CH 10: Why Hackers Hack

There is stability in a tripod. Two legs easily tip, four legs or more wobble if leg length or surface is uneven. Tripods sit firm. A hacking team's natural size seems to be three.

Jon is senior creative and hacker, Gloria leader and strategist, Mose bureaucracy guide and communicator. They all believe - if something evil is about to fall -- push it; but be sure you are on a stable platform when you push. Yes, the political situation in Elldee is unstable; but the three supports these individuals provide may be enough to maintain a firm mount for their hacking at the roots of evil.

They have been expressing ideas about Jon's desire to return to Eldee for some further hacking in vague terms; but the border they just crossed was more than physical. In fact they are now crossing several mental and emotional borders. It is time to delve into the depths of the project. They will never have greater assurance of privacy for planning than now. Their plans and effects are unknown to the villains, effects that will become known once this dedicated trinity starts crafting their arts.

Gloria starts the conversation, "Jon you just finished playing hacktivist in Eldee, is there a reason you feel it necessary to physically return?"

"Several infrastructure projects first off. Some of their printer memories are owned by a test hack, it's not been detected. I'll install it on more important units. I've also added some loops and shunts to their networking -- isolating some of their supplementaries, partially replicating them in the primaries, munging data flow. I'm sure their trust in systems has taken a blow. I'd like to take some systems out, and add another layer of confusion. I've also hacked their palace AI, it should jump and scream with the right inputs. I want us close when I softly squeeze the trigger."

A couple of big smiles respond.

Jon adds, "They are isolated and angry, I think we may be able to force them into a position where they feel it's safer for them to run than remain, a self imposed exile. That is where Mose can use their own bureaucracy as a fire hose to flood them along the gutter. Perhaps we can induce failure on a grand scale within their ranks. Gloria, with your planning we may be able to open a way for the FLC to liberate these people; strategy is your game -- not mine."

"Instead of a trading oppressors, a chance at freedom supported by Liberated Cantons." Mose muses, "you don't think small Jon. I agree, let's make Pahl swim down the gutter! He is nothing but a petty prince, awaiting removal at our leisure."

Gloria looks at Mose, "Why are you willing to get physical rather than sitting back throwing botnets at Pahl's depredations?"

"Get ready for my rant." Mose smiles and starts: "I was born in Elldee, during the reign of Pahl's father, Nohrm II. Scar was not as powerful then, but he was still in charge of the dissident camps where my parents died. I was too young to play a major part in the revolution, but when I discovered the winning coup was as bad as Nohrm, I slipped across the border. I tried to resist Pahl's return while undermining the Elldee military government, and did not have any real success. In Elldee government names and titles change like fads: Feudalism, Fascism, Communism, conservative and progressive, Democracy, and now Constitutional Monarchy -- but citizen's freedoms and prosperity kept shrinking even as the earth itself becomes ever more damaged. The names or forms do not seem to matter; if governments reserve for themselves rights denied the people. Regulations and unilateral interventions destroy freedom and shared abundance."

Mose checks to see if he is exceeding his rant permission, but both his listeners are still attentive. "Instead, each person must be able to control their own lives, property, and happiness. The right to personally decide, even if obviously not the best answer, is the foundational freedom. That allows everyone the right to pursue happiness in their own way. It also inspires well rewarded innovations that change everyone's lives for the better."

Mose is quiet as he corners his thoughts, then he changes direction; "Wanting to be part of a change that worked, I went into self-crafted training within the FLC. I've been cracking Elldee citizen control systems ever since. I'm one of those that Jon's charm projects hid, as I supported resistance in Elldee. I want to be there physically when the cleanup starts. Color it revenge if you wish; but I want to be sure evil is replaced with opportunity when we make Pahl fall. Elldee's people have been forced into a subsistence lifestyle they do not want. Individual freedoms can help them escape their poverty trap."

A sigh escapes Mose, and a ductile grin replaces it. "Yes, I will feel vindicated for my parents and myself with Elldee's release. More important then my emotions; real change is needed, not just a cycling of tyrants. The FLC has shown that free people do not need kings, presidents, prime ministers, law makers, or coercive leaders of any stripe. Sovereign individuals need to respect the property of others as others respect their property. Freedom must become self perpetuating."

Mose's speech slows and gains intensity, "In the old testament when free Hebrews wanted an enslaving king just like other nations, God told his prophet Samuel 'they have not rejected you, they have rejected me.' At our stop in the liberated canton of Lydia, I heard children chanting as they jumped rope: 'The Lydia has no king, The Lydia wants no king.' I want The Lydia's mindset for my people."

Mose is looking up toward the top right corner of the van while he finishes. His eyes now refocus and turn toward Gloria, "And how about you?"

Gloria takes a moment before responding, seemingly not sure where to start.

"I was what would business schools call a success. I ran a travel business with hundreds of locations and thousands of employees; tour guides, and agents. I helped people gain properties not subject to coercion -- happiness, satisfaction, understanding, memories, improved relationships.

With my own intangible properties also secured, I discovered I had acquired all the secondary accouterments: houses, lifestyle enhancements, sycophants. It was a hurricane, and I was content to travel in the eye. I was at the center of everything.

The political world was being terraformed by even stronger winds than those surrounding my life. Technology was deconstructing bureaucracies, and the crumbling bureaucratic leviathans were destroying life as they crashed to earth. As one of the nation states self-destructed, one of the pieces landed on my sister. God, I miss her."

She glances at Jon and can see the pain of remembrance in his face, as he concentrates on driving the forest road. "It was no one's fault, the bureaucratic age tried to cling to it's power structures long after they became effervescent bubbles, its final act of desperation was to drag down others with it.

I knew I needed to change, pretending my world was too big to fall would have me racing toward extinction with other dinosaurs. I broke up my company into a distributed network with an ownership interest granted to the employees, now independent associates. I then faded away into a self imposed learning regime."

"After a pause to organize her thoughts and re-center her emotions, Gloria continues. "I knew my sister had been a privacy tech. I had used her services, and like sisters will, she told me some of her secrets." Gloria did not look at Jon, but continued quickly.

"I studied bureaucrat tipping courses, read books and on-line tutorials, and worked with many of the living greats in privacy technology - except Jon. My sister loved this man, I knew him as a friend even before I found the sweet taste of protecting others. I'm here to work with Jon, learn from him, support this team. I want to increase freedom within Elldee, find ways to limit its oppressions. As part of this team, doing what I do best, my efforts are magnified. We are well met."

A long and contemplative silence follows, Jon is the first to gain his voice, although he does not try to fully contain his emotion. "It is obvious that we are freeing Elldee as much for ourselves as for the people -- that is how it should be. Our efforts will be stronger, our goals clearer, our determination firmly fixed."

A final pause, "Now all we have to do is survive long enough to accomplish that to which we are mutually committed, by our individual choices."

return to top of page.





100% of direct income from my lenses goes to micro-finance solutions for world poverty provided by the Grameen Foundation. The Grameen Foundation is creating a rising tide of positive influence upon our world.

Will YOUR life be based on what you want to use it to accomplish, or by random urges of what you want to do? What I wish to do now is start marketing my novel, Complicit Simplicity.



"Bastiat Free University is not being built to segment and distribute information - BFU already exists as a catalyst to reignite your love of learning." - Allan R. Wallace