Editing Hacker Manifesto

{{short description|Manifesto from 1986 by Loyd Blankenship}}
{{Computer hacking}}
{{distinguish|text= [[A Hacker Manifesto]], a 2004 philosophical text}}
__NOTOC__
<!--
Attention! Please do not insert the "Hacker Manifesto" text into the article! That would, without specific permission from the Mentor to license it under a GFDL-compatible license, constitute an '''illegal''' copyright violation; for more information go to "Wikipedia:Copyrights". This is not negotiable.
-->
'''''The Conscience of a Hacker''''' (also known as '''''The Hacker Manifesto''''') is a short essay written on March 18, 1986, by [[Loyd Blankenship]], a [[Hacker (computer security)|computer security hacker]] who went by the [[Pseudonym|handle]] The Mentor, and belonged to the second-generation hacker group [[Legion of Doom (hacking)|Legion of Doom]].<ref name=elfinterview>{{cite web|title=Elf Qrin interviews The Mentor|url=http://www.elfqrin.com/docs/hakref/interviews/eq-i-mentor.php|access-date=2014-06-15|archive-date=2020-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505004808/https://www.elfqrin.com/docs/hakref/interviews/eq-i-mentor.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It was written after the author's arrest, and first published in the [[underground ezine|underground hacker ezine]] ''[[Phrack]]''.<ref name=originalarticle>{{cite journal|author1=The Mentor|title=The Conscience of a Hacker|volume=1|issue=7|page=3 of 10|url=http://www.phrack.org/archives/issues/7/3.txt|access-date=15 June 2014|journal=Phrack, Inc.|date=8 January 1986}}</ref> It can be found on many websites, as well as on T-shirts and in films.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hacker Culture |first=Douglas |last=Thomas |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8166-3346-3 |pages=xxiv }}</ref>

Considered a cornerstone of [[hacker culture]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Marsh|first1=Josh|title=Hacking and Philosophy: The Mentor's Manifesto|url=http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/hacking-and-philosophy-the-mentors-manifesto/|publisher=Hackaday.com|access-date=15 June 2014|date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> the ''Manifesto'' asserts that there is a point to hacking that supersedes selfish desires to exploit or harm other people, and that technology should be used to expand our horizons and try to keep the world [[freedom of information|free]].

When asked about his motivation for writing the article, Blankenship said, <blockquote>I was going through hacking withdrawal, and [[Craig Neidorf|Craig/Knight Lightning]] needed something for an upcoming issue of Phrack. I was reading ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'' and was very taken with the idea of revolution.<ref name="elfinterview"/></blockquote>  At a more prominent public event, when asked about his arrest and motivation for writing the article, Blankenship said, <blockquote>I was just in a computer I shouldn’t have been. And [had] a great deal of empathy for my friends around the nation that were also in the same situation. This was post-[[WarGames]], the movie, so pretty much the only public perception of hackers at that time was ‘hey, we’re going to start a nuclear war, or play tic-tac-toe, one of the two,’ and so I decided I would try to write what I really felt was the essence of what we were doing and why we were doing it.<ref name="h2k2video">{{cite web|last1=Blankenship|first1=Lloyd|title="The Conscience of a Hacker," Panel at H2K2 (Hackers on Planet Earth)|publisher=2600|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tEnnvZbYek |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/0tEnnvZbYek| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2014|location=New York, NY|date=July 13, 2002}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.h2k2.net/panels.html#mentor |title=The Mentor at H2K2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050414153806/http://www.h2k2.net/display_grid.khtml?event=7 |archive-date=2005-04-14 |access-date=2014-04-10 }}</ref></blockquote>

== In popular culture ==
The article is quoted several times in the 1995 movie ''[[Hackers (movie)|Hackers]]'', although in the movie it is being read from an issue of the hacker magazine ''[[2600 The Hacker Quarterly|2600]]'', not the historically accurate ''[[Phrack]]''.

The Mentor gave a reading of ''The Hacker Manifesto'' and offered additional insight at [[H.O.P.E.|H2K2]].<ref name="h2k2video"/> It is also an item in the game ''[[Culpa Innata]]''.

A poster of the Hacker Manifesto appears in the 2010 film ''[[The Social Network]]'' in the Harvard room of [[Mark Zuckerberg]].

''The Hacker Manifesto'' is mentioned in [[Edward Snowden]]'s autobiography ''[[Permanent Record (autobiography)|Permanent Record]]''.

[[Amplitude Problem]]'s 2019 album ''Crime of Curiosity'', featuring [[Loyd Blankenship|The Mentor]] himself, [[YTCracker]], [[Inverse Phase]] and [[Linux kernel]] maintainer King Fisher of TRIAD is dedicated to ''The Hacker Manifesto''. Each song title is a phrase from the essay.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Synthwave/Chiptune producer Amplitude Problem releases new album|url=https://www.brutalresonance.com/news/synthwave-chiptune-producer-amplitude-problem-releases-new-album-crime-of-curiosity/|date=9 April 2019|access-date=6 January 2022|website=Brutal Resonance|last=Gullotta|first=Steven|language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Hacker ethic]]
* [[Timeline of computer security hacker history]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.phrack.org/issues/7/3.html Hacker's Manifesto at Phrack Magazine]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1986 documents]]
[[Category:Hacker culture]]
[[Category:Hacking (computer security)]]
[[Category:Manifestos]]
[[Category:Texts about the Internet]]
[[Category:Texts related to the history of the Internet]]
[[Category:Works about computer hacking]]