Hacking at the End of the Universe (Autumn, 1993) ------------------------------------------------- They did it again. For the second time, the hackers of Holland have thrown a party second to none. It is estimated that up to a thousand hackers from around the globe descended upon a campsite near Amsterdam for three days where they did what has never been done before: Merge high tech with the wilderness. Tents were set up throughout the site and an Ethernet was established to keep the various computers inside the tents connected. This in turn was hooked into the Internet. Yes, it was possible to be hooked into the Internet from a laptop in a tent in the middle of nowhere. And it still is. Hacking at the End of the Universe was organized by Hack-Tic, the Dutch hacker magazine. The spontaneous semi-anarchistic way in which everything fell together made many think of a Hacker Woodstock. It was an event a long time coming, which the hacker world needed. And even though very few Americans attended, we can still benefit from what happened this summer. Imagine a setting where paranoia is at a minimum, government agents keep their distance, questions are encouraged, and experimentation rewarded. This was the environment the Dutch hackers created. Forums on networks, phone phreaking, social engineering, and hacking techniques were attended by hundreds of enthusiastic people from a wide variety of backgrounds. This, despite the fact that Holland now has laws against computer hacking, proves that the hacker world has a very bright future. Many times we were asked if such an event would succeed in America. And it became hard to stop thinking of reasons why it wouldn't. After all, we live in one of the most self-censoring, paranoid, mass-media patrolled societies ever to have existed how could an event like this ever possibly work? It can, and so can a lot of other things. The trick is to know what we want to accomplish and work together to achieve it. For instance, a large hacker event like the HEU could easily be held in the United States next summer as part of 2600's tenth anniversary. (That's right, we've been doing this for a decade!) Instead of using a campsite, we could use a large warehouse in the middle of an easily accessible city. One section would be devoted to hooking up a massive network that would tie into the Internet. Another area would be used for forums where all kinds of topics would be addressed by people from all over the world. Another section would be for displays and exhibitions. It would be a 24 hour operation lasting for a week and there would be enough space for people to sleep. Sounds like a fantasy? It is, make no mistake. But we always have the ability to turn our fantasies into reality. It involves working together and using as many connections as we can. This means finding a cheap building to rent for a couple of weeks, getting imaginative and enthusiastic hackers to wire the place, and encouraging as many interesting and diverse people as possible to show up. The result, if successful, will be a radical change in the way hackers are perceived. We can initiate change and do things to technology that nobody has ever done before. Or we can just say we can. This reality extends way beyond a single event. Hackers can lead the way to technological access. It is our goal to get an incredibly economical Internet and voice mail link up and running in the near future. If you have or know of equipment that can be donated to this cause, please let us know. You could wind up changing history. And this is only the beginning. There are a lot of powerful idiots out there who want us to live within their closeminded and stagnant parameters. And a number of good people are being hurt because they question the logic. We cannot forget this. But dwelling upon it will only encourage us to come up with more reasons why we can't do all of the things we should be doing. When we drive away the fear and ignore the brain-dead bureaucrats, we stand a chance of actually getting somewhere. And whether it's the wilderness or a warehouse, we'l be the ones creating a network.