Hackers for charity… but where are the hackers?

I just saw a post from my good friend Johnny Long about why he won’t make it to defcon this year. Johnny is one of the greatest human beings that I know inside or outside of the hacking community. He said the same thing that I have been feeling for years and has the same frustrations. I know EXACTLY how he feels. He started a wonderful project with hacker for charity, but as so often happens, you only have a small number of people on whom you can rely. It ends up being a lot of work and if no ones comes on board and steps up to assist, then it becomes a one man show. Eventually, that one man hits a wall.

I was very fortunate to have a lot of great friends in hacking that helped get binrev and all of our assorted projects going. Sadly, most of the projects have fallen to the wayside or have been abandoned completely as real life pulled people towards other priorities. Most of us still hack. I know that ntheory and I are working on some things right now. dual pops his head up every once in a while with something kool. I talk to decoder all the time still. But we are only a few people that are doing things while everyone else consumes. I could segue here into a rant on consumerism, but it is ironic that hackers, a bunch of seemingly anti-consumers, are such mindless consumers of information without actually creating any new content of their own.

Take a note from Hacker Public Radio. Those guys and girls are doing it right. Please support them. Support hackers for charity. Support can mean anything from finances, to time, to knowledge, or just mentoring someone in these very forums. Find a way to support ANY/ALL hackers. If not, we will regress as a community instead of growing as a family. We are all family…aren’t we?