1980s Hacker Manifesto

Forty years ago, The Mentor—Loyd Blankenship—published “The Conscience of a Hacker” in Phrack.

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 willing 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.

Tags: hacking, history of security

Posted on January 13, 2026 at 7:09 AM • 16 Comments

Comments

mrex • January 13, 2026 8:43 AM

The beauty of the baud. Thanks Bruce for reminding me of one of the seminal bits of cultural literacy that shaped my future and probably many others’, too.

Rontea • January 13, 2026 9:13 AM

This piece reflects a tension I’ve observed for decades: society often fears what it doesn’t understand, and hackers live squarely in that space. True hackers are motivated by curiosity, the pursuit of knowledge, and a desire to explore systems—not to cause harm. Yet, the legal and cultural frameworks we’ve built treat that curiosity as inherently criminal. It’s ironic when you consider the far more damaging behaviors routinely tolerated in corporate and governmental spheres. In the end, our security—and our progress—depend on embracing the inquisitive minds willing to challenge the status quo.

Steve • January 13, 2026 9:57 AM

It is very easy to see why someone would express the above, after all it looks like a clear picture. Corporations are evil and so on.

However one very important datum must be recognized, the correct target.

If mom does not want to give you that cookie, beating up your brother is the wrong target. And yet many do.

A messed up society that does not understand itself is, well messed up. What would be the best goal in pursuing a solution? One which helps as many as possible and hurt the fewest.

Don’t get me wrong, corporations are this legal entity under which many crimes are being justified – all for the investors. Allow people to hide behind something and they will sell their souls even for just a piece of chocolate.

Many, understandably, feel OK if society fails because they think it could not get any worse. Thing is a crash of society will offer even less to the individual and demand more to just stay alive. The attack angle should be what can I do which would be an effective blow that will help as much as possible for as many as possible with the least hurt.

When you set out to correct wrongs it is important to keep this in mind. Think win – win. Win – loose has a solid history of becoming loose – loose.

Fight the good fight with integrity and full knowledge of the outcome of your actions. Education of all parties is a secret weapon to accomplish many a goal. When understanding is achieved solutions become obvious. When a person actually realize the effects of their actions they want to make up for the damage they caused. This is true for all but the most lost.

KC • January 13, 2026 11:09 AM

lol. Loyd has had a lot of professional experience to add to that.

Nessimo • January 13, 2026 12:27 PM

My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.

This is a crime indeed. People must be judged by their actions alone. I don’t care what you think or say. I’m always watching what your hands are doing.

Also, arguing with a 40 year old text on the internet is a silly thing to do. Don’t judge me on that.

mark • January 13, 2026 12:57 PM

Steve, above, I have just one thing to say in response: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgan-cfo-warns-credit-card-rate-cap-could-hurt-us-consumers-economy-2026-01-13/

(Meanwhile, my credit union card is under 10%).

Andy • January 13, 2026 12:59 PM

We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons

This is theft. His comment applies to the telephone companies phone lines… The marginal cost looks like 0 but the business has to pay the capital costs of building that infrastructure. And turn a profit for itself.

From what I remember the cost went down due to the competition, MCI etc, and not from shaming the Bells

Anonymous • January 13, 2026 1:55 PM

The faithful encrypt with trust, and the divine decrypts with grace.

Ken D Boucher • January 13, 2026 10:10 PM

Steve:1 Secret Service: 0
Don’t tell me no lies and keep your hands to yourself.

Clive Robinson • January 14, 2026 5:36 AM

@ mealy

With regards,

“Remember HAVANA SYNDROME and all the people claiming it was a hoax?”

As I pointed out at the time, it was running the same way as brain damage in the US NFL, and we know how that turned out.

The thing people need to remember is the medical term “insult” is not the common usage of the word. In medicine it referres to any cause that effects the body on a more than temporary basis.

One thing we know about insults is that they can be accumulating the example most easily seen is “Miners White Finger” seen from extensive use of “jack hammers”.

Sadly as the NFL were able to hide behind the insults to players brains though accumulating were not visible untill autopsy due to the limitations of medical imaging systems.

I strongly suspect the same will be the case for those US personnel suffering currently.

But there is a problem you rarely get to hear about and that is the assumption the device is radiative.

Energy from a single point TEM source radiates out as a donut shape (look up “hairy ball theorem”[1] as to why). And so the energy gets spread over an increasingly large surface area thus is proportional to 1/(r^2).

Which would make such a single device way more dangerous to the operators than to the targets.

So the question arises about how the system gets harmful energy to the target in effect safely for the operator and other people and creatures (biologicals) in the path / vicinity?

I have some ideas based on ideas in WWII to make “radio beams” for guiding “bombers” onto target and when to release their bomb load. These same systems were later developed into both maritime and aeronautic guidance systems where they are still used for aircraft “Instrument Landing Systems”(ILS).

I’ve explained how I think this might work using two separated beam transmitter systems which use two different envelope modulation wave forms. Such that individually they do little damage to biologicals, but where the beams cross they add to form a different wave form that is very harmful to biologicals.

To make it safer for operators it would use two transmitters at each of the two devices or four separate devices. This could thus produce a very small area where the addition only happens at a known distance.

Of course the other option to safe guard the operators is “remote control” but that would make the devices considerably less covert.

[1] Yes it appears to be as silly a name as “a spherical cow”, but it’s a very real problem in topology and has real world issues for the likes of antennas,

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/maths-hairy-ball-theorem-has-surprising-implications/

Bob Paddock • January 14, 2026 8:25 AM

@Clive Robinson

“I’ve explained how I think this might work using two separated beam transmitter systems…”

Lt Col Thomas Bearden described such a Scalar Wave Interferometer decades ago.

“I have some ideas based on ideas in WWII to make ‘radio beams’ for guiding ‘bombers’ onto target and when to release their bomb load. …”

and

“To make it safer for operators it would use two transmitters at each of the two devices or four separate devices…”

This is called Four-Wave-Mixing. See:

Concetto R. Giuliano, “Applications of optical phase conjugation,” Physics Today, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 27-35, Apr. 1981.

Abstract: Light waves that are, in effect, time-reversed images of their original can serve to restore severely aberrated waves to their original state.

This in effect gives you the “Target Locked” of Star Trek.

I expect the technology has significantly advanced since these were published.

John Smith • January 14, 2026 10:03 AM

This very txt file has been sitting in my Documents folder as a continual reminder since Windows 3.11 to Windows 11.

Clive Robinson • January 14, 2026 3:27 PM

@ Bob Paddock,

The comment I made above appears to have been orphaned hopefully the OP gets to read it.

Rob1 • January 15, 2026 3:39 PM

It reminds my this passage of a mid-1990s novel :

“It turned out to be the computer store. The place was full of all that mysterious stuff I’ve never learned to use, which is a major sin in my business [private investigator]. Computers scare me because I grew up during decades when only governments, banks and major businesses had computers, and we knew they were up to no good. It was all 1984 stuff: computers were going to be used to keep tabs on people and control and oppress them. Okay, I was wrong, but the fear is still there. My generation never guessed that teenagers would use the damn things to spy on the government and big business, not the other way around. Come to think of it, that’s just about as scary.”

(John Maddox Roberts, The Ghosts of Saigon).

It seems to me that it didn’t last long.

78Y • January 15, 2026 7:34 PM

https://www.timesofisrael.com/beijing-tells-local-firms-to-stop-using-us-israeli-cybersecurity-software/

‘Chinese authorities have told domestic companies to stop using cyber security
software made by roughly a dozen firms from the US and Israel due to national security concerns, two people briefed on the matter said.

The US companies whose cybersecurity software has been banned include Broadcom-owned VMware, Palo Alto Networks, and Fortinet, while the Israeli companies include Check Point Software Technologies, the sources said.

Chinese authorities expressed concern that the software could collect and transmit confidential information abroad, the sources said. They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Cybersecurity firms are often staffed with intelligence veterans, they typically work closely with their respective national defense establishments, and their software products have sweeping access to corporate networks and individual devices – all of which at least theoretically provides a springboard for spying or sabotage, analysts say.

Last year, the Israel Defense Forces banned all Chinese cars from entering military bases, citing concerns that their cameras and connected systems could be used for intelligence gathering. The military has since reportedly further moved to prevent senior officers from using Chinese cars.’

Clive Robinson • January 16, 2026 6:05 AM

@ 78Y, ALL,

With regards,

“The US companies whose cybersecurity software has been banned include Broadcom-owned VMware, Palo Alto Networks, and Fortinet, while the Israeli companies include Check Point Software Technologies, the sources said.”

Whilst doing some “checking on the story” as “The Times of Israel” has a less than stellar reputation down below that of even Bloomberg when it comes to “Technical Stories”…

I found who their “the sources said” probably are,

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/beijing-tells-chinese-firms-stop-using-us-israeli-cybersecurity-software-sources-2026-01-14/

Anyway I’m still drilling down on it to see what further info can be squeezed from the basic story.

But in a way it’s a “good thing”…

We know that both Israel and the US now have laws in place to force “Covert corporate assistance” to their respective Guard Labour entities over and above the old US “National Security Letters” and similar.

We also know that US AV company products were terrible at finding “US Guard Labour Agency” malware to the point they were blind to it…

Suggesting previous that either considerable “pressure” was being applied applied or considerable cooperation given. Either way bad news for users.

However it was found that the Russian Kaspersky did find both US and Israeli malware rather more easily and quickly… So then the US ban on Kaspersky happened after this disparity of performance fell under “trade discussion”. Suggesting strongly to many that other motives were behind the ban.

Thus this “Ban from Beijing” will create a vacuum that will almost certainly be filled by Chinese and similar AV companies that will not be cooperative or be compelled by either the US or Israeli “guard labour entities”, to hide certain malware.

Thus news of US and Israeli “guard labour entity” activities in the Cyber domain are more likely to be “outed” and more “quickly”. So effectively forced into more targeted highly specific forms (remember “stuxnet and friends” got found because they turned up in all sorts of odd places and correlations were made).

1980s Hacker Manifesto

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