Didn’t you hear? It’s in The Cloud, Man

It’s in The Cloud, Man, it’s in The Cloud
Where is The Cloud, Man?
It’s in the sky, floating with the other clouds
What’s in The Cloud, Man?
Stuff, all kinds of stuff, whatever you want,
shove it in and watch it float.
Lock and chain, is The Cloud safe?
I’d say it is, how would a thief get to the sky?
He’d need a real big ladder.
Yeah he would.
How does stuff get into The Cloud?
With The App, Man, with The App.
Where do I get The App?
It’s on your phone, just look at the store
All kinds of Apps, enough Apps to fill your life
Some Apps are even in The Cloud
Just press the button and away you go.
Easy as one, two, information theft.
What’s that, Man?
Ahh nothing. Just got a new App for my phone
it tracks things like you wouldn’t believe
it knows where I am and I bet it will know where
I’ll be because it tells me where I should go.
I bet it even knows what I’m thinking.
Is that in The Cloud, Man?
You bet it is. Everything’s in The Cloud.
How do I get to The Cloud, Man?
Just upload yourself, there’s an App for that;
It tracks your mind just by looking into your soul.
What’s that, Man? Sorry I was just downloading this new App.
Ahh, nothing just talking about machines and souls and stuff.
Wow! That’s some deep philosophical tech-talk stuff.
Yeah, I just got this new App that gives me deep thoughts.
Hey Man, is that in The Cloud too?
You bet it is.
Hey, Man, where did all this stuff come from anyway?
You mean The Cloud and Apps? They came from phones;
Y’know they’re inside the phones and they connect to
The Cloud.
Wow! Technology is great isn’t it?
Yeah, it’s a new thing, all this tech

It’s in The Cloud

It’s often hilarious how netspeak escapes the Internet and becomes common talk among regular people. Netspeak has been used outside the Internet in the past, but it was often used by computer geeks “in-the-know” in order to identify and bond with people outside the web. But some tech terms like “app” and, more recently, “the cloud” have escaped the web only to be used by regular people who may not fully understand what they are talking about. In Netlingo: Past, Present, and Future of Netspeak, I briefly reflected on how some netspeak is now part of the general lexicon. I also speculated on the possibility of tech terminology becoming a major force within the English language. I think netspeak is well on its way to becoming one of the major slangs used in our society.
Think about it. The word app has almost been rubbed out considering how much it has been used when speaking about phone apps. Most of the people I know who religiously use the word app couldn’t tell you what it means or what it is short for. Now that is some cultural power. People use the word app yet they don’t fully know what it means and they don’t know its origins! They simply use it to communicate some idea within the realm of ideas.
And what about The Cloud? These days, you can’t go to a business meeting without hearing someone show-off by referencing The Cloud or cloud computing. I wonder if these people know just what The Cloud is or where The Cloud is located or how data gets to The Cloud. Again, those people all feel they know what The Cloud is, but likely not one of them could give a clear definition of cloud computing. Again, that is some serious cultural power at work. The term The Cloud has cultural clout and influence, just like the word “app”. And why shouldn’t those words have influence? After all, The Cloud and Apps are a large part of most people’s lives.
Want more proof of netspeak making headway into the general lexicon. Sure you do. What about the word “hacker”? Oh, now that’s a big one. Few words these days bring with them a feeling of curiosity, maliciousness, intrigue, and fear like the word “hacker”. It has serious cultural clout thanks to the nature of hacking, its history, its proponents and opponents, and its depiction in the media. Again, most people feel at least one of the aforementioned emotions when they hear the word “hacker” and most people feel they know what it means, but, if asked, could they define the word? My guess is, no. They feel all of these emotions when they hear the word, yet they couldn’t give a clear definition of it. Do I need to offer any more proof of the grip and power some words have over people? It also doesn’t hurt that these words are tech-related and, thus, carry weight for that reason alone. If you know these words, or just use them regularly, you are considered to be “in-the-know”. And who doesn’t want to be considered to be “in-the-know”?
Netspeak is on the rise for a number of reasons: the prevalence of technology and its growing influence in our lives, its depiction in media, the “in-the-know” factor, and more are all pulling for netspeak to become a dominant force within the English language. Don’t resist it, enjoy it. And, to be safe, you better brush up on your netspeak at netlingo. You can’t afford to be out of the loop.
Come to think of it, just today I had the opportunity to use the word “leetspeak”. I never thought I would say that in public. I got a feeling I’ll have more opportunity in the future to show-off my impressive netspeak vocabulary.

Who Rules the Web?

It just occurred to me that I talk a lot about the Internet. And for good reason. The Internet is this huge force that grows and grows and grows with no end in sight. It’s massive, massively influential, and the product of our finest technology. It even spurs on the development of technology. The Internet is the gift that just keeps on giving. And, recently, a thought came to me, “Just who rules the Internet?” Seems like kind of a silly question right? I mean, who could possibly rule something as massive as the web? Aren’t certain places of the web owned by certain people and certain organizations? Yes, those bits of the web are owned by companies, organizations, governments, individual people, etc. But the question isn’t who owns the web, the question is who rules the web. A very important distinction. So, just who rules the web? And what does it mean to rule the web?

It would be easy to say that internet service providers rule the net. After all, aren’t ISPs the gatekeepers of the net? So it seems reasonable to say that they truly do rule the web. I think this is true to a degree. ISPs do rule the web or, more accurately, they could rule the web. Currently, ISPs don’t really do a whole lot with the immense power they have. There is, currently, a great controller that keeps their monopoly in check. That controller is money. ISPs could deny Internet service to anyone, however, their desire for money keeps them from exerting this power. They could rule the net, but they chose to seek money instead of power (yes, money grants another kind of power but that is beyond the scope of this post). 

As mentioned above, businesses have domain over their respective portion of the web. In fact, most of the Internet likely “belongs” to businesses and organizations. Does this mean that these businesses rule the web? Not necessarily. Though these organizations may own portions of the web, it can’t really be said that they rule those portions.

Perhaps it’s time to explain what I mean by “rule the web”. I’ve already said that ownership doesn’t necessarily mean the owners rule what they own. And I’ve implied that, in order to rule something, the ruler must exert some kind of control over what he rules. This excluded ISPs as they don’t really rule what they own since their concern is profit, not being the ruler of the web. Their desire for profit keeps their “rulership” in check. Businesses, too, are in the Internet business for profit, so, necessarily, they work to further their own pocket-books, not rule the web.

What about the Average Joe? Does he rule the web? In my opinion, the Average Joe does rule the web, to a degree, since he is willing to exert his rulership more than ISPs or businesses. However, I can’t really call the Average Joe the ruler of the net since he can’t exert his rule to the fullest extent because of his limited domain over the web. But we are getting closer to the actual ruler of the web, so be patient.

So, if ISPs, businesses, and most people have chosen to not, or cannot, rule the web, who rules the Internet in their place? Is it the government? Indeed, it would seem that the American government rules the web. With all the power, resources, technical ability, and capital the government has, it would seem logical to point to the American government as the ruler of the web. The government even rules the ISPs, businesses, organizations, and most people. I think the government is the closest single entity of whom it can be said rules the web. Since the government has both de facto ownership and, more importantly, the will to rule the web, it’s fairly safe to say that the government is the de facto ruler of the web.

The web is a massive and diverse thing. Therefore, it would take a massive and influential thing, like a government, in order to be both the de facto owner and ruler of the net. A government is the one thing that comes the closest to ruling the web. However, the net is still larger than any government’s sphere of control, so the government can’t completely police it, even if it wanted to.

But why is it important to determine who rules the web? Like I mentioned above, the web is massive and massively influential. Anyone, or any government, that rules a sizeable portion of the web can influence a lot of people, changing lives and influencing minds.

Now that we’ve established that the government, mostly, rules the web and why it’s important to know who rules the web. We should answer another important question: who should rule the web? In all honesty, I don’t think any one organization or person should have complete rulership over the web. Complete rulership would make the web into a sterile, dull place in which creativity suffers and dies. Ideally, the web would be broken down into “islands” or domains that are ruled by individual people and organizations? Sound familiar? Well, that’s because we have reached that ideal, to a fair degree. The Internet is an exciting and unique place because of the variety and diversity of its content, which is due to the variety and diversity of the people who produce that content. Sure, groups are formed and some groups clearly eclipse other groups in influence and power (think of the mammoth known as Youtube), but small groups still exist just as much as their larger counterparts. Cybermantics is among the smallest sites on the Internet, yet it still exists and the ideas on the site still exist and, therefore, Cybermantics serves to make the web a more interesting place, hopefully. I’m glad to have my little island, if can even be called an island, exist within the massive ocean. Obscurity or no obscurity.

Hmm, perhaps I am wrong and individual people and organizations are the true rulers of the web. Each of us rule our respective domains, such is the kingdom of the Internet.

I don’t hope to come to any firm conclusion on this matter or force the reader to accept my ideas on the subject. All in all, this is just food for thought. And, in any case, this is a subject that deserves a more thorough examination.

Netlingo: Past, Present, and Future of Netspeak

Do often find yourself at a loss for words around kids these days? Are all those acronyms, abbreviations, and abominations confusing to you? Is the slang too weird and hip? Do you want to enhance your vocabulary with the latest info on the newest netspeak? Well, do I have the perfect site for you! The site is netlingo and, with this site’s help, you can leave your ignorance behind and become indistinguishable from the average web brat. So hop right in and sling some cyberslang. The web is your oyster, but you won’t crack it without the right words. So get on it. You might just need netlingo in order to decipher this post.

I really should be paid for those little adverts, but, alas, it’s only a labor of love. I just had to share netlingo with my readers on my own little corner of the net. If you didn’t quite grab what I was saying from the above advert, well, that’s my fault. For clarification, netlingo is a website dedicated to capturing, defining, and archiving past, present, and future cyberslang. If you ever cared to understand those ppl in the chatrooms, especially the chatrooms of the techy variety, you’ll need to use netlingo. Or you could just ask them what they mean, but that’ll make you look like a noob. And you can’t afford to look like a noob on the net. Yeah, I just used the word “noob”. Is that even used anymore? Back when I played MMOs in the early 2000s, you couldn’t go one day without being called a noob. Noob seems to have fallen into disuse, unfortunately, and only the old folks like me remember being called a noob. Oh how the times have changed.

That brings us to another great feature of netlingo. It archives the cyberslang of old. If you ever caught yourself wondering about the Internet of old, like yours truly, then just hop on over the netlingo. There are few better ways to understand the Internet’s past than by understanding the slang of the past. I never thought I’d run into the word “Netscape” again, but I just did give minutes ago, and I’ve regret it since.

Just giving netlingo a simple lookover is enough to rend me to shreds of nostalgia. All of those words which I never truly appreciated until they were dead and gone, like the word noob. The famous subset of cyberslang known as Leetspeak or, more properly, !337$p34k, once the hallmark of the annoying brat in a chatroom is now a lost art form. I can’t believe I miss leetspeak as much as I do. Perhaps I’m just a nostalgic fool lamenting the days when the English language was freely butchered, but, perhaps, there is something more to it. The leetspeek of old represented something about the net that I think has been forgotten. It represented the net itself. Leetspeak was only used on the Internet. It never left. And the net has become its grave. Leetspeak is now a dead language. Come to think of it. I haven’t seen it used at all in recent years. And I frequent forums where leetspeak would be welcome or, perhaps more accurately, tolerated. Even within the gaming community, leetspeak is struggling to stay afloat. Such a sad state of affairs. Good thing we have netlingo to archive the web’s past. When leetspeak finally falls out of use, a little piece of the Internet will have died with it.

If you’re new to the net, but you probably aren’t if you’re reading my blog, there is a section on netlingo documenting the Top 50 Newbie Terms Everyone Needs to Know. If you’re a net veteran, go on and test your knowledge of netspeak by reading through the list, if you’ve got the guts! I’ll admit there are some words in that list even I didn’t know. I’ve brought shame onto this blog, but I hope to correct this vicious wrong by brushing up on my netspeak by using netlingo!

Of course, it isn’t all fun and games at netlingo. Many of the archived words aren’t just slang (or maybe they are), they define both new and legacy applications, programs, systems, etc. It’s a serious trip to the past, back when 56kbps was enough to give you whiplash. And, like I said above, I never thought I’d here the word “Netscape” again. Even the word “legacy” has become legacy. I guess, in the end, we’re all doomed to become legacy. That is, if we’re lucky enough to become legacy. At least legacy is remembered and still used on occasion.

Much like Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary, netlingo is user-supported. So jump on over and add your own online jargon to the aggregate. Let others profit from your great stores of cyberspeak knowledge. You get to define the future of e-lingo with your own contributions. Give and gain alike. And, speaking of the future, as we’ve become increasingly more tech-oriented, netspeak has entered society’s general lexicon. Lol, lmao, brb, and afk are now used publicly, without fear of ostracism, in front of live people! It makes you wonder if netspeak will become the standard slang of years to come. It’s already integrated itself into the public lexicon and I don’t think its going to fade away any time soon. Technology is here to stay and so is the language of technology, netspeak. Okay, digression over.

I couldn’t do justice to netlingo with just one post, but I did my best. I’ve given you just a taste of what is offered at netlingo.com. It’s a serious cornucopia of treasures, nostalgia, and bits of wisdom. Don’t be left in the dark, go forth and learn!

 

Seriously, I wasn’t paid for this post. Though, I wish I had been paid. I don’t do this for free, you know. Okay, I do do this for free. Free entertainment for the webcrawlers. Machines need love too.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Maintaining Anonymity through Disclosure

In I Wanna be Anonymous and I ain’t the Only One!!!, I listed some ways a person could remain fairly anonymous on the Internet. However, I failed to mention one of the most surefire ways to maintain your anonymity on the net. One of the best ways to maintain your anonymity on the net is to not be anonymous. I swear I haven’t lost my mind. Think about it. Is there anything more suspicious than someone not having any searchable information on the web? No social media, no birth date, no emails, no comments, nothing? It’s as though that person has something to hide and has completely scrubbed, or avoided putting any information on, the net. There are few things more alluring than a mystery so the anonymous man becomes an object of fascination and, thus, a target. So, how do you avoid becoming a target? Easy, avoid anonymity. Give out information, make yourself known. But, wait, doesn’t all of that fly in the face of anonymity? It does, in a way. But, in another way, it makes you less of a mystery. Therefore, less of a target.

Think about it this way. Imagine a rather convincing mask placed over a face. The mask is what the world sees. What the world doesn’t see, and ideally may not even know about, is the face underneath the mask. The mask is the distraction, it is the public sphere, which hides the real face underneath. While wearing the mask, the real face is free to act anonymously without becoming a target of suspicion, since all inquiry by the public is directed at the mask. The mask is the honeypot. The catch-all that attracts the flies, leaving the real face free from all interference and suspicion. Think of the mask as your public life, and the face underneath your mask as your private, anonymous life.

But how do you construct the mask? That’s easy. You can choose to give out inconsequential information about yourself when you create a social media profile or, ideally, give out misleading, false information. However, you should be careful when giving away false information because, if someone can verify the truth of the information, that person will be able to see through your lie. And the entire purpose of the mask is to avoid suspicion, not cause it.

I’ll explain my approach to constructing a false face, my mask. I have a social media profile on Facebook. I’ve had one for many years. I’ve given Facebook my name, my address, email, and my telephone number. Basically, I’ve given them all of the information anyone could find with a simple Google search of my name. The rest of my profile is made up of false interests, likes, beliefs, quotes, etc. Anyone who knows my full name can find my profile. It’s open to the public. However, the public can’t view my email, address, or phone number. They can only view my name, interests, occasional posts, etc. I had to make it somewhat convincing, so I didn’t give away all of my personal information to the public. I also have some “secret” accounts on other forums which act as honeypots for anyone who cares to do a bit of extra research on my activities.

By creating this mask, I’ve created a public persona that I can use at my own discretion to distract the public from my private, anonymous dealings. I’ve erected a lightning rod that catches the storm while leaving the building underneath intact.

You may have reservations about giving away some of your personal information to social media sites like Facebook. Keep in mind that you don’t have to give away your personal information. I chose to give away some of my personal information in order to create a more convincing mask that is harder to see through. Give away all the false information about yourself as you like, however, be sure that the name you use is your real name (remember the lightning rod) and that the other, false information you give away can’t be easily verified by outsiders.

When creating your mask, strike a balance between believability, credibility, and falsehood. Always keep in mind that any attacker who wants to make you a target will pick up any information they can on you, so construct a very misleading mask. At least, as misleading and convincing as you can.

Hatsune Miku Concerts: A Human from a Machine or Finding Humanity in Technology

Once again, I’m going to reference my favorite reoccurring motif: the reciprocal influence of technology and culture. To save my readers the pain, I’m not going to review this theme. If you’re new and would like an explanation of this theme, please visit the end section of this post. I wanted to keep this post short and simple by pointing to a cousin of my precious theme: the seamless melding of culture and technology. And, to be honest, I don’t think anything more completely or more beautifully expresses this melding than a Hatsune Miku concert. What’s more, the star attraction, Hatsune Miku, is human as far as the concert’s attendants are concerned.

For those readers who don’t know what a Hatsune Miku is, Hatsune Miku is a human-like animated character who’s voice is created using a sound synthesizing application. In this case, that application is known as Vocaloid 2 and Vocaloid 3. More informally, Hatsune Miku herself (and others like her), are called vocaloids. On top of this synthesizing software, Piapro Studio and VSTi Plugin are used.

And now for the less technical part. Hatsune Miku has been known to put on concerts for legions of fans. Miku can attract fans like the best rock and pop stars. The concerts are set up like most other concerts. There’s the sound equipment, supporting musicians, lighting infrastructure, body guards, and, of course, legions of fans. And Miku is center stage, the star of the show. Just how does Miku “get up” on stage? She’s a projected onto a large Dilad screen (a semi-transparent, diffusive, polymer surface) anchored at the front of the stage. The 3D effect is caused by this projection.

This is rather old 3D technology, however, the effects are wonderful. What’s more wonderful is Miku, herself. Her movements are fluid, her voice is spectacular, and she has a ton of personality. Her fans love her as much as KISS fans love KISS. Her fans are fanatical, like all die-hard fans should be.

She’s human or more than human. Or, perhaps more accurately, an ideal human. A machine as an ideal human. Just another staple of our common future.

It’s so human for humans to find human qualities in everything. Throughout history, humans have claimed that the planets were calm, the weather was angry, and the earth pensive. It’s only reasonable that, now, in the computing age, humans should attribute human characteristics to computers. The computer is thinking, the computer is upset, the computer is angry, the computer is stupid, etc. I’ll be back to this in a minute.

Like I said before, these concerts are one of the most beautiful displays of the melding of technology and culture. However, there is more to this. Hatsune Miku is a program, a computer-generated image, a machine. But her fans don’t seem to care, they love her in spite of her mechanical origins. This is an oddity.

Concerts are one of the most human of events. For thousands of years, people have attended concerts to be entertained, to be inspired, and to be enlightened. Perhaps what made people love concerts was the humanity imbued within the concert. The human musician or actor was the one irreplaceable element within the concert. We’ve taken this for granted, yet, that human element we all love is present. I couldn’t imagine a classical opera enthusiast choosing a machine over a live, living, human vocalist. Even a machine as lovely as Hatsune Miku.

The fact that crowds of people would attend a Hatsune Miku concert to watch a projected image dance and sing reveals something about people’s acceptance of technology. Yes, most people love what technology offers: comfort, entertainment, life, etc. But the love usually ends there. Conversely, at a Hatsune Miku concert, people seem to wholly embrace the Miku machine. These people are willing to let a machine into their very personal, cultural lives. And at a concert, no less, one of the most human of all events where the human musician was the one, traditionally, indispensible element. People are almost intimate with Miku. Why is this?

I think the reason why Hatsune Miku is so loved, while being a machine, is that she is so human-like that it minimizes the machine's presence. Miku’s perceived humanity is able to bridge the gap between man and machine, making it easier for people to fully embrace the machine. Miku makes technology seem more human and, thus, more relatable for the average human. This allows technology to successfully replace the human performer without too much “culture” shock.

Remember when I spoke of humans attributing human characteristics to computers? Hatsune Miku makes it easy. Her movements are fluid, her voice is spectacular, and she has a ton of personality. I’m repeating myself now, but only to show how easy it is to give human qualities to the Miku machine. An animated character has successfully replaced a living pop-star for thousands of fans, and people welcome it! Says quite a lot about the acceptance of technology and human perception doesn’t it?

Now, the likes of Hatsune Miku concerts is a very new phenomenon and most people will still prefer to see the live, living musicians they love, myself included, but all great phenomenon have humble origins. We may see more of Miku, and others like her in the future as the costs of putting on such shows decreases. At the moment, the projectors are extremely costly, but humans have a way of making things they love happen. This isn’t the last we’ve seen of these animated characters. They are here to stay.

One of Hatsune Miku’s songs is titled “World Is Mine”. Oh how right she is.

Cybercation: An Umbrella Series

This is the first post in an umbrella series tritely titled Cybercation. Under this series, I’ll be creating miniseries focused on various subjects within the wonderful world of computing. The first series is titled “Basics of Computing” and another series is titled “Networks”. The subjects, and depth, will vary but I’ll focus on teaching mainly the basics (though I will likely dive into more advanced topics down the line). Since this blog is about the Internet, technology, and the future in general, I think this series will fit right in since all of the preceding are in our collective futures. And you wouldn’t mind learning a thing or two, would ya? But why am I introducing this series? I once considered myself to be one of those people who was sufficiently learned about computing. And it wasn’t until recently that I discovered just how little I knew. Indeed, there’s nothing quite like a good networking book that completely obliterates any misconceptions you may have about how much you know. So, if you are one of those people who believes, either rightly or wrongly, yourself to be a computer person, I invite you to take a look at this series. Even the most advanced of students will likely take something away from it. So, give it a go.

Another reason I wanted to do this series is that I believe the best way to learn something, or test/clarify your own knowledge, is to attempt to explain a concept to someone else, namely, a layman. I hope this series will both help me find weak points in my own knowledge and help me learn a thing or two.

I will be prefacing each article with a difficulty rating of either beginner, moderate, advanced, super advanced, and extreme. And don’t feel bad if you don’t immediately understand a “beginner” subject. Conversely, don’t think the “extreme” topics are too difficult to learn and don’t think immediately understanding an “extreme” topic makes you a genius (it just means I’m a genius for explaining the topic so well). All of these ratings are subjective to my own experience and to the topic itself, so take them with a grain of salt.

As an aside, I haven’t completely planned this series out, so I’ll likely bounce around between topics quite frequently. I don’t know where this series will go or for how long it will run, but I will put some effort into it. This umbrella series will likely lead to the creation of a ton of miniseries, but I’ll try to keep miniseries creation to a minimum, as tempting as it is to create new miniseries.

As I mentioned before, I haven’t completely planned out this series, so it will likely evolve over time as I decide to add extra features. I’ll be sure to keep my readers updated on new features I decide to add to the series. You can find listings of any new features in the posts under the “About Cybercation” tag.

So you want to learn how to be a Hacker? Don’t even try. Give up right now!

You heard me. Quit. Give up. Did you really believe that you could learn how to be a hacker? Do you know how many people want to learn how to hack? Did you know that 99% of them fail? Everyday, people claim they want to become hackers. They look for teachers, mentors, tutorials, etc. Those very same people fail after a week of effort. So, what chance do you have when all those people failed? Do you even know what it takes to be a hacker? You’ve got to be knowledgeable, analytical, creative, imaginative, industrious, and resourceful. On top of all that, you’ve got to be a genius. So, what chance do you have of becoming a hacker? Zilch. Zero. Nada. Give up. You’re just wasting your time.

Okay, now that I’ve had my fun, let’s look at making you into a hacker. But, wait, didn’t I just say you should just give up? Well, I did say that, but I was only venting my frustration. So many people endeavor to become hackers, yet 99% of them only last about a week before giving up. This makes me very suspicious when someone says they want to be a hacker. When someone says that, the one question that runs through my mind is, “Do they really want it? Or is this just another nobody who will give up at the first sign of trouble?” I think there are a number of reasons why someone would want to become a hacker and there are a number of reasons as to why he fails and gives up. First, let’s look at the reasons why someone would want to be a hacker.

Hacker’s are cool, as I’ve so thoroughly proven in my post Why We Love Hackers. Hackers are those deviant loners with mythical, mystical minds who dance on cables of electric fire! Seriously, with this belief running through the veins of society, who wouldn’t want to be a hacker? Hacking is glamorized by the media, namely Hollywood, as noted in The Hacker Mythos. Hacking is made to look more exciting than it actually is. This isn’t to say hacking isn’t exciting. I’m just trying to say that hacking isn’t what the media makes it out to be.

So, a person looks at what a hacker is or, more accurately, what a hacker seems to be, and says, “Boy, I would really like to be a hacker!” The only problem is that that person is relying on a glamorized, misleading perception of the hacker. So, when that person actually starts to learn about hacking, he will quickly lose interest, “Hey, this hacking stuff isn’t all that its cracked up to be. It’s tough and boring!” All of you folks who want to be hackers better get rid of any false notions about being a hacker, right here, right now. Hacking isn’t as glamorous as the media portrays it to be, but it can be great fun!

Okay, but what about those people who don’t have a false notion about what it means to be a hacker? Why do they fail? That’s an easy one. They fail because they try to learn everything there is to know about hacking in a time period of five minutes. I’m exaggerating, of course. But, it’s true. Most people try to learn all they can in a week’s time. They learn a lot, but, eventually, they get overwhelmed and they burn out. These people are too damn impatient. They want the goods right here, right now. Hacking is an art and the entirety of that art can’t really be learned over the course of a week, month, or even a year. It takes time. Lots of it, It takes patience, persistence, perseverance, and practice. The best advice I can give a beginner on this issue is to take it one day at a time. Learn a little every day, one step at a time. You’ll get there, be patient with yourself.

Are there any more reasons why people fail to become hackers? Yes, there’s plenty. Another reason why most people fail is that they don’t know where to start. Hacking is a large field and there is much to know. So knowing where to begin is a tough issue. I’m no hacker, but I know a lot about hackers and computing. Whenever someone asks me where they should begin, I tell them to begin with their own computer. Learn everything about it. How it runs, its functions, components, its design. Then, learn about networks. Learn how computers talk to one another. Learn about network design, functionality, components, rinse/repeat. After you’ve done all the following (which is A LOT of learning), you’ll have a good idea as to what it takes to be a hacker.

Would you like to know another reason why most people give up? They underestimate the difficulty of the work. They tuck tail and run at the first sign of a struggle. They figure, “This is really tough. I don’t get it. I guess I’m not cut out to be a hacker.” Oh how wrong they are. They forget that learning, no matter who you are, is a struggle. Even the best hackers struggle. The thing that separates the hackers from the nobodies is that the hackers persist in the struggle. They don’t give in or give up. It’s all about the struggle. Remember that, and take your time. Again, be patient.

Most people fail because they’ve made a combination of the above mistakes: they have a false notion of what it means to be a hacker, they underestimate the work, don’t know where to start, and try to learn it all in one day. Hopefully this post helps dispel some of the misconceptions about being a hacker and encourages those would-be hackers to continue in their journey. And it’s one hell of a journey, so enjoy it. Kick back and hack to your heart’s content!