Hackers on Planet Earth (Summer, 1994)
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It was a little less than a year ago that the idea of a major hacker event in
the United States this summer was first expressed. The success of Hacking at
the End of the Universe (HEU) in Holland led many people to ask why such an
event couldn t occur in the United States. In our autumn 1993 issue, we
wondered if such a thing would ever happen here. But it wasn't until a couple
of months ago that the enthusiasm here began to spread like an infectious
disease. It s been a long time coming and this summer seemed like the perfect
time. After all, it's our tenth anniversary and the hacker world is bigger than
it's ever been.

And so, Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE), the first-ever global hacker event to
take place in this country, will be held in New York City on August 13 and 14.
One way or another, history is liable to be made.

What exactly is a "global hacker event?" It's different from the various hacker
conferences that take place in this country Summercon, Def Con, and HohoCon are
all well worth attending and usually take place every year. The annual Hackers
Conference that takes place in California might also be worthwhile - we can't
seem to find any hackers who have ever been invited to it though. The 2600
meetings in various cities are still more ways for hackers to get together,
this time on a monthly basis.

We believe HOPE will have ingredients of all of these events but will also add
something to the equation that just hasn't happened here yet. Hackers will work
together for two days and nights and celebrate their existence in what has
unfortunately become an often hostile environment. The general public will have
a chance to see things from our perspective the conference will take place in
the middle of New York City and will be cheap enough for nearly anyone to
attend. Seminars, talks, and workshops will take place around the clock in an
open atmosphere. The uses and abuses of technology will be discussed - and
demonstrated. A giant Ethernet, similar to the one created at last year's HEU,
will be constructed here (everyone is encouraged to bring a computer for
maximum effect). This, along with our hookup to the Internet, will give many
people their first taste of the net. And it will be hackers, not large
corporations, leading the way.

An excellent example of what we intend to do was recently demonstrated on New
York's WBAI-FM. During a fundraiser for this noncommercial radio station,
listeners were offered a year of unrestricted Internet access on escape.com, a
new Internet service in New York for a pledge of $100. People in the hacker
community have designed this system and are the ones who keep it going. (The
normal rates for this system are $16.50 per month with no time limits, probably
the cheapest net connection possible.) New Yorkers jumped at the chance to get
true access to the net without having to always watch the clock and pay
outrageous fees. In two hours, escape.com brought 86 new people onto the net
and raised $8600 for a noncommercial radio station. This means something. There
are swarms of people in our society who want to listen to what we are saying
and who understand our spirit, if not our language. The hacker spirit has
manifested itself in many of us but it lies dormant in a far greater number. If
we have an opportunity to reach still more people, we should. Some won't
understand but those who do could turn out to be very important to the hacker
world. Only when the general public begins to see that there is far more to us
than what they read in tabloids will their perception of us begin to change.
And that could change everything. It's always been in the interests of the
phone companies and corporate online services to paint us in as evil a light as
possible. Then they can continue to play by their rules, charging consumers as
much as they want and not having anyone credible to challenge them. But a
growing number of people are realizing that it's not as black and white as
these entities want us to believe.

We've seen it happen twice in Holland. The United States is long overdue. But
this isn't the only "Hacker Congress" happening this year. On October 7, 8, and
9, the "First International Congress about Viruses, Hacking, and the Computer
Underground" will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Centro Cultural
Recoleta, Junin 1930 from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. We're happy to learn that
there is a thriving hacker culture there as well and we hope many Americans and
Argentines attend both events.

According to the organizers, "the congress will be oriented to discuss subjects
related to hacking, viruses, and the technology impact in the society of now
and in the future. We will also have discussions about cyberpunk, virtual
reality, the Internet, the phone system, programming, etc....We expect the
congress to be as open as possible, offering freedom to speak to all
attendants, being from the "bad" or "good' side of the discussed issues. As
we in Argentina don't yet have laws against hacking or virus writing or
spreading, we think it is very important to discuss all those items as freely
and deeply as possible."  Admission to this event is, incredibly enough, totally
free.

There are a lot of bad things we can focus on the Clipper chip, increased
surveillance, technological rip-offs, imprisoned hackers, and so much more. But
there's also a great deal to be optimistic about. We've got the means to see
things in different, non-traditional ways and, most importantly, share these
perceptions with each other. This August, we'll have the chance to take that
one step further. It may be the only hope we have.