MikroBitti issue 12/1989, pages 17 and 19 (not 18) --- Force Vartola The Secrets of the Computer Underground (Original title: Tietokoneiden alamaailman salat) ** Who are the shady men of computer culture? Robin Hoods fighting against gigantic game companies or gangsters who are destroying gaming? We won't take a stance here, but instead offer a neutral look into the world that not many are part of. In every hobby there will eventually be an own subculture formed by fanatics. Likewise, software cracking and copying have given rise to a jungle of hobbyists and terminogoly, which are pig latin to outsiders. But not for long. How is a cracker born? There are many reasons behind software copy protection, most notably the loss of profit. There are many reasons for breaking the protection, too. You can't make a backup copy of protected software, which is disadvantageous both to the creator and the user. High software prices are another reason to copy. Therefore, there is some motivation for removing the protection. It's a vicious circle. Software houses develop new protection schemes all the time, but someone will always figure them out. Thus, you can always copy software, no matter how good the protection is. Another important motivator is the challenge. The cracker has to prove himself and his friends that he's a good guy - the harder the protection, the nicer it is to crack it. Previously it was useless to fight against copy protection removal, because of lacking legislation. Now they have improved the law. At the moment copy protection removal and making a backup copy are not illegal, but passing a copy to your friend is. They still can't punish all crackers because they can't be caught or there is inadequate evidence. In addition, many criminals are younger than 15 years and thus not liable to punishments. I, cracker The person who removes copy protections is called a cracker. The title of course comes from English (but it doesn't have anything to do with the fashionable drug). Thus, copy protection removal is called cracking and a removed protection is called cracked protection. In Finland they pronounce the words as Finnish: kräkkeri, kräkätä. At this point it's necessary to mention that anybody into these things is know as a freak (pronounce: friikki). Copy protection removal is tough, very low-level programming. Therefore, it's natural that the cracker wants his name known to his peers after his heroic exploits. Thus, you copy the cracked software to all your friends with the added text "Cracked by xxx". Because cracking is illegal, you of course don't use your own name. You have to invent a codename, usually something technical and aggressive, which you can go by without worry. Examples of good codenames: Icebreaker, 1001, Warrior, Hackman, Conan. Bad examples would be Loverboy or Flowerman. We Crackers The person who removes copy protections is a cracker and, likewise, their group is called a cracker group or bunch of crackers. Over the years the guys who copy software organized themselves and formed groups (pronouce: kruuppi). They invented names for the groups. Examples of group names: Warriors, Future crackers, Swiss cracking association (cf. the SCA virus!). Cracked programs started featuring texts like "Cracked by xxx of yyy". If a groups wants fame but can't crack, they can only add their names to software already cracked by someone else. This kind of fake crackers are called Cream Crackers. A group often ivents a logo that they use in their productions. When freaks see a logo many enough times they start remembering it. A certain year can also be a symbol for a group, for example 1941 immediately brings Flash Cracking Group to mind. In addition to a logo, it's common to come up with a three-letter acronym, such as SCC for Swedish Cracking Crew. Famous early crackers on the C-64 were, for instance, ABC, 1103, Flying crackers, 1001-crew and Jedi 2001. A the moment on the Amiga some top names are Quartex, Red Sector, Paranoimia and the Finnish X-men. Swappers Not all group members are crackers. In addition to cracking, a typical group engages in other activites that earn them fame. Almost all groups have a member who exchanges letters with other groups around the world. He spreads the productions and gets programs from other groups. This person is known as a swapper. The title comes again from English, swap = exchange. Like in the case of the cracker, we can form words swapping, a swap (one exchange) and "swapilointi" (blundering with mail). The swapper's worst enemy is postage, which often eats all their available pocket money. An ingenious swapper may place sticky plastic or a layer of spray on top of the stamps, so that they can be conveniently cleaned and reused. The Postal Service doesn't like that and often opens packages to discover the address of the sender. Therefore, the letters are hidden on floppies in binary form where even the smartest postman can't find them. Campaining for Fame Everybody wants to be in the limelight. One convenient way to get the group known is to make small programs where you put others down and praise yourself. These are known as demos or intros. An intro is typically shorter than a demo and can be found at the beginning of cracked programs. A demo requires more effort and showcases the skills of the group to others. A megademo is a collection of demos by the same group, a demo collage is a collection of demos by different groups on the same floppy. A typical demo stretches the limits of the machine and utilizes them effectively. Almost all demos feature a scroller i.e. a "story" which scrolls across the screen, where you tell the names of the creators, throw tantrums at others and send greetings to good groups. A scroller can be be a very imaginative piece of code. It may glide from left to right, from up to down, take turns, follow a sine curve or even be made of 3D letters. For making a demo the group needs a coder (programmer), graphical artist and composer (music guru, synth guru). Unfortunately, often of these is missing and the group ends up stealing the music, idea or code from others. This is called snatching or ripping. Other group activities are training and ripping music or graphics. Trainging is a challenging task where you add infinite lives or energy to a game, or make it easier to play in some other way. A game which has been trained is called a trainer. Game tunes are often ripped and turned into a collage, which contains images, music and scrollers. This kind of image and music ripping was very popular once. Subcultural Outcasts A self-made demo is a great undertaking, which will earn you big fame. But if all the parts of the demo have been snatched, you might get called a lamer, "leimeri" (cf. English lame = cripple, unsatisfactory). All lamers are despised a lot. There have even been rumors of physical violence that was used to educate lamers. Only snatching doesn't make a freak a lamer. You can also earn the title by making really bad demos, advertising yourself too much, blundering the swaps, sending empty floppies or trying to benefit from large groups. If you've earned the title of a lamer, there's little you can do. You have to wait for the storm to blow over, change your codename and improve your swapping and coding. Parties and Meetings Groups often organize events, mostly parties, where they invite all the best freaks. Everybody brings their own machine and the party is typically full of electronic gadgets. The purpose is to meet other crackers, copy new programs and have fun. These copyparties are frequently organized at some school with a permission from the city officials. The problem is that then you're under strict surveillande. Alcholic drinks are in most cases a taboo and once a beer bottle broken near the guard meant that everybody was thrown out, no matter the nationality. The best copyparties are international events, where different cultures and languages form a nice mixture. Crackers also organize phone meetings where you have representatives from multiple countries. If possible, the conference will be organized for free, illegally that is. Thus, fathers and mothers, now you know what your son is doing when he answers the phone in the middle of the night and whispers for hours under the blanket. The Future Increasingly many pirates have jumped ship to the legal side and started to create games or other commercial software. Some notable names are the Danish Sodan, Swiss Christian Weber and Dutch Boys Without Brains. Sodan has created many mega games, out of which the best known is probably Sword of Sodan. Christian Weber, SCA's top hand, has participated in coding the game Crack, and BWB is known for the C-64 hit Hawkeye. The future looks brigth for crackers, as they've spent all their life in front of computers and know plenty about them. After high school the next logical step is a university or the Finnish IT Institute. (Dear FV, contact the editors if you're interested in the reward. -- Editors). --- Terminology Cracker = removes copy protections Hacker = plays with a modem Swapper = exchanges letters Coder = programmer Lamer = something despicable Freak = all of the above Pirate = freak, negative meaning Packer = sofware compressor Party = meeting Contact = swapper's pen pal Stuff = software Hot stuff = new software New stuff = new demos Demo = demonstration Intro = introduction Ripping = snatching Snatching = stealing parts of programs Collage = collection Scroll = scrolling text