11 de maio de 2006

Palavras de um profeta sueco

To categorically state that hackers, phreakers, virus makers, or crackers are public enemies is bullshit. It’s simply pointing to superficial factors and appealing to authority.

Saying that a phreaker, taking some phone time in a fiber cable to talk to his buddies in the States, is a thief because the law says so, is placing 100% trust in the makers of the law. It’s reducing the problem to legal text. It’s a senseless oversimplification. Every law is constantly in motion – that’s how it actually works. You’re one of the people that are obligated to change the law if you realize that it is wrong.

Isn’t the real crime of the hacker that of challenging values and power structures that seek to distribute influence and property unequally? For his or her own gain in the beginning, certainly, but still. The true crime of the hacker is perhaps that he or she has “cracked” human software, the social protocol that’s been programmed into out minds since birth.”

Profeta Linus Walleij em Copyright does not exist, livro de 1998 nunca publicado em papel, que eu saiba, mas disponível na rede em HTML e PDF. Altamente recomendado.

Publicado em 11 de maio de 2006 às 11:20 na coleção Miscelânea