Today they have caught another one, it appears in all the newspapers. "Young man arrested for computer crime", "hacker arrested for breaking into a bank system". "Damn kids. They are all the same". But can they, with their cheap psychology and 1950s brains, even get a glimpse of what's behind a hacker's eyes? Have they ever stopped to think about what makes them behave like this, what has made them what they are? I am a hacker, come into my world. My world begins at school. I'm smarter than the rest of my classmates, I find what they teach very boring. "Damn teachers. They are all the same". I can be in school or a high school. I've heard them explain hundreds of times how fractions are reduced. I understand all that. "No, Mr. Smith, I haven't written my paper. I have it in my head. "Damn kids. I'm sure he copied it. They're all the same. Today I discovered something. A computer. One moment, this is cool. It does what I want it to do. If it makes mistakes, it's because I've told it to. Not because it doesn't like me, is afraid of me, thinks I'm a smartass, or doesn't like teaching or being here. Damn kids. All they do is play. They are all the same. Then something happens... a door opens to a new world... everything through the phone line, like heroin through the veins, an electronic pulse is emitted, I was looking for a refuge from the incompetences of every day... and I find myself with a keyboard. "This is it... here I belong... ". I know everyone... even if I have never met them, spoken to them or heard their voice... I know them all... damn kids. He's hooked on the phone again. They're all the same... you can bet they're all the same... you shake their hand and they take your arm... and they complain that we give them everything so chewed up that when they get it, it doesn't even taste anymore. We are either ruled by sadists or ignored by the apathetic. Those who have something to teach desperately look for students who want to learn, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack. This world is ours... the world of electrons and switches, the beauty of baud. We use an existing service, without paying for it that could have been cheaper if it weren't for those speculators. And you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek to expand our knowledge... and you call us criminals. We don't differentiate the color of our skin, or nationality, or religion... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you make war, you murder, you swindle the country and you lie to us trying to make us believe that you are good, and you still call us criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is curiosity. My crime is to judge people by what they say and what they think, not by what they look like. My crime is to be smarter than you, something you will never forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You can remove some of us, but not all of us... after all, we are all the same.
