Cyberpunks and Hackers

                                 Cyberpunks

Being a cyberpunk is a lifestyle. Cyberpunks are hackers, crackers, and
phreakers. Just being a webhead or computer geek is not enough. To really
qualify you must be able to not only make computers do what you want, but
make them do it when they were told to do something else ie: hacking and
cracking. The big difference between a Cyberpunk and a computer geek is in
attitude! The cyberpunks are at the core of this thing we call the net.
Cyberpunks spend way to much time at their computers. Remember the net has
around for a long time, the only thing that has changed is that there are
now a lot more people using it.

The first use of "cyberpunk" to describe a type of literature is credited to
Gardner Dozois, who was the editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction
Magazine in the the early '80s. He got it from the title of a short story by
Bruce Bethke, "Cyberpunk". The author William Gibson problably the most
widely known cyberpunk author. He wrote the trilogy Neuromancer, Count Zero,
and Mona Lisa Overdrive.
His world is set in the near future describing a rather dark world where
corporations rule the world, and information is power. This world is
populated with cyberjocks, super hackers who run the web of the future to
steal information. His latest work is Virtual Light

Well the net is probably the best place to learn about Cyberpunks and
hacking. Cyberpunks hang out on the net. The links on my page will get you
started. There is a great deal of information on the movement and lifestyle
available on the net. Just follow the links. I donÕt think there is a single
definition of what is a cyberpunk. My favorite is: ÒWhatÕs the difference
between a computer geek and a cyberpunk? Attitude dude Attitude! A geek
donÕt have one.Ó A cyberpunk is more likely to be found at a rave than then
the opera, but might just listen to Mozart while heÕs ÒworkingÓ. Of course
computers are a big part of the cyberpunk culture. Without the ÒcyberÓ a
cyberpunk is just a punk. An addiction to the technology is a given.
Cyberpunks are everywhere. You may even know some and not realize it.
Cyberpunks cannot be stereotyped anymore than any other group. They usually
live on the fringe in some way or another. I may live in a little house in
the suburbs with a wife and kid now, but it hasnÕt always been that way. I
am not exactly mainstream now, the most obvious sign is a rather long
ponytail. I am afraid I have never been ÒnormalÓ, whatever that is.

Some out there feel that anyone who calls themselves a cyberpunk are just
wanaybes, for me it was just a good term to describe what I have always
been. Course I have a distorted outlook, I have been hacking longer than
most of them have been alive.

Books on cyberpunks:

William GibsonÕs ÒNeuromancerÓ is a great starting point to get a feel for
Cyberpunk culture in literature. His other books are Count Zero, Mona Lisa
Overdrive ( 2 and 3 of the trilogy) , Virtual Light and Burning Chrome which
is a collection of short stories. Bantam and Ace are the publishers of the
paperbacks editions. These are available in paperback in most bookstores. I
donÕt know where you are but most public libraries should have them as well.
Many libraries and almost all bookstores will order them for you. Gibson is
NOT a cyberpunk and knows almost nothing about computers. His work is so
popular because of his prose and his strange and wonderful characters.

Here a few quotes from ÒNeuromancerÓ..

ÒThe sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead
channel.Ó

ÒCyberspace. A consensual Hallucination experienced daily by billions of
legitimate operators..... A graphic representation of data abstracted from
the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity.
Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and
constellations of data.Ó
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                                   Hackers

ÒHackersÓ come in many flavors days. The word is used by the media to
describe all of these.

1. Hackers - The Code freaks - (ThatÕs me) They know computers inside and
out, how to make them dance the dance and sing the song.

2. Crackers - They break into computer systems. Operating Systems and their
security are the meat.

3. CypherPunks - The masters of cryptography.

4. Phreakers - This group knows how to use the phone system in ways Ma Bell
does not approve of.

A good hacker must have knowledge of all these areas, but will specialize in
one. Crackers find the door, Hackers provide the tools find and open it,
CypherPunks to combination to crack it open, and the Phreakers cover your
tracks.

Hacking is a difficult topic to discuss these days. Back in Ô82 I did a lot
of hacking, I was part of a group of others that had the same interests. We
defined ÒHackingÓ differently then though. To us hacking was ÒCode HackingÓ.
We would take apart other peoples programs just to see how they worked, then
put them back together again, with a few changes of course. We would also
spend many hours just writing some little bit of code that did something
really tricky. Then you passed it around the group for ÒShow and TellÓ.

My little program IRQpatch (you can find it on my game page) is a good
example of a very simple code hack. The IRQpatch modifies another program to
change what it does. This is done by changing just 2 bytes of the code. The
program never even knows that it was changed. IRQpatch comes with a file
that describes this process in detail.

We cruised about on-line a lot too, using telnet. We mostly needed to
communicate with other groups like us spread around the country. Some
systems would GIVE you access, and a small file storage area. All you had to
do was logon as a Guest and ask for it. We would sometimes use an insecure
computer system without permission to leave messages and code tricks to each
other, but we would NEVER harm a system. Security was pretty much a joke in
those days, but there was not much need for it. In fact if anyone even knew
we were there, then we felt we had failed. We used to play with the security
systems like they were a game. Once you got in you usually just found a
small file to pick up (to show you had made it) and never come back. You
NEVER did anything that might harm the system or any data, that just would
not be right. The worst thing I ever did was modify the sysops login file to
say "You know you have a lousy security system here - The Black Dragon". I
only did that because the security was sooo bad, and the system had a lot of
vital data on it, (it was a corp site) that I felt sorry for them. Around
1984, '85 a bunch of kids started to break into computers and trash them.
Most of my group, including me got off the net then. These kids screwed
things up for everyone. I got back on the net again of course, but things
changed real fast, and now it you start poking around a computer firewall
the FBI will show up at your house and take away your computer. That kinda
takes all the fun out of it.

The stuff you see in the movies is NOT real. You know...The hero logs onto
the system and cracks the password in 10 seconds. Yeah right! Hacking into a
computer system takes days, even weeks, of careful study. You must find out
a lot about the system and what holes may exist in the security system. Then
you better be covering your tracks or you will spend a lot of time in
prison. These days the only time I hack into a system is because the owner
of that system is paying me to do so. Network security is big business these
days, Sysops want a friendly hack attempt, BEFORE they get unfriendly one.
Or some company wants to recover some data they have lost.
                             
                         Cyberpunk and Hacker Movies

There are several movies and TV shows with cyberpunks in them. As usual
Hollywood doesn't quite get it. But you may want to check them out
anyway...(I promise to finish this list and get the links up real soon...)
 [Image]WarGames - This is probly the closest to reality that I have seen.

I even had program just like the one in the movie would search for computers
within a telephone exchange.
HACKERS - Havn't seen this one, but the trailers looked cool.

The NET - Seen it, not real but I like Sandra Bullock so it didn't

matter
TekWar - Cool show, boy I wish I had some of the gear they do....

Sneakers - Good movie, but once again they could break into a
system is seconds.. Yeah right!

Johnny Mnemonic - I havn't seen it yet, but the short story was
great!
                               

Here are some Web sites relating to Cyberpunk and the virtual net community.

            Cyber Warrior Network How 'bout that.. It's not quite what is

     seems, this the home site for an internet game called "Rubies of
     Eventide". Cool even if they did steal my name (I've had mine for years
     and years).
       The Tribal Voice a Net community eZine, this is not about
Native Americans