Birth of a Low-Tech Hacker (Winter, 1991-1992)
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By The Roving Eye

I hope by this article that you can see how a hacker is born in a totally
different culture than yours.

I was born on the coldest day in North India in 46 years, though I do not think
that that was the true birth of the hacker that I call myself. I was born into
a poor family and in place of the usual inclination for crime that goes with
such a background, I was instead given three things: a permanent dark tan, a
curious brain, and a desire to beat the system with that curious brain. It was
this combination of the last two that gave me the hacker spirit that I share
with you, whereas everything else about me is very different. All my life I
have thought of ways to defeat authority and power, but always within the
framework of their own system. When I was little, I always found loopholes in
my parents' statements and got away with whatever I wanted. At the age of eight
I was already experimenting with radios, trying to make magnets and so on. When
I was ten, I learned to read circuit diagrams and I started making my own
10-bit binary adding machine using only simple switches, small bulbs, and a
battery. My parents were impressed and so I got my first book allowance. For
the equivalent of a dollar a month, I could get whatever Soviet books I wanted.

But that was not enough for me. I started my own library with books that my
older friends donated, and by twelve I had a cataloged library of four hundred
books. I now found that because of my good knowledge of things, I could often
get away with all sorts of things. I soon learned to manipulate the water meter
so that it would not move at all and, thus, the company would charge us by the
flat rate. By experimenting I got the electric meter to run slowly when I stuck
a magnet to the side. The technology was so simple that even I could defeat it
at the age of thirteen.

But India is a low-tech country. I had not seen a credit card or a touch-tone
phone or even been to an airport before I came to the United States. So I had
to find other avenues for my talents.

At thirteen, my parents were sick of my tricks and sent me away to boarding
school. It was there that I found the real inspiration. First and foremost, I
defeated the system to switch the lights out at lights out time. By putting a
switch in parallel, I could switch the lights on from inside the dormitory,
after the teacher had put them out from outside. My father used to work in
research then. Using the excuse of a science project, I got him to get me a
photocell. Using this, we put a trip on the main dorm door to warn us when the
master came. Finally, we put a power relay to the lights with input from the
radio, and we had our own mini disco. Soon I was unstoppable.

One adventure led to another. The school had a few BBC Acorn Electron
computers, which we used to "become familiar with computers." Actually, they
were no good for this or any purpose. The thing we did use them for was to get
to our billing records. The student computer room was separated from the school
computer room by only a grill, to save the air conditioning costs. One night
two friends and I managed to remove a section of this grill and hook up an IBM
keyboard and monitor to the school system. Then we placed this keyboard as that
of one of the Acorn Electrons, so no one would suspect anything; even when a
teacher walked by, he only commended us on our efforts to educate ourselves.

It was not long before we had used the accountant s daughter s name as the
password to break in. We did not change anything, though, but the thrill of
being able to was so great. Soon my friend was able to acquire a "keyboard tap."
This is a great device that lets you put two keyboards and monitors on a
computer, and switch between them by flipping a switch. I am really surprised
that in the mass of tangled wires that only the fellow from the company
understood; no one ever found the tap device for a full semester.

My friend was rich and had a computer at home, and he did all the work, and my
job was merely to be a lookout, keep trying passwords, or something like that.
I had no clue as to what my friends were doing most of the time, because they
already knew about all this stuff, and they never had time to explain. But I
tried to learn the system on my own. Whenever I had time, I would be back at
the computer. Not, as I look back now, that it did much good. Without the
manuals I just wasted most of my time.

You must understand that in our sort of technological setting, this was quite
an achievement for all of us. We looked at our grades, saw other people's
reports and so on quite at will, all the time right under the nose of the
people. And because of the thrill the whole thing gave me, a true hacker was
born.

Since then I managed to tap phones, and even hook up my own homemade intercom
to the new internal phone system that the school got when some big alumnus
donated us some money. The crowning glory arrived when I came to America. Not
fully realizing what the potential of someone with a need and zeal can achieve,
the corporations are quite lax in this direction. But I have found that the
best answers to beating the system are the simplest. The "phone does not work
correctly" method of fooling the operator, especially with my accent, has been
the most effective for me. And as for breaking into the systems of our school,
anyone with a bit of sweet-talking skills can find out anything. Not to mention
the advantages one can reap by being aware of the tremendous amounts of money,
things, information, and so on that Uncle Sam and Cousin Big Blue or the Fed
are ready to give out for free, when presented with the right story. I cannot
lay claim to very great technical knowledge or achievements. "But the spirit is
the thing," my mother says. So I guess as a low-tech hacker I have definitely
made my mark.

My life has become quite different as a result of seeing my friends access our
billing accounts. Being a socially insecure person, I have built a digital wall
against society. By being sort of apart from them, I am able to understand
people much better. Thus, I am now trying to hack the ultimate machine: the
human brain. I have found that most often people are much more vulnerable to
manipulation in undesired ways than machines. Though I must admit that toying
around with the mega-monsters of this technocratic society is a lot more
fun....