirated floppies and took my C=64 down to my friends house to hide it.

After a couple of weeks my patience wore out and I got my system back, but kept my nose clean after that (other than copying software, you couldn't have a C=64 and not trade with friends:).

It was only after four or five years later that I found out that the "FBI agent" was actually a friend of my friend's older brother. Doh! Probably all for the best.

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