
BoW BoW BoW BoW BoW Bo*                                *BoW BoW BoW BoW BoW Bo
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BoW BoW BoW BoW BoW Bo| YOU JUST DON'T GET IT, DO YOU? |BoW BoW BoW BoW BoW Bo
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BoW BoW BoW BoW BoW Bo*            by: U4EA            *BoW BoW BoW BoW BoW Bo
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                         <----] What is BoW? [---->

BoW is a fraternal organization for like minded inviduals.

BoW is a virtual sanctuary for the exploration of the so called "darkside" of
the "hacker" ethic.  BoW serves a twofold purpose, one being of course the
artistic interpretation of what is now a stagnated "scene" using the ascii
medium (the zine). Secondly BoW serves as an engine of stratification;
employed mercilessly by it's high ranking members.

                 <----] How does one become a member? [---->

BoW members are born not made, if you truly are BoW material: you will be
recognized as such by the governing council and invited to take refuge amongst
our membership.  Once invited you will be subjected to a series of ordeals,
no two members are put through the same test as each individual is recognized
as the subjectively encapsulated being that he / she is.

The Aeon of BoW began in 1992 when the existing scene paradigm was redefined
by my utterance of the word "Phear" and I was recognized to the station of
"Phearless Leader" by the existing governing council.  This council was born
out of the ashes of what once served as the largest H/P organization in the
world:  VirtualCon.  Never heard of it?  You either weren't around, or if you
were, you were likely a worthless social scene parasite and not actively 
involved in anything.

                        <----] Why "darkside"? [----> 

At the time of BoW's inception, the existing hacker "ethic" was riddled with
such drug-addled hippy slogans as "information wants to be free",
"if ___ is outlawed, only outlaws will have ___", etc.  There was an alarming
trend towards what the socio-political faction of the "scene" termed "ethical
hacking" which if you reduced it to it's base elements you would find it 
roughly translated to the following:

            - kiss as much ass as possible as it may one day
              lead to employment.

            - turn over every exploit you are either given or
              discover on your own to security professionals 
              and organizations such as CERT for kudos.
    
            - post all exploits, etc to newsgroups such as 
              bugtraq, etc so that you can gain recognition
              from your peers. (sounds a bit like the warez
              scene doesn't it?)
    
            - when it is politically correct to do so, 
              reprimand other hackers publically for actually
              hacking / phreaking.
    
            - kick / ban anyone from hack / phreak irc channels
              when they ask a question you cannot either answer
              or are too ignorant to understand.
    
            - support the presence of law enforcement and / or
              "narqs" at both public conventions or forums on 
              the internet such as irc, etc.
    
            - Play word games in order to avoid ever having to
              make any sort of commitment through individual 
              action.  ie: hacking / phreaking.  When it is
              convenient to do so (ie: to impress ur friends)
              then the ethical hacker is of course a "darkside"
              hacker openly breaking computer crime laws but of
              course when one is amongst other "ethical hackers"
              one has to put on airs to the contrary.
    
            - Hide behind your copy of the K&R white book and 
              insist that C programming is an arcane and 
              esoteric skill known only to the few.  (*laff*)
    
BoW recognized this for the dangerous paradigm that it was and immediately 
issued a stern commitment to the anathema of all that the "ethical hacker"
stood for.  At the same time, a media whore pseudo-journalist by the name of
"John Markhoff" , realizing that his poor writing skills and attention 
defecit disorder would never get him anywhere, sought to further his career
by focusing his pen on the antics of Kevin Mitnick.  He termed Kevin, a 
"darkside" hacker in the pages of his book "Cyberpunk" and defined the term
with negative connotations.  

BoW recognized John Markhoff for the trash that he is and decided to reclaim
the word that Kevin Mitnick had chosen to martyr himself for.

BoW became resonant with the DARKSIDE and continues to evolve the archetype
of the darkside hacker to this day...

Enter the corporations and the commercialization of our playground...
With that came the ISP...  
And more than likely, with those two events: YOU CAME TO OUR WORLD.

Were you on the internet before the ISP was born?  

If your access were removed tomorrow could you find your way back to our 
world without purchasing it? Without begging for it? Without having to read
a pop up book or text file, could you do it?

If the internet completely ceased to exist tomorrow, where would you go? 
Could you find us again?  Do you know the way?

Did you answer the question, or are you too busy insisting that you have
earned your right to be here?

* What is your raeson d'etre? *

Are you a genuine seeker or do you merely want to be like us?  To get the 
attention we get without trying?

* Are you prepared to go all the way? *

When your doors are being kicked down, when your beloved computers and
assorted electronic equipment are being indexed and carried out your door by
THE MAN are you going to cry?

Are you going to turn all your friends in?  Friends that trusted you with
information about them?  Those that you spent your free time posturing in
front of, bragging to, telling them that you were the real thing... Will you
sell them out because you are a FAKE?

Is the freedom of others worth all that?  Is *your* freedom worth all that?

To trade them both for a few moments of empty posturing?

* DID YOU THINK YOU WERE FOR REAL? *
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