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                         Underground eXperts United

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      [ The Decline of The Swedish Underground ] [ By Dare Devil Show ]


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                    THE DECLINE OF THE SWEDISH UNDERGROUND

                      as presented by DARE DEVIL SHOW
                      for the uXu electronic magazine


The title is lying, to a certain extent. This file does not really deal with
the decline of the Swedish digital underground, because the real underground
has not declined (it cannot, by definition, decline - if it did, it would
not be the real underground anymore, but something else). Amateurs and
newbies are not, and will never be, welcome to the underground. If they try
to enter, they will be stopped. The 'public' underground (which is not to be
confused with the 'real' underground) however, has always been a sorry
sight. But even though it has been mostly harmless (and sometimes even
funny), the public underground has nowadays expanded to the extent that
it is a threat to not only to common sense but also to the Internet itself,
in Sweden. In this file, I will briefly explain why I believe that to be
the case.

Nowadays, the Swedish underground is ruled by one magazine: FNA ('Flashback
News Agency'). This electronic magazine (together with its WWW site) claims
not only to be the HQ of the Swedish underground but also of the whole
Scandinavia (which means that it also includes Norway, Denmark, Finland and
Iceland). FNA releases a new issue around every two weeks, and it is filled
with news which is supposed to interest those people who are involved in the
underground. It also carries a lot of trix for H/P/A. It has several thousand
subscribers, and its editor can be seen and heard on television and radio
shows dedicated to the Internet culture.

   It is not hard to realize that FNA is a contradiction in terms: something
that is 'underground' is not supposed to be available for everyone. But FNA
is available for everyone. Of course, there is a real underground in effect,
but FNA has no access to it (thank god - if the staff of FNA knew what went
on in the real underground, they would become pretty amazed - it is not the
usual mumbo-jumbo, that FNA is used to). Due to this, one would sometimes
like to thank FNA for its existence. The magazine draws away the attention
from the real underground to the 'public' childish underground news that the
magazine spreads all over the country.

   Certainly, it is also possible to become quite depressed over the fact
that the public Swedish digital underground has no pride at all. The
so-called H/P/A tips'n trix that are spread are painfully outdated (or
generally quite worthless), and the 'news' concerning the underground are
childish beyond belief. FNA loves, for example, to publish tips on how to
call without paying from phone boots that does not exist anymore, or just
old H/P/A files that could be found on Interpol I, Interpol II or Project
Athena last decade (of course, FNA does not give any credits to the real
inventors of these files). The underground 'news' in question mostly contains
information that could be read in the morning paper several days ago, or
found at a public library.

   This ought not to disturb oneself for more than a few seconds. Ignorance
has always ruled the amateurs; nothing new; we have seen it all before.
If one does not mind, the life in the real underground can be quite
comfortable anyway. One need not to read FNA if one does not want to. But,
unfortunately, it is impossible to just sneer at the magazine and forget it.
FNA has grown big, so big that it has obtained power. Power to change
things. Power to teach the population that the digital underground is not
something that can be seen as irrelevant. FNA has got the power, but no
knowledge. FNA constantly misuses its power by spreading amateur opinions
(as we all know an 'opinion' need not to be based upon any form of knowledge)
concerning the importance of the underground. Due to this, FNA is not only a
threat to common sense, the underground, but also to the whole Internet and
its digital culture.

   The reason for this lies in the basic fact that FNA is regarded, in
public, as The King of The Underground. The concept 'underground' in the
digital world bears a special quality: it is the place where one will find
the nomenclature of the trade, i.e. 'the best'. Therefore, when answers
are needed, the public (media mostly) turns to the underground. Since FNA is
The Underground, FNA is supposed to be the holy god ('the best') with
answers to everything concerning the political and social aspects of the
Internet. Naturally, FNA accepts this humble label without shame. But
unfortunately, they are seldom able to give any good answers. Their lack
of knowledge is their worst enemy. However, since the public is even more
ignorant concerning the Internet culture, they will regard the answers as
good, on the border to perfect ones anyway. There is no need for further
analysis. FNA knows it all, so why debate anything they say? (It is, however,
possible to find pathetic attempts to debate the Internet (not FNA) in a more
serious fashion, in such papers as Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and
InterNet Guiden, but the embarrassing writers all fail due to the same
reason: lack of knowledge, lack of experience. I will not get into this
subject much further since it has already been thoroughly explained in the
uXu file 'The Internet Hysteria' (UXU-238)).

   Internet is still, even though it is the year 1996, something that is
somewhat abstract to most people. 'How does it work?' 'What is it good for?'
'Who rules the Internet?' Such questions are not hard to answer, if one owns
precious knowledge in the subject. Unfortunately, those who are given the
chance to answer the questions have, as said, often serious defects in their
knowledge. One could live with that. It is harder to live with the more
annoying part: Questions of real importance, such as 'Ought someone control
the Internet?' or (even worse) 'How are we to control the Internet?' are
also answered by the amateurs of the net.

   If one deals with a trade of importance, and lets an amateur make up
the rules and modus operandi for this trade, what will happen? It will fail,
of course. Big time. What if FNA is chosen to save the Internet from its
oncoming doom (state control and moral intervention)? It will fail. Big
time. Unfortunately, FNA is actually the chosen one, and the future looks
even darker than before. Amateurs will lead amateurs, and Internet will fall
into the hands of the dumb, deaf and blind.

We have reached the end of this file. But if you still do not believe any of
the above arguments or claims, consult IRC channels #hack.se and #phreak.se
for empirical proofs (if you are able to get any good answers out of the
people there, you are not lucky - you are dreaming). IRC channel #flashback
(FNA's place) offers pimpled kids who try to get laid via the Internet
(nothing new, indeed) mixed with confused political activists who shout out
their latest misunderstandings. Naturally, you will also find the usual
wanna-be hacker who boasts about operations that has never taken place in
any other world than his own.

   Yes, it is a sad sight; but it is the underground for the masses. And it
is on its way to conquer the world. Plebs eris, indeed.


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 uXu #350              Underground eXperts United 1996              uXu #350
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