Something needs to be said...

First off...
Earlier this year an assembly of organizations decided to release a joint statement "condemning" Legions. This evidently was before any of them contacted Legions requesting information on what the true plight was. Because of some iniquitous media converage a few people misunderstood our motives. This of course is in regards to the past "China Human Rights incident".

We wanted to bring a tragic predicament to surface so other people could speak out as well. The media was misinformed when they reported about our goals to aid these countries in their fight for freedom of speech. They (the media) stated we (Legions) wanted to damge certain computer networks in other parts of the world. We wanted to help them with the situation concerning their lack of freedom, and human rights why would we want to destroy or damage their networks the same networks that give them what little freedom they have to communicate as people. That just makes no sense at all. I ask that the people who joined to make the statement condemning Legions take that into consideration and next time contact us so that we could discuss things, and clear up misunderstandings. It's not a funny matter when peoples lives, and reputations are at stake.

As hackers the computer has built our lives, and in turn we have built our lives around the computer we would never choose to harm such a valuable resource. The term hacker doesn't discriminate. You can be a federal agent, but the best damn coder in the world and in the sense of the word you'll be a hacker. Bill Gates, a hacker turned billionaire. Software designers, security specialist the people who help protect your networks these people are hackers. "Information, and data is to be cherished, (for it can only build you not hurt you) cultivated and developed not to be annulled or locked up. Hacking is an expansive applied knowledge in any technical field. Destruction, and the unschooled acts of those who live with out moral are what separates the "hackers" (those who's main purpose of life is to learn, expand, and apply what they learn) from those that go as far as turning the computer on." (-The previous quoted statement was excerpted from Keen Veracity 3 www.underzine.com).

Something serious is going on at the moment. A string of "attacks" against our own government. And till now no one has said anything. The actions of these groups are sincerely half-witted, and absurd for it will at the end accomplish nothing except a few more long term jail sentences. The current actions of these self-proclaimed "hackers" have me infuriated. The people DOS'ing government sites, and defacing mil, and gov domains, and damaging information these people aren't hackers they are nothing more than unschooled adolescent teens with nothing better on their hands. They are an endangerment to the true aspect of computer science dealt with by the hacker community. Call what they are doing what you want, but don't call it "hacking" because it's not. So many articles have surfaced which referred to what these cracker cults are doing as "hacking" ex; "Hackers attack government" - "Hackers strike again" (false) Call them destructive call them by their first name but for the sake of god don't just yank out the term "hackers" for a better story for the sake of god don't defile the name "hacker" for your personal gain. A hacker lives by a strong code of ethics. We wouldn't be issuing this statement if we didn't.

A government investigation is currently pending on the above matters If we dont do something about this now the government will surely hold us accountable, and I'm not talking jail time. We have a lot to lose if we dont stop these people from making us look bad. Though we are not affliated with them directly certain mainstream media has left a misleading trail. Some of our rights as computer partisans may be a stake here. With that said I ask that all sites that archive these senseless hacks suspend documenting these fatuous acts for the time being. The script kiddies that go out and target government and military servers are media crazy, and you are only adding fuel to their fire by flashing their work to the public. A note to the lamers This is where it ENDS... In the end it's what you choose to do that makes you who you are. So make sure what you choose to do doesn't make you look like an ass.

www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/noaa/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/army/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/monmouth/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/argonne/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/nswcl/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/senate2/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/bnl/index.html
www.hackernews.com/archive/1999/doi/index.html

The above is an archive of recent government, and military site defacements done by what seems to be comparable to the works of 5 year olds...

Look at the archived sites, and tell me something doesn't need to be done.

Just letting people know we aren't going for their childish actions. We dont advocate any of the trash being done by these uninspired idiots. we're "hackers" the other white meat!

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the below is an email, and responce excerpted from Keen Veracity 4
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[mail]
Do you still hack?

[responce]

Well it depends on your analogue of hacking. By the authentic formalization I "hack" everyday. Whether I'm coding, or doing Network checks it's still hacking. Hacking has little to do with the "illegal" entry of computer systems apart from the Technical, and systematic aspect of it. Illegally accessing a system for no intended reason is not something I advocate or advise performing. What I suggest achieving is going out, and learning, and questioning the system itself before trying to exploit it. And even once you feel you have a broad knowledge of the system make sure you use what you know to build things, and not fuck things up. System admins who are affected by crackers turn to hackers in order to secure their systems. They turn to the philosophies, documents, and programs written by "hackers"... Let's not make them look the other way. We are here, and we are skilled. What your brain dead system administrator can do in a week we can accomplish in a matter of minutes more practically. That's the message that should be put across. One of positively not one that says "Were going to take you down." Read my introduction in Keen Veracity 3 I go into greater detail on the subject at hand.
http://www.t00ned.org/optik/kv/kv3.txt

-Steve Stakton

Steve Stakton - optik@shockimaging.com -(optiklenz)
-Head Security Advisor for NACC

Legions Of the Underground - Our title name is not meant to seem dark. Don't get the misconception that we are some sort of cult or only wear black. The computer Underground is a symbol something that is important, and we treasure it's existence so in it's honor we use Legions Of the Underground. We are just a bunch of computer enthusiast who enjoy working together. Nothing more nothing less.