Path of the Hacker Ethic

(Or Hack-Ki-Do "Way of the Hacker Spirit")

By Christopher J. H. Calvert (ccalvert@mtroyal.ab.ca)

Quote

"I guess that if I weren't for the Sabbat I'd never get a chance to see the 10th generation Pentium wannabe with voice activated interface and artificial intelligence algorithms and the new 10 Frigabyte Optical Biosoft HD coming out in 2078. But then again, if it weren't for the Sabbat I could go Great Wall tonight and eat Potstickers 'til I couldn't move. You ever seen the inside of Prince Lodin's computer in Chicago? *grin*"
-- Alien, Sabbat Ravnos Hacker Elite

Nickname

Geeks, Nerds, Hackers, Elite

Basic Beliefs

This Path reflects the evolution of vampire society over time. As new technology develops, even vampires must learn to use it if they wish to avoid being an anachronism. Some vampires, especially those of the Sabbat, have discovered computers as a method of information processing, storage, and for a special few: a weapon or tool in their fight against the Antediluvians. Sabbat on this path believe that information is almost a natural resource, and should be free and available. They value computers as the greatest tool to achieving self-actualization ever created.

The conflict between the Beast and Humanity is irrelevant. Humanity is all about being nice and not killing things, the Beast is all about being a jerk and killing things. To the Hacker, killing things is irrelevant to the greater issues, freedom, information, and self-respect. A wolf hunts to be a wolf, a human goes to school and gets a job to be a human, and a vampire drinks blood and sets her own fate as a vampire. Drinking blood is irrelevant and is not even close to being a moral issue. Some Hackers who were vegetarians in life may prefer the blood of animals to humans (or humans to other vampires), but the silly Beast/ Humanity dichotomy is a false issue.

The Ethics of the Path

• Information and knowledge is an valuable goal, and end in and of itself. Exploration, experimentation, and curiosity are all Good Things.
• Information should be like air; it is a natural resource that belongs to all beings. It should be free, not hoarded like gold.
• Freedom of speech, information, and thought are all very Good Things. Bureaucracy licks the bag and all slaves deserve their freedom, even humankind.
• Question "authority," established methods, laws, your leaders, and above all...yourself.
• Life is valuable and should be respected, and that includes vampires. It is not wrong to act in accordance with your nature, but it is wrong to harm others unnecessarily.
• Let everyone think for themselves. Don't seek to become a leader, and never be a follower. We all walk the road of existence together. Share with and help others when they share with and help you.

History

The Path of the Hacker Ethic is perhaps the newest formal paths to come into existence. It has developed as a vampiric parallel to the evolving Hacker subculture. It was inevitable that mortals who were computer geeks in their mundane lives would be embraced, and if there is one trait that will carry over after all humanity is lost, it will be the need to hack. The path itself is said to have been developed by a Sabbat recruit who was a technologist of some sort in mundane life.. His real name is unknown, but certain Hackers have claimed that he was actually "Kilroy", and left his famous "Kilroy was here" calling card in places where he "discovered" vital information in the fight against the Ancients. Unfortunately, Hackers are notorious pranksters, so many grains of salt are necessary. "Kilroy" found little true hacking to be done in the early information age, but found great delight in gathering information by whatever methods were available. His spying expertise were invaluable to the Sabbat during the early 20th century.

Current Practices

Getting this motley bunch to form a group for any length of time is a minor miracle. Hackers are highly individualistic, and getting the entire path together in person is consider impossible, not to mention a big waste of time. All on the path keep in touch via email, MUDs, MOOs, snail mail, and cleverly placed graffiti. There is a little known mailing list that all Hackers are subscribed to (most just lurk), and respect among one's peers can be earned through wit, knowledge, and respect for others.

The path does actually have some of its own rituals. Their own version of Monomacy, the Flame War, is an informal and very non-lethal (unless a Hacker is a manic-depressive Malkavian, gets so upset by essentially meaningless flames, and goes suntanning). The point of the Flame War rituals seems (at least to non-Hackers) to be an exercise in egotism, arrogance, and meaningless bickering. All these things are true... but it's fun! The only other rituals of the path are the widely accepted tenets of netiquette and a practice known as going Great Wall... in mundane life, this would mean eating copious amounts of Chinese food, but in vampiric life this can often mean descending on diners at a Chinese smorg.

Description of Followers

Vampires on this path are an interesting bunch. They have no standard code of dress, don't recognize any difference between male and female in rights and responsibilities, and most have never physically met, certainly not all at once. Only vampires who were hackers in life (or have the Hacker Nature) are accepted, and those who violate the ethics of the path are flamed incessantly, pranked, and generally picked on until they leave the path, and which point they are still unexplainably plagued by computer problems, silly coincidences and pranks, and sometimes massive computer assaults.

The only common and universal features of Hackers seems to be an almost pathological need to talk about computers, a great sense of humor (especially about oneself), and an e-mail address. There is also a haha only serious running joke/sub-division among the Followers of the Path. Each vampire on the path must choose a general type or class of computer systems to hold in contempt. Users of those systems are not held in high esteem, and as considered the poseurs of the Hacker community. In other words, Hackers seem to subdivide themselves up into groups which consider a certain system to suck the most. A Hacker joke/fable claims that reality is really the virtual playground of a group of ancient Hackers, with the Camarilla representing the Mac, the Sabbat representing PCs, and the Inconnu representing UNIX boxes.

Views About the Other Paths

Path of Caine: Uh, they're ok, I guess. They are scholars of a sort, and seek information and self-improvement not for greed but for enlightenment. But they really need to lighten up. Absolutely no sense of humor.

Path of Cathari: Hedonistic, ignorant, unsophisticated. Many Dark Side Hackers follow this path. Most of these Calamari think DOOM and Leisure Suit Larry are what computers are all about.

Path of Death and the Soul: Sheeeeeesh... lighten up for Cripes sake! I really don't get it. I suppose you gotta study what you find cool, but I'm not too sure about studying what you find cold and clammy... ;-)

Path of Evil Revelations: Bletch! Lose lose! These guys lick bag. They're behind the evil of Shubb-Internet, I know it! Seriously though, these shmegs are exceptions to the thou shalt not maliciously crack rule.

Path of Harmony: Nice voice, good lyrics. If we could get them together with the Path of Melody, the Path of Good Bass Lines, and the Path of Riffs, we could have something. We get along great with them... sometimes we claim to be them so the Bishop's don't get all afraid of being cracked. What the outofHarmonists don't realize is that Humanity and the Beast are irrelevant.

Path of Honorable Accord: They're allright... for suits and lawyers. Honest, forthright. Humorless, obsessed with someone else's rules. Extremely trustworthy unless you happen to disagree, Ghod forbid you should think for yourself, nooooooo, that would be a Bad Thing.

Path of Power of the Inner Voice: Can you say 'suits,' boys and girls? These are Sabbat straight out of business school, management scum from hell. Required Qualifications: Messiah complexes, backstabbing ability, over five years experience screwing over your friends, less than 10 brain cells. Hours: Full Time + Copious Overtime. Duties: manipulate your friends, eat your elders, beat up the weak. My Inner Voice is telling me that I should flick you in the nose.

Following the Path

This path perplexes those not on it. Sometimes its followers seem to have less social skills than the Gangrel, and sometimes they seem to be the only ones who have a clue about the world. This Path requires the vampire to balance seriousness and ethics against humor and chaos. The vampire on this path should accept life as valuable, but relegate the Humanity/Beast dichotomy to a minor issue. Freedom, information, and really cool techie toys should be valued extremely, and computers and an indispensable accessory.

These vampires are ethical, trustworthy, and individualistic...until you piss one off. When provoked, they are fierce, loyal, and extremely unpredictable. Oh, and Macs/PCs/UNIX/VAX/random system lick the bag! Every Hacker has a point of view in the computer Jyhad.

Common Abilities

Computers, Computer Cracking, Electronics, Espionage, Investigation, Linguistics, Lore of any kind, Repair, Science, Security (Electronic), Stealth, Subterfuge. Hackers are specialists in technological matters, and often act as virtual spies.

Preferred Disciplines

Auspex, Celerity, Chimerstry, Presence, and are highly valued for their assistance in hacking, learning, and pranking.

Path of the Hacker Ethic Hierarchy of Sins

Path Rating	Minimum Wrongdoing for Path Roll
10	Taking life when survival, freedom, or information are not at stake
9	Not liberating information from allies when that information could benefit others
8	Not sharing information with your allies even when it could gain you power to hoard the info
7	Failing to appreciate the humor in a situation rich with humorosity, or enhance the humorosity of a very boring situation
6	Not actively seeking out new information when the chance presents itself
5	Not spending at least one hour a night hacking on a computer
4	Avoiding flaming a suit or luser when they do something hugely losing
3	Cracking maliciously and destructively without a higher purpose, merely to cause grief to an innocent... using the Dark Side
2	Not distributing information when no innocents will be hurt
1	Not liberating information from your enemies when the chance presents itself

Do's and Don'ts of Following the Path of the Hacker Ethic

1. You value information in and of itself, and seek to share information with the world.
2. You like to do things yourself, and create your own methods when there is time and opportunity.
3. You question everything around you and rarely follow or lead others. You may occasionally let someone with more expertise guide you, but you never submit.
4. You view the Beast/Humanity dichotomy as irrelevant and minor compared to the values of freedom, enlightenment and free information.
5. You don't like or respect pretentious, blustery, and manipulative beings. You will subtly act to thwart or frustrate them.
6. You try to convert others to your philosophy and promote freedom of speech, expression, thought and information.
7. You vehemently oppose slavery of mind, body, and information to bureaucracy.
8. You respect others' privacy unless they are you enemies. Freedom of information should not come at the cost of harm to innocents.
9. You feel intense loyalty and respect for other Hackers and assist them when there is need.
10. You value your computer, or a computer more than any other tool, weapon, or toy. [Insert computer system here] is hugely losing, and those who use them aren't True Hackers.