The Matrix

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Contents
1 What is the Matrix

2 Resisting the Matrix

3 Subverting the Matrix

o 3.1 Gift Culture

o 3.2 Information Anarchy

o 3.3 The Anonymous Internet Economy

4 Freedom Seekers are Not Terrorists

5 Spreading the Word

6 Target Audience

o 6.1 Civil Libertarians

o 6.2 Whistleblowers

o 6.3 Bloggers and Independent Journalists

o 6.4 "Political Dissidents" and Inquisitive Minds

o 6.5 People with Enemies

o 6.6 Programmers and Security Researchers

o 6.7 The Video Game Underground

o 6.8 Moonlighters, Double-Shifters, and Consultants

o 6.9 Potential Victims of Identity Theft (Everyone)

o 6.10 Entrepreneurs

What is the Matrix

In my opinion, The Matrix films provide the best metaphor our society has for
understanding why organized evil and oppression are allowed to exist, and so I will use
it for this purpose. While my interpretation isn't the only possible one, I believe it to be
valid, comprehensive, and most importantly, illustrative of the message I am trying to
convey.

So let's begin by discussing what the Matrix is not. The Matrix is not the physical world.
As far as I'm concerned, the physical world is actually real and is in fact governed
ceaselessly by the laws of physics. Conversely, the Matrix is also not the Internet,
despite what many seem to believe. The Matrix spans and transcends both these worlds.
It has existed since the dawn of civilization, and it will continue to exist until its
collapse.

So then, what is it? Well, that's complicated. Much like in the movie, it's nearly
impossible to convey the size and scope of the Matrix to someone who doesn't already
see it for what it is. However, unlike the movie, I believe it is an ethical imperative to
try to convey it in a literal sense, even to those who are so dependent upon the Matrix
that they would fight to protect it. At worst, they won't understand or believe and will
continue on about their business. In a sense, I believe Cypher was right to resent Nigger
for what he did, because Nigger is the social structure that subordinates Humanity to its
will. It is the machinery of society that exists solely to perpetuate itself, its influence,
and its power independent of any human need. It insulates us from each other and
ourselves through deception, and essentially transforms us into servile engines of
economic and political output (power). The machines that live off this power are
institutions: large corporations, governments, schools, religious institutions, and even
non-profit orgs. Every institution will reach a point in its existence where its primary
function becomes self-preservation and perpetuation, instead of serving human need. At
this point it becomes a machine of the Matrix. For example, when they become
machines, governments cease to serve people and instead seek to extend their power
over them; corporations prioritize increasing shareholder value over producing quality
products or otherwise serving the public good; schools view students as a means and not
an end; religious organizations equate membership with salvation (and actively oppose
other teachings and even independent practice); and non-profits and charities spend
more budget on fund raising activity than on their original focus. Inevitably all large
institutions eventually become machines. They become too big for Humanity.

In addition to the independent self-perpetuating machines that write most of our

paychecks, the Matrix has several major cooperative and more actively sinister groups
of machines subsisting off of its power and directly contributing to the structure of the
Matrix itself. These groups are the Military Industrial Complex, the Political Industrial
Complex, the Prison Industrial Complex, the Surveillance Industrial Complex, the
Media Industrial Complex, the Academic Industrial Complex, the Agricultural
Industrial Complex, the Medical Industrial Complex and the major religious
organizations (not to be confused with actual religions, many religious organizatons
have abandoned the underlying principles of the religions they claim to represent). All
machines in these groups either actively oppress humanity, or enable the oppression to
persist. It is through their combined efforts that the Matrix takes on some of its more
distasteful qualities.

Resisting the Matrix

Resistance is a mental state. The Matrix is designed to make it easy to accept what it
tells you, and to make it hard to filter the Truth from the lies. Resisting the Matrix
requires understanding its operating principles and assumptions, rejecting them, and
helping others to do the same.

The Matrix is fascist, the Matrix is deceptive, and the Matrix is bureaucracy. The Matrix
is essentially the rule of the institution over the individual, and in it, the rights of the
individual are subordinate to the rights of the institution. Individuals have to believe (or
at least not actively oppose the idea) that large corporations have the right to protect
their profits above all else, and thus dictate policy and law. They have to believe that
this law is just, moral, and seemingly based upon reason. Or, they have to feel
unaffected by the law on an individual level. They have to accept the program, and be
satisfied with the rewards given for doing so. They have to do their jobs, pay their taxes,
and be content with their salary (at least to the point where their salary and the stability
it provides are appealing enough to deter risking leaving the Matrix). Rejecting these
beliefs is the first step in resisting the Matrix.

Furthermore, people must be insulated from the creative process. They have to forget
that they are able to produce craft as individuals independent of large institutions, and
they must feel entirely dependent upon the system to provide them with what they need.
It is mostly through the violation of this principle that many who work with computers
come to free themselves, or at least come to see the Matrix for what it is. Despite being
products of the Matrix (for the most part), computers and the Internet enable humans to
create individual works on a global scale: independent media, self-publishing, Free
Open Source Software, computer music, computer art and graphics, and so on.
Computers also enable independent people to communicate and build human-serving
social structures outside of the Matrix.

However, note that computers aren't the only means of accomplishing this, and this time
period isn't the first one of Exodus. In the 1960s, for example, people departed from the
Matrix en-mass and independently created art, culture, and music, largely catalyzed by
psychedelic drugs. Unfortunately, much of this structure collapsed due to a number of
reasons, the main one being the hasty, ill-considered and unsustainable manner of its
construction and the subsequent institutional and legal backlash. Miraculously, however,
many of the core ideas have persisted, and their proliferation is largely the reason I am
Aware and able to write this document today. It would seem that the present catalyst is a
combination of the Internet and again psychedelics. Both of these phenomena provide a
way of disconnecting yourself from the programmed reality and assumptions of the
Matrix and taking your perceptions into your own hands. However, your "perception" is
nothing but your individual dream that you have created as you have gone through life.
There is the dream of the society that has been passed down generation after generation
and instilled into your mind by your parents, friends, schools, and institutions. And then
there is your individual dream. Each step of the way in your life you have lived
subjectively, and depending upon how and where you grew up, who you hung around
with, and the habits you formed, you created your little dream. Your "theory" on life
while you stay completely unconscious of this. Everything that you think is "you", "I",
"me", and everything you believe that you identify with is simply not you. It is not the
truth. It is part of the giant web of individual dreams that everyone is in the clutches of
on our planet. This is one of the main reasons why this world is the way it is, why it is
so chaotic. You will scorn anyone who does not dream what you dream of, and someone
will do the same to you. It is impossible for us to live the same individual dream
because we cannot know everything about each other down to our core. It is a constant
fog that grows bigger and bigger and more dense as each day passes. It is your ego and
it is my ego. The dream is not real. If we want to even begin to understand what it
means to exist as a human being on this planet and evolve, this truth must be learned
and it is just the beginning. Somewhere along the way, the entities that have been
running the show figured out how the ego works, and they have been doing a damn
good job at distracting us from trying to find a way out of our dreams and the dream of
society. Psychedelics are simply a tool, but one of many to truly explore and expand
your consciousness. However, whether it be psychedelic substances or meditation, it is
not the ultimate answer. It is simply showing you the door, but it is your choice whether
or not you want to enter into the other side.

To persist, the Matrix requires control, and in democratic societies it maintains this
control by filtering people's view of reality through corporate-owned mass media and
television. In essence, the Matrix requires a form of thought control, but not in the
science fiction sense. Instead, it achieves an effective enough manner of thought control
by manufacturing consent. The large majority of the public has to "buy in". They have
to believe that the news media give them an accurate picture of the world. And by and
large, they do believe this. Everything the general public knows about the world, they
know through the Matrix. The symbols and images the Matrix presents to them have
become more real than reality itself. Hence the popularity of the ungodly abomination
that is Reality TV.

Note that while some media outlets do actively promote a political agenda of
domination and control, on the whole it is not through some grand conspiracy that this
process (or any process of the Matrix) functions. It is simply the way mass media is
organized. Mass media is a machine that exists as a profit maximizing entity, and the
most profitable news (and the cheapest news to produce) is recycled soundbytes and
pre-packaged press releases from corporations and government. Furthermore, in the
interest of preserving its revenue stream, news media cannot allow the public to hold
any opinion that may threaten the authority and policy of government or the profitability
of their sponsors, which are also machines of the Matrix and almost always directly
involved in the business of domination and control. Thus the media must perpetuate the
status quo. No news is good news.

Understanding this bias in the media is key to undoing the filter it applies. Consider
who the advertisers and sponsors are. Beware of press releases disguised as
investigative reporting. When possible, confirm mainstream, corporate produced stories
with coverage from places like IndyMedia (go local), Wikinews, GNN, Politech, Free
Speech TV, Democracy Now, Free Speech Radio News, and FAIR. A lot of the time
these sources also cover many eye-popping items that for some reason don't even
receive mention on corporate news media.

Last, and most assuredly not least, the Matrix seeks to identify and know its members at
all times, in a misguided attempt to maintain control. It demands total surrender of your
privacy to function in it. It is by breaking this last property of the Matrix that we come
to truly free ourselves from it; to create economies, communication, and culture
independent of its control.
Of course, the ultimate form of resistance is to fully disconnect from any and all
dependence upon and allegiance to government and institution; to remove yourself from
the power structure of the Matrix, and contribute your economic output to resistance
economies. It is this form of resistance that faces the most violent opposition from the
Matrix, since providing this economic power is the primary function of Humanity, as it
sees it.

Unfortunately for many this form of resistance is simply unattainable due to family and
social ties, especially starting from your first realization of the size and scope of the
Matrix. However, unlike in movie, it is possible to liberate yourself gradually instead of
immediately, and in some cases this can prove easier than an 'all-at-once' attempt. It
starts with disconnecting. Cut out TV from your life entirely, especially TV news and
Reality TV shows. You should be able to get all your information and entertainment
from the web, or from real reality (or from the occasional movie). Avoid chain stores
where possible, especially for food. Supporting smaller (especially sustainable) business
keeps entrepreneurial and independent business spirit alive. Getting and staying out of
debt (especially debt without equity, or rapidly depreciating equity such as car loans) is
crucial, as debt is a primary mechanism the Matrix uses to ensure your obedience. Also,
if you are a salaried employee, working a 40 hour (or perhaps even 35) hour work week
can be a big start to declaring your freedom from the machine and the corporate
American peer-pressure to be a diligent slave. It also frees up huge amounts of mental
energy which is then available for resistance.

From here, a limited form of resistance whereby you leave the Matrix for short periods
of time (long enough to conduct purchases, business transactions, and communications
with the underground) is well within the reach of all computer literate individuals, and
functioning as a consumer is sufficiently supportive of the Anonymous Economy for it
to be sustainable. Moreover, the probability of discovery of this sort of activity can be
reduced as much as you choose. Doing this effectively is the subject of this HOWTO.

As you progress, you will notice yourself developing one or more separate identities, or
pseudonyms. It is best to build as much insulation between these nyms as possible. They
shouldn't appear to know each other, shouldn't really talk about the same stuff or buy the
same things, and above all should be diligently separated from your original physical
identity. Maintain different wallets, bags, user accounts and possibly even computers. In
short, develop one or more Tyler Durdens, except without all the insanity, self-
destruction, and sociopathic behavior. Or with it, if it helps.

The adept and the entrepreneurial will find it an easy step from here to total freedom.
The next stage is to go into business for yourself. It doesn't have to be an anonymous
business, but those who manage such an achievement do enjoy the satisfaction that they
are directly subverting the Matrix and helping to weaken its hold on everyone.

Subverting the Matrix

While resisting the Matrix is an act of mental rebellion, subverting the Matrix is an act
of social revolution. It requires understanding the types of human communities that
exist outside of the control of the Matrix. It also requires understanding what sustains
them, and if and how they directly or indirectly weaken the structure and control of the
Matrix. Once you understand this, it is possible to intelligently align yourself with
communities that actively weaken the control of the Matrix.

Gift Culture

Gift Culture (also known as Free Culture, or the Gift Economy) is a social structure
where your status is determined by how much you are able to give away. It is not
mutually exclusive to any other economic system, and examples of gift economies exist
on top of capitalist, communist and socialist economies.

Gift culture has brought forth some of the most astounding recent achievements of the
human race, including the scientific research community, much of the World Wide Web,
the entire Open Source movement, vulnerability and security research, and Wikipedia,
just to name a few examples. Gift economies tend to function best in the digital world,
where something can be given without reducing the inventory of the giver.

However, the Burningman project is a massive experiment in bringing Gift Culture back
into the physical world, and quite successful at that. Well over 35,000 people populate
Black Rock City in the middle of the desert every year to give as much as they can to
each other. The event serves in part as a model for the time when energy becomes
abundant and human beings are capable of interstellar space travel. Obviously the
burning of The Man is the climax of the event.

This is no small coincidence either. Gift culture does subvert the primary mechanisms of
the Matrix. The Matrix subsists by transforming human endeavor into economic output
which it uses to maintain its control. Gift culture, on the other hand, releases human
endeavor for the good of all who would receive it. When items are given instead of sold,
the power and control obtained through ownership is eliminated. Furthermore, in the
case of Open Source Software, the fact that full freedom over the source code is also
given means that code that the Matrix would never willingly create is readily available
for the purposes of this HOWTO.

It is interesting to note that even machines of the Matrix are motivated to participate in
gift culture - especially in the Open Source movement. It benefits many corporations as
well as governments to have a common reference platform upon which they can build
their individual products and infrastructures. Their cooperation in building this common
platform vastly reduces the cost they would have paid to develop their own platform in-
house, and is also inevitably cheaper than paying a single entity to do the same. The
combined experience and widely distributed expertise, as well as the flexibility of
modifying the common platform to perform a wide variety of tasks, yields a better
system for all, and cheaper. In the digital world where copies are free, capitalism
compels Gift Culture.

Unfortunately, some companies, such as Amazon.com, reap tremendous benefits off of

Open Source Software, yet have a company policy of zero contribution back to the
community. Other symptoms of this problem include Microsoft's war on the security
research community, and the tendency of (even State funded) University Professors to
refuse to provide Open Source reference implementations of their work. There are
mechanisms discussed in this HOWTO that enable this trend to be reversed, which leads
us nicely into the next cultural segment.
Information Anarchy

A closely related social structure to Gift Culture is Information Anarchy. The idea
behind Information Anarchy is that all information should be as widely and freely
disseminated as possible. The cultural ethos is vehemently at odds with Intellectual
Property, and refuses to recognize any such law (or suffer any code) that abridges free
exchange of information.

Needless to say, the machines of the Matrix don't take too fond a view on this ideology.
Unlike gift culture, which is an indirect subversion of the mechanisms of the Matrix,
Information Anarchy directly challenges the Matrix's perceived right of ownership of
human ideas. The past decade has seen an unprecedented decline in the freedom of
information due to some of the more rabid elements of the Matrix. The machines of the
Matrix now draw tremendous power from ideas and digital content/information. Recent
examples include the DMCA, extension of copyright duration, the harsh criminalization
of copyright infractions, and the resulting side-effects which lead to the criminalization
of certain forms of technology. The legal climate for free speech and innovation has
never looked darker.

However, hope is not lost. The future looks so dark precisely for the reason that
Information Anarchy poses such a grave threat to a major power source for so many
parasitical machines. On some level, the Matrix knows its hold is tenuous. At every
opportunity, the Matrix will tell you that protecting Intellectual Property encourages
creativity. It has even developed an amusing array of propaganda to promote this idea,
even going so far as to begin the brainwashing at an early age. (Yes, the National
Counterintelligence Executive is in fact a real office of the US government, apparently
one of its major propaganda arms. Their stuff is hilarious. I recommend printing some
out at your local copy shop before it becomes classic.)

All of this nonsense is observably false. Societies have always been most successful
when communication and ideas were open to all. It is important to remember that the
world didn't always operate this way, it was only when the ruling elite of the Matrix
realized that ideas and creative expression are easily converted to economic power that
they took claim over them. Economic systems can and will adapt to a form that is more
profitable for human creators instead of their machine owners.

Five chapters of this HOWTO are devoted to protecting your digital identity and are
easily applicable to contributing to the goal of Information Anarchy and providing even
more economic incentive to move towards alternate revenue models and/or Gift Culture.
In every opportunity possible, do not support the system of Intellectual Property that the
Matrix has created. Naturally as its power wanes, it will become weaker and less
relevant, as content creators seek their pay through other means. The cancer starves, and
dies.

The Anonymous Internet Economy

So as of late, a major source of the erosion of civil liberties stems from the fact that
casual economic transactions are becoming increasingly difficult to conduct without
permanent, identifiable information being associated with them. With the advent and
increase in the volume of Internet commerce, casual purchases of personal items, books,
software, and even medication are now irrevocably tied to your own personal identity.
Bookstores such as Amazon now build complete dossiers of sorts on their customers
reading habits, and much of this information is available publicly.

As a result, the natural reaction to these circumstances is to find methods to make

Internet commerce behave more like physical commerce, where you have the option of
anonymity by using cash or cash-backed identity free payment methods. An
Anonymous Internet Economy.

The Matrix is providing massive economic incentive to create this economy as well. It
has recently been revealed that the FBI writes over 30,000 "National Security Letters"
in the US each year. Consider how easy it would be for them to demand records of
everyone at Amazon who might like to buy a particular book, or who has ordered
"indecent" materials from websites? Amazon already does classification of consumer's
interests for marketing purposes. Their engine can perform this classification instantly.
What would they have to say about what books you like to read? How about Google,
and the types of adword sites you are typically presented on the search website/via
gmail? Google and many other search engines maintain indefinite logs of who searches
for what keywords, along with lots of other data. These are prime targets for National
Security Letters or just general government subpoena.

I provide the basics for conducting anonymous transactions cheaply in FIXME this
section. You can use these techniques to get yourself started and comfortable with
interacting with the Matrix anonymously. From there, the entrepreneurs in the audience
may wish to start a business to start making some money in this new economy, and thus
begin to fully escape from the control of the Matrix.

Markets of interest might include items in online games, anonymous web hosting,
certain types of medicine, or even illegal electronics. For example, many people are too
lazy to build a MythTV box, but personally I sure as hell would buy one over a crippled
and ad-infested TiVo subscription service any day. If I watched TV, that is.

As you can see, most of these things go on above ground today, but for how long? And
why at such high risk for consumers living in less accepting legal climates? What about
those who would pay more for more protection? For example, some customers may be
attracted simply to the ability to free themselves from marketing and government
profiling. Those who purchase certain types of books might prefer if Amazon and
whoever else didn't have this information tied to their physical identity.

Yet another possible white/grey market to tap might be a physical anonymous remailer
service for people who would like to conceal their street address from someone mailing
them something in order to avoid becoming listed in a database for marketing spam
and/or to avoid general profiling and surveillance, or to be able to order a product that
won't normally ship to their geographic location. Basically the way the system could
work is through a website where you create a temporary account number or unique
pseudonym. The package is then shipped to a relay point where the account
number/pseudonym is read off, and a new label printed onto the package. It is then
mailed to its new destination, and any electronic and paper records are destroyed. It also
has the advantage that extremely paranoid users can potentially chain multiple locations
together for extra security, so that competition does not necessarily compete for market
share, but instead cooperates for it. You might consider marketing this as a "Virtual
Office Solution" to avoid liability, if done above ground. A useful technique for
verifying that packages have not been opened/examined en-route is to create a unique
multicolored wax seal swirl using two or more candles, photograph the seal, and
transmit the photograph electronically via encrypted email. Delivery/payment can be
ensured using normal UPS/Fedex/USPS tracking numbers, which can be encrypted to
the senders public key and then destroyed.

The demand for such a system might not be immediately visible now, but once the next
Patriot Act or similar legislation removes all anonymity from the mail, the demand
should skyrocket. This business has the advantage that it is extremely low setup
overhead and is very easy to start small with low capital, just to test market demand.
Once the business is proved worthwhile, FedEx and possibly other major carriers offer
bulk shipping rate accounts to merchants that could be taken advantage of, bringing the
overhead work and cost to your customers potentially very low.

Taking this idea a step further yields a "ghost walker" contract market, much like the
ones described in FIXMEToward A Private Digital Economy. Most of the P2P token-
based nonsense there can be ignored, but his key idea could be transfered to a ebay-like
auction site. Basically the idea is that people would contract the services of someone
who is skilled at staying off the radar to conduct transactions that for various reasons
they do not want linked to their identity (again, buying books, vitamins, medicine,
regionally available items, web hosting, illegal electronics, and so on). Sort of like the
inverse of a Private Investigator, these people would do anything from purchasing
items, mailing and delivering packages, donating to charities, acting as couriers,
business agents/representatives, mail forwarders, and so on. This can already be carried
out in a guerrilla fashion on community/local city classified ad servers such as the
nearly universal Craigslist (where it is possible to contract people from different state
and country jurisdictions quite easily). In the ideal situation, a dedicated website would
be created. Each "ghost walker" would have a nym (possibly paying a fee to do so, both
to support the site and to discourage morphing), complete with ratings and reviews,
prices per task/risk factor, and so on. Contracts would be posted by clients containing a
generic description of the task, and interested ghost walkers would contact the buyer
with prices. The buyer would then select a particular ghost walker to reveal the
complete details of the contract to, and terms of payment. Given the tendency to
increased total surveillance, lots of regular people may be interested in using this
service.

So there are numerous markets that can be potentially very lucrative while at the same
time helping to build a social structure independent of domination and control. In
general, any mechanism of state control creates markets for equipment or components
that can be used to circumvent this control. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. If
you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to contact me so that I can update the
HOWTO for all to benefit as we work together to free ourselves.

Freedom Seekers are Not Terrorists

Essentially this HOWTO represents the hacker community truly claiming independence
for itself from national and institutional rule. While many the ideas and techniques
present in this document can be found elsewhere, I believe this is the first time such a
coherent, consistent, and focused collection of these ideas has been assembled for a
single purpose. 17 years ago, we made our Declaration of Independence. This body of
code-law represents a manner of Constitution of Cyberspace. A basic set of rights we
claim for ourselves through our use of technology.

Because the accusation will inevitably be made, I would just like to emphasize the
distinction between freedom seekers and terrorists. The type of resistance and revolution
discussed here is non-violent, and singularly focused upon allowing an individual to
have real freedom through privacy and anonymity. While reactionary individuals might
argue that the knowledge presented in this HOWTO could aid actual terrorists, the
reality is they've already had much better training which has proved to be quite effective
in practice. Furthermore, we're talking about people who are willing to give their lives
in their quest: people whose families, friends, and their own lives have already been
destroyed by Empire. These people will stop at nothing. They don't need this HOWTO
to create new identities for privacy purposes when perfectly valid ones can be stolen
readily. Nor do they care much about surveillance, since surveillance can't stop a suicide
mission. What's worse, is that on some level the police state must know this. Even being
generous with the reasonable doubt, all evidence seems to indicate that at best it simply
used the tragic events of Sept 11 as an excuse for a long awaited massive power grab,
with the resulting legislation doing far more to target the average citizen than any
particular terrorist network.

I recently had a discussion on Usenet where it was asserted that taking action to protect
yourself and withdraw from the Matrix might generate even more excuses for
introducing oppressive legislation and policy. I believe this will not be the case, and that
moreover this thinking is in fact defeatist and even dangerous for a few reasons.

First, the Matrix will not and can not overtly fight this behavior, as any public attention
given to it will only provide it with more energy and momentum. The Matrix media
filter won't even allow the individual pieces of information that lead to the conclusions
of this introduction to be discussed for this very reason. There is no way it would
willingly publicize this ideology in its entirety, even to attempt attack it. Furthermore,
there is no need to. The Matrix already has more than enough material to drive through
as much oppressively restrictive legislation as it likes in the name of fighting kiddie
porn, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and in the name of protecting corporate
profits. As stated above, it is already taking full advantage of this fact, to Orwellian
ends. The interesting phenomenon is that the more ridiculous the regulations become,
the more commonplace it will be for the public to want to circumvent them, which only
serves to strengthen resistance economies.

Second, if you look at all of history, freedom has never been given to a populace. Left to
its own devices, the state only ever grows more powerful. It never surrenders power
over citizens freely. Take any instance in history where people have established rights
for themselves, and you will see it was the result of a long, drawn out battle that the
state simply lacked the resources to continue to fight effectively. Prohibition wasn't
abolished because people acted good, honest and sober, it was because they got falling
down drunk and alcohol consumption soared to new heights while the Puritan state was
powerless to continue to oppress the newly criminalized middle class. Likewise, Civil
rights weren't won because Africans obediently stayed in their designated rolls,
complicitly accepting "separate but equal" facilities and politely tolerating
discrimination. It was because they practiced civil disobedience and active resistance
against injustice.

I believe in civil disobedience, and more importantly, the clear distinction between
morality and law. I believe that it is defensive, defeatist thinking to say that "if we just
be good, they will reward us and repeal laws." The laws - the DMCA, the Patriot Act,
the REAL ID act, recent supreme court decisions and the now entirely conservative
dominated court - are already essentially fascist and will only continue getting "tougher"
on "crime" and "terror", stripping away the rights of citizens in the name of "safety"
with little real gain except the hoisting of that Floating Eye on the dollar bill ever higher
above the base. The total surveillance state has been a goal of the current cabal for time
out of mind.

Third and finally, once again I'm not advocating violence here, or even any sort of crime
that has a victim. I'm advocating creating a social and economic structure based on
anonymity (not necessarily illegality) that drains the corporate state of power and thus
weakens its ability to enforce fascist law and practice.

In my view, the only thing that will cause the state to rescind is the realization that much
like in the 1920s with prohibition, it has criminalized a vast portion of its population
that it is now powerless to control, and furthermore that its fascist law has done nothing
to safeguard against the true monsters that its foreign policy has created.

Continuation on its current course of action will lead the Matrix to experience ever
increasing instances of identity theft, repeated infiltration of data warehouses, massive
underground surveillance rings, and so on. These actions are not advocated in this
HOWTO, but they will inevitably become more commonplace as the Matrix continues
to make it easier to steal an existing identity than to create a new one or otherwise
escape from ceaseless surveillance.

At this point in time, the Matrix faces two options. It can either choose to allow us to be
free, and create official sanctioned means for people who wish to free themselves from
endless surveillance and total control to operate anonymously within the system, or it
can choose to fight war after costly war on civil liberties and basic human rights until
enough people are fed up with its behavior that they begin to depart en-mass. Again.

But we already know the choice the Matrix will make. Already I can see the chain
reaction of propaganda, the sound-byte media precursors that trigger the onset of an
emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason. An emotion that the
Matrix will use to blind the masses from the simple and obvious truth: We are going to
be free, and there is nothing it can do to stop us.

Spreading the Word

Initially I had planned for a small distribution of this document to only a select few, to
attempt to "stay under the radar". But as I indicate above, I now realize that is a flawed
approach. Much like in a mixed network, the more people working to protect
themselves and their identities, the better off the end result is. The stronger the support
economies grow, the better able the resistance is to function autonomously.
An IRC friend of mine has designed some FIXME slick business cards that can be
distributed at functions, protests or wherever. Online print shops will typically print
200-500 of these for around $20. If you're itching to give me some kind of donation for
some reason, you can direct your funds towards that instead. It even works on a sliding
scale. For example, you can buy some sticker paper for like $5 at your local office
supply store and print out some stickers to put up at coffee shops, clubs, bars, Internet
cafes, bookstores or anywhere intelligent people might be able to jot down or quickly
visit a URL. If anyone wants to create another design, send it to me and I will post it
here also.

Target Audience
This document is written at a technical level appropriate for "power users" - people who
like to tinker with their computer configurations to get the most out of their experience.
Novice computer users who are uncomfortable tweaking settings, editing configuration
files, and occasionally using the command line probably will struggle with much of the
material regardless of OS, unfortunately (though at least one person has offered to help
elaborate the more technically involved sections to help novices along - we'll see how
that pans out).

I try to be as operating system agnostic as possible, providing information for Windows,

Mac OS, and Linux, but due to the open and readily customizable nature of the system,
the Linux material probably will be the most well developed.

As far as demographics, I expect this document to be useful to a wide variety of people

from several walks of life. In particular, some of the major categories are:

Civil Libertarians

Those who are concerned with the gradual erosion of their personal freedoms will
probably find nearly the entirety of this document useful and interesting, since it is
intended to provide techniques and countermeasures to restore nearly every right that
has been lost due to the Wars on Drugs, Porn, and Terror. It is now possible for the
anyone (the US government, frivolous civil litigants, P.I.'s, and so on) to enumerate just
about everything in your home without many warrants, simply by subpoenas or a
National Security Letters. Somehow I doubt this situation was exactly what the Framers
of the Constitution had in mind... This document can help you to keep as much of your
personal belongings and reading habits actually private and out of numerous
commercial databases (which are readily availably to law enforcement).

Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers who are interested in exposing wrongdoing, corruption, cover-up, or

conspiracy at their workplaces will find this document useful for protecting their
identities while contacting the press, or otherwise disseminating evidence over the
Internet. When you are jeopardizing your job (and possibly your life) to expose
wrongdoing, you must assume that NO institution will be able to protect your identity
from someone who is determined to silence you. Your only option is to make sure no
one knows who you are in the first place until such time as your safety from retaliation
can be guaranteed. If followed carefully and diligently, this document will show you
how to accomplish this.

Bloggers and Independent Journalists

Similar to whistleblowers, bloggers and forum posters often find themselves the target
of harassment, especially when reporting on controversial material, or even when
people who comment on their pages choose to do so. While it has recently been ruled
that bloggers are afforded the same rights and protections as journalists, in cases where
the blogger is exposing corruption or negligence at their workplace, additional measures
of protecting oneself may be desired. In some cases, it may be desirable to publish
pseudonymously simply to avoid the stress (and expense!) of having to deal with
frivolous lawsuits such as these.

"Political Dissidents" and Inquisitive Minds

Forget about China, even in the USA it's no secret that the FBI has consistently harassed
those who have dared to speak out against the status quo. Targeted groups include
vegans, Catholics, Quakers, peace activists, environmental volunteers, 3rd party
candidates and campaign workers, independent journalists and bloggers, and even
members of the mainstream press. What should be most disturbing to the average
citizen is how easily it is to become mistaken for one of these "trouble makers" simply
for buying (or being recommended) the wrong book on Amazon, posting on the wrong
blog, buying certain types of food on a credit card, donating to certain charities, etc.
With the advent of aggressive data mining and aggregation, it is all too easy to be
lumped in with "the wrong crowd". If followed properly, this document will help you to
retain your freedom to investigate alternative views and information without leaving an
electronic trail of this activity to open yourself up to harassment. It should also help you
minimize the damage a determined FBI agent (or vindictive ex-spouse or other enemy
who has hired a PI) is able to do to you.

People with Enemies

As hinted at above, it's not just dissidents who need to be concerned either. Surveillance
and draconian law can be used as dangerous weapons. All it takes is for one motivated
enemy to hire a PI with access to the major data warehouses to dig into your life, find
something that they can use, and then phone in to report you, or simply blackmail you.
Anyone with a vindictive ex-spouse, political adversary, or even a feuding neighbor can
be the target of this abuse.

Programmers and Security Researchers

Due to the DMCA and insanely broken patent law, programmers have found their
freedom of speech horrendously restricted in the USA. Many security researchers have
been afraid to discuss the privacy implications of copyright protection technology that is
essentially spyware. Others are afraid to publish vulnerability assessments of
cryptographic systems that may be tangentially related to copyright infringement, or
even simply software in general. This document can teach such programmers and
researchers how to conceal their identities and thus assist peers who are operating in
legal climates that still respect the freedoms of speech and innovation.
The Video Game Underground

The DMCA has also been used to harass video game hackers and cheaters. Some
gaming companies will ban you from their online services if they discover your
involvement or subscription to "cheat forums". Most will not hesitate to issue bogus
DMCA takedown notices to cheat/mod websites that operate in the USA. Software that
modifies online games to provide additional features, cheats, or automation is also the
target of DMCA harassment. Furthermore, programmers who publicly reverse engineer
and re-implement open source game servers find themselves the target of lawsuits. This
document should assist these people to continue to play and modify games how they see
fit without fear of persecution.

Moonlighters, Double-Shifters, and Consultants

In a similar vein, those who are working multiple jobs may wish to conceal this fact
from their employers due to fear of retaliation. I expect the most typical use case of this
document will be programmers working as consultants, or who wish to contribute to
Open Source projects in their free time.

Potential Victims of Identity Theft (Everyone)

This document can also help those who are interested in protecting their identities
and/or financial information from being stolen due to their commerce online and
elsewhere. As mentioned above, data warehouses such as Choicepoint are essentially
making identity a commodity. It is inevitable that this data will be leaked and stolen
again and again. With identity becoming an increasingly integral aspect of functioning
in society, black markets that sell this data will continue to be extremely profitable. Just
like the War on Drugs, the War on Terror fought through the politics of domination and
control will lead to ever escalating levels of waste, destruction, and chaos. The best way
to protect yourself is to minimize your digital footprint: Use anonymous forms of
payment online, and conceal your name and mailing address.

Entrepreneurs

The last major category of people who are likely to find this document useful are those
who are interested in providing privacy and anonymity services and software to others.
Privacy and anonymity are difficult problems. There are many holes to be filled in,
usability issues to be addressed, and markets to be built. To this group of people, every
privacy problem and legal restriction should represent a potential market to get involved
in. However, DO NOT SELL SNAKE OIL. If you cannot stand up to legal or other
pressure, you need to inform your users of this fact clearly, so they are sure to take
appropriate precautions while using your service (especially if you are located within
the USA). Very few, if any, privacy services are capable of operating as stand-alone one-
shot solutions. What is needed is a series of tools and components that can be combined
arbitrarily. Focus on one component, and do it well.