A Change In Our Mission
An AntiOnline Editorial
Friday , June 04 1999

In the past, a hacker was an individual who literally had to spend years to
learn the inner workings of computer technology, programming, and hardware.
Only then could he begin to explore possible vulnerabilities, and develop,
for himself, ways to exploit those vulnerabilities, and more importantly,
ways to patch them. Through out these years of learning, the hacker would
develop a certain respect for the technology that he was studying, and a
certain level of maturity would inherently develop as well. Now, in present
day society, with point and click utilities abound, a younger, less mature,
less knowledgeable, and less respectful, generation of "hackers" have come
to life.

That's a quote from an editorial that I wrote in September of last year.
Now, only 7 months later, we've seen things get even worse.

When I started AntiOnline 5 years ago, it was a way for me to share with
others the fascinating things that I myself was learning. The wonders of
technology, how it could be used as a tool, how it could be used as an
incredible way to learn, meet new people, and indeed, make the world a
smaller and more understanding place.

Since then, AntiOnline has grown to levels I never dreamed possible. I'm
fortunate enough to be working full time on the site, I have my own office,
equipment, and T1 line. The resources I have at my disposal are still small
and modest, but I've come a long way from where I was a year ago, running
AntiOnline out of my parent's living room.

Unfortunately, I've found myself looking in the mirror with disgust these
past few months. Looking back, I've seen myself talking with people who have
broken into hundreds of governmental servers, stolen sensitive data from
military sites, broken into atomic research centers, and yes, people who
have even attempted to sell data to individuals that presented themselves as
being foreign terrorists. I've seen people change the medical records of
individuals in our armed services, and delete the work of tens of thousands
of people that resided on large ISPs. Many times, I knew about these
instances before hand, and could have stopped them.

I felt at the time, that I was serving a larger good by simply writing up
information that I knew about these instances, and posting them on
AntiOnline for the world to read about. I felt that the incidents would be
learning experiences, and that they would help technology to evolve, even if
it was only in some small way. To me, the important thing was not telling
the world the "who", but the "why" and the "how". I tried to stand in an
invisible realm between the hacker culture, and main stream society. A realm
which I now see does not exist.

Looking back, I see those years as being not beneficial to anyone but
myself. Those years acted as an educational experience for me. A time for me
to learn about the "mechanics of the gun", but more importantly, a time for
me to learn about the "people that pull the trigger".

In the past 7 months, I have seen things go from bad to worse. Incidents are
becoming more frequent and more serious. To some degree, things are in a
state of anarchy. I now feel that I am in a position to help serve, even if
in some very small way, the better good.

A little note to the Federal and Military Authorities that read this site:

I feel that I have been lax in my duties as a citizen to some degree. But,
little known to the rest of the world, I have been working behind the scenes
to change that. For the past few months, we've been working with an Air
Force contractor to help them develop the "profile of a hacker". AntiOnline,
as an organization, plans on taking that to an even higher level as the
months progress.

Several of you have already signed up for access to our knowledge base,
including individuals from: The US Congress, The DISA, The Air Force, The
Navy, and several police and computer forensics organizations. You will be
given access information within the next week.

A note to these organizations as a whole. I know that often times my exact
position and role has been confusing. Let it be confusing no more. I hope
that over the next few months, the level of trust between my organization
and yours can continue to grow, and I hope that AntiOnline becomes a
valuable tool in the fight against "CyberCrime".

Now, a little note to the thousands of hackers that read this site:

You yell and scream about freedom of speech, yet you destroy sites which
have information that disagree with your own opinions. You yell and scream
about privacy, yet you install trojans into other's systems, and read their
personal e-mail and files. You truly are hypocrites. All of these grand
manifestos that you develop are little more than excuses that you make up to
justify your actions to yourself. Actions which you know are wrong. Actions
which do not serve anyones interests but your own.

Let me just say, that you've had free reign over things this past year or
so. I know that some of you are playing what you feel is a game. A game that
you think you are winning. Some of you sit back and laugh at organizations
like the FBI. You make sure that you provide enough information to make it
obvious who you are, yet are careful not to provide enough information to
actually have it proven.

I have been watching you these past 5 years. I know how you do the things
you do, why you do the things you do, and I know who you are.

Yours In CyberSpace,
John Vranesevich
Founder, AntiOnline

As a side note, AntiOnline will be taking no press inquiries into this
matter.
Questions regarding this change in policy will not be answered by phone.
Send all questions or comments to jp@antionline.com

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