Skyhigh 19 The Conscience of a Cracker by King Fisher

The Conscience of a Cracker by King Fisher




To me, the person and the scener behind the handle
King Fisher of Triad has always been very mysterious.
I have never faced this person, nor have I talked to,
or have had any letter correspondance with him, and
eventhough then, I have a very clear impression of
him. I don't know how I shall explain it. Maybe I some-
how look up to him. But then again how can I do so, if
I don't even know him. Well I really can't answer that
question. Why all this nonsense you ask.. Well I don't
know, perhaps I just had to start this chapter in any
way, or maybe it's just because....

To make a long story short, (if it isn't too late..) then
I have recieved a letter from the above mentioned
person. It said that I maybe could use this for my
magazine, and to use it if I would.. Well first of all I
must say that I most definetely will. Second I must
thank you Linus for this text. My first impression is
that you are some kind of philosopher. Somehow your
words have a huge affect on me. Mentioning subjects
like Zen-philosophy, Nietzsche, cyberspace, William
Gibson among others make me tingle. Combined with
your english (which most English men would kill for!!)
and your 'deep' words you tease the inner of most o
us. I will not reveal my opinion concerning the text,
but let the readers make up their own mind. (BUT, you
definetely touch something right - 'nuff said..).

Ok, why don't we see your wise words, instead of me
babbeling the time away. It's all yours..



THE CONSCIENCE OF A CRACKER
THE CONSCIENCE OF A CRACKER

BY  KING FISHER
BY  KING FISHER


They say a Nihilist is a person who deny common
values. This is not the whole truth. A Nihilist is a per-
son who denies certain values and builds new values.
A person who just deny common values and wants to
kick and destroy society is rather an Anarchist or
plain Vandal, a prophet of non-values. Myself I pre-
fer to call myself an adherer of the Zen-philosphy,
the Fallibilism, or simply: a person who believes there
are no such fixed entities as "good", "evil" or "pri-
vate property", but they are all mere constructions
of the human mind. I am a follower of Nietzsche in
some  sense, but  I  want  to  reach  beyond  Nietzsche
since Nihilism is always creative.
They say crackers are evil bugs who just wants
to rip off software companies and steal every penny
out of the pockets of poor programmers. Myself I
would say: "Information is free, just like the air, and
noone has the right to build walls around it". If you
thought crackers were just another bunch of raging
Anarchists wanting to tear down and destroy every-
thing just for the fun of it, you are dead wrong. We
are infact worse than that.
We tear down, yes, but we are proud of it, and we
do it because we have to. Someone has to set freedom
to this information. I crack not because I hate socie-
ty, but because I love it and want to envolve it. I
consider cracking a highly political action, and I think
it is RIGHT to crack.
Now you are confused. Let me explain once again.
This year, 1995, I can walk into any public library,
take out ANY book, go to the photocopier and make a
copy of every page of it if I like. This is perfectly
legal, atleast here in Sweden. The Swedish state (and
many other states as well) have decided it is every
citizens right to copy a book pages if s/he wants to.
Now, I walk home. I look on my CD-player. I am not
allowed to copy any of my CD's to tape if I wish. It is
illegal. I look on my videotapes. I am not allowed to
copy them. It is illegal. I look on my disk boxes con-
taining some Microsoft software I once bought. I am
not allowed to copy these disks either. Well, I might
make copies for safety reasons, but not to give away
to friends. It is illegal.
This makes me sick! What's the difference between
Software, CD's, Videotapes and the Books at my pub-
lic library ? It's all information, heavens sake! The
problem in this case is not the information itself. The
problem is that the society hardwired my brain to be-
lieve information could be owned, just like land or
money, or like the Greek or the Cotton Farmers in
southern America believed PEOPLE could be owned,
and called it slavery. I realize I am a slave of the
information-controlling society. Because that is what
it is all about. Control. Complete and utter total con-
trol.
I am not telling you I want chaos to replace copy
right regulations. If I wanted chaos I would be a de-
structive beast and not a constructive citizen. I love
our society, and I think it is one of the best things
about the world there is. The cyberspace communities
like the Scene or Usenet, I love even more since they
are international multi-cultural. That is why I want
to tell the society there is something wrong, I want
to blow the whistle while there is still time.
I do not dislike or hate software companies. in
fact, I wnat software companies. I rather dislike the
social structure and economic therms that both peo-
ple and companies are bound by, and have to obey. I
believe both companies and citizens to be prisoners
of the economic system. You say someone has to pay.
Why? What is "pay" anyway? What is "owned knowled-
ge" and "public knowledge"? Which information am I
allowed to own? Which  information  am  I  allowed to
carry in my head?
To the people of the post-moderne society eco-
nomics, ownership and right to information is a religi-
on. They adhere to economic gods and think they will
be redempted the day the become yuppies in suits and
ties, that the guy owning the most cars and electro-
nic gadgets when he dies will win the game.  My  god
how I hate these semi-gods. Information is all there
is, yuppiheads. Perhaps William Gibson was the first
to realize this in 1982. Yet very few people have un-
derstood what he really meant. Maybe he was not
fully aware of it himself.
The necessary change in society is to take the
control of information away from huge companies and
states and give it back to the people who owns it, or
the world is likely to look exactly as William Gibson
described  it  in  "Neuromancer".  Therefore,  we  call
ourselves cyberpunks. We are outlaws, wired up and
connected. We bring the new era. To us, information
electronics is not as symbol of status or a way to
earn money and respect, but an extension of the hu-
man mind. That is why Timothy Leary called the PC the
LSD of the 90's - computers seem to widen peoples'
views quite a bit.
We do not want to steal from the companies. Hell
no. We just want our citizen rights back. If I got a
piece of information, I want to have the right to copy
it. If you try to stop me, I will bite  for sure.  Don't
you touch my privacy! Get out of my life!
My ideology burns for me like a lamp in the light.
This is not an ideology of Liberalism, nor Socialism,
Conservatism, Communism or any of these ideologies
you know from school. This one is called Cyberpunk.
Those syndicates popping up around the globe,
those pirates earning heaps of money from selling
games to poor computerfreaks, thus making themsel-
ves a living parasites of our society, THOSE you can
hunt down and kill if you like. Noone will miss them.
BUT DO NOT TOUCH THE CRACKERS AND SWAPPERS, for
those are not the enemies. A real cyberpunk would
never charge for information. He only swap, and I re-
gard his right to do so. Some may not.
I do not want to destroy. I want to create.
Thus spake King Fisher.


Of course you can reach me for comments or additions:
XXXXXXXXXXXXX aka King Fisher / Triad
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Yep this was the end of the text and thoughts from
KF. If you have any comments or reaction for this, I
would love to see it too, so that it could be brought
in an upcomming issue of this magazine (if it is ok with
you and KF..).

To you Linus, I would encourage you to send me more
stuff like this, if you feel like. Perhaps a part of the
hacker texts, you have released..
BIZ KID
BIZ KID

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