5 Days ago, Steemit was hacked. My account was one of several that was "compromised," and I've been locked out since.
Frankly, it's been a challenging three days, testing my patience & faith. I was never 100% convinced this platform was going to succeed as smoothly as we all hoped - and though it was a pleasure earning a decent amount of money for a month's worth of hard work writing and actually being able to get some of it out into my bank account, there was still some sense of disbelief as whether this all was legit - or how easily it might be able to come crashing down.
Somewhere, some hacker exercised his brilliance and prove my doubts valid. The system wasn't foolproof - let alone genius-proof. It's all been a pretty big deal. And despite Ned & Dan promising that all compromised accounts would be reimbursed, my peace of mind has not increased the longer I've been waiting to get into my account again without any notice of what's going on.
Now, while some might look at the situation and conclude the hackers deserves legal punishment and view the whole ordeal from the all the perspectives that have been discussed thus far, I'd like to offer a different point of perception.
In all likelihood, I'd imagine the hacker wasn't interested in reading anything that might have any actual value in it - focusing instead on how to fuck more people over. Nonetheless, I'm going to write the following as though it were an open-letter to the hacker him/(her?)self.
Of course, this is for all to read - as much a creative piece intended for thought-stimulation as much as actually intended to be a communication to the hacker. There's alot on my mind, in response to this whole hack experience, which is seeking voice through this outlet. If the hacker did happen to actually read it, I'd hope he did so with an open mind and as open a heart as possible.
I promise what shall follow is pure realness.
I write with no condemnation or hatred. Though aren't going to go out of my way to be nice either and pretend I'm not angry when I am. I write with a belief that there may indeed be value in understanding and forgiveness. And I'm going to exercise the respect be be authentic and honest enough to express some genuine feedback that most might never take the time & energy to. I might push some buttons. But it's not done so out of any intention to hurt - rather to "call out the elephant in the room" of the hurt that's already there, unacknowledged - and hold the space with compassion to explore some things that simply aren't working for any of us anymore.
If that sounds kind of like a mind-fuck and you've got an odd sense of confusion as to where this is going, GOOD.
I didn't promise this is going to be entertaining, inspirational, and peachy. I did promise it'll be authentic.
So without further ado...
Dear "hacker,"
Frankly, I wish I knew your real name so I could address you as a human being, and not an "enemy" of sorts. Many in this Steemit community might not be looking at you so fondly right now, but I know that behind whatever computer screen you've been hiding behind, there's a real person with the same frailties, vulnerabilities, hopes, and desires all of us have. We all think we're so different. But when it comes down to it, we've all got more in common than we'd want to admit.
You don't know me. Or maybe you do, to a degree. After all, you did hack my account. If you had taken the time to read everything I'd written over the last month, you might know me very well - as I bared alot of my soul in all that writing. I invested countless hours crafting works of literary art designed to inspire this community and pass on wisdom I've gained through my years of life's trials. And for whatever reason, you felt entitled to take the rewards I'd poured so much of my heart into generating by being of service and value.
I'm not sure why you chose to hack all the Steemit accounts you did - whether you chose your "victims" intentionally for personal reasons, or it merely came down to the money. You've obviously cultivated some bad-ass computing skills over the years. Maybe you saw the funds flowing through this system and figured you could cut yourself off a nice piece of the pie without having to earn it with integrity. Or maybe the hack was just a challenge for your curious, creative mind - a puzzle, a game, an obsession to do what others believed couldn't done. If that's the case, I congratulate your problem-solving skill & persistence. However, don't consider that congratulations as an excusing of your violation of both laws and personal privacy.
Whatever your reasons were, I'm going to challenge you to solving yet a deeper challenge.
If you accept, this may be the greatest game you ever win. You may not enjoy playing it. It might even seem like fucking hell as you navigate through the puzzle pieces. But I promise you, it you commit - your success will trump anything you could ever achieve on this path you've been on, creating chaos for others...
Now, I'm sure you've been expecting your fair share of hate from the community for what you've done. But I'm not going to give you that.
Rather, I'd like to express my appreciation for your contribution.
Yes, that's right. You HAVE contributed.
You've found the loopholes in the system. You've uncovered the bug. You've cracked what experts thought couldn't be cracked.
And because of the brilliance that enabled you to do that, the system can be upgraded to be better & stronger. And that's a great upgrade.
The community is actually lucky to have you - as if you hadn't managed to hack the system, someone else probably would have at a later date when the stakes were alot higher and ALOT more chaos would have resulted. As such, your intervening to help find the system weaknesses now is a great blessing.
Now, I can't pretend I know what it's like to be you. I don't know a fucking thing about who you are.
But, I might be able to guess a few things about you...
Given your obvious inclinations to work against a development such as Steemit, I'd probably guess we share some similarities - that you too, might be on the anti-social side, a bit rebellious, not a fan of "the system" and the world's status quo. You probably never felt as though you fit into a society that seemed mad - tortured by a brilliance in the midst of a culture of fools distracting themselves with superficial bullshit, all propped up by heartless power games and ego. So you likely revolted - retreating to uncover the inner workings of what systems (computers) you could grasp the logic of and have some hope of developing enough knowledge and power to manipulate them to your benefit.
If that strikes a chord of truth in you, part of you might be freaking out right now. That's okay.
There's no way I can no the details of your story, but I'd probably guess you haven't had a totally easy life - that something happened to you along the way that destroyed your faith in humanity. Probably when you were young, you got hurt. And out of that hurt, you emerged feeling incapable of functioning as a healthy member of society. Not knowing how to deal with the sense of inadequacy, you closed your heart. And as you got older and developed the skills to have some impact in the world, you sought to project that pain you've been carrying all these years out onto others.
Doing so from behind a computer screen seemed like a safe way to do so. You never had to look anyone in the eyes so they'd see your pain. And you'd never have to face your own guilt of doing anyone wrong the way you would if you met a person you were screwing over face-to-face. It may have been a good game that engaged your skills and allowed you to stay dissociated from both your own demons and people you felt incapable of interacting constructively with.
How can I know this?
Complex pattern recognition. And, because I speak from experience. I may have never been a computer hacker, but I spent a good deal of time figuring out to hack the human brain - because I was at war with myself in similar conflicts as these described. (Many of us are. We just have different ways of coping).
I don't blame you for doing what you did. Yes, you probably knew better. But if any of us were in your exact same shoes, we probably wouldn't have been able to do any differently either.
My guess is that as much as you might have aspired to be more than an isolated troublemaker, you felt powerless to live up to the highest ideals for yourself, restricted by your own inner chaos. At some point - perhaps even now, still - you may have wanted to make a difference in the world, but felt hopeless to take on the challenges of what seemed so much bigger than yourself. And with the frustration of those pent up dreams, you did the only thing you knew how at the time - turning your inner chaos outward to unleash upon those/that in the world that represented your unfulfilled hopes & desires and poked your sore spots. It's an understandable reaction. Though not one that's brought any peace to your soul.
If you've made it reading this far, I commend your courage. Having your demons called out into the light like this would surely make most people squirm and run away. If you choose to shut this and run back to your old life, it'd be predictable. But I promise you, what you REALLY want lies on the other side of this insight - and there's no other way to it than through the hellfire of these reflections.
My guess would be that hacking became an uncontrollable addiction for you. I know what addiction can be like, having spent years in the clutch of compulsive tendencies designed to take away the pain of inner torments - insecurities, social anxieties, obstructed creative flows, energetic oversensitivy to the dysfunction of society. My guess is that DEEP down, you probably didn't want to fuck over hundreds of strangers - but something took you over that you couldn't control. And that's okay.
Like I already wrote = you have served the community. Perhaps not intentionally. OR, if it actually was your intention to upgrade the system by finding the breaking point, so we could fix it... Then by God, I bow to your genius - and to your humility to have done so without any need or desire for personal recognition in contributing such an amazing gift to the community. The utmost respects.
Though for now, let's continue as though that's not the case - with the full acknowledgement that we've opened the possibility that it's the community that's been fooled...
So, not to keep the entire spotlight on you...
The last month, my addictive personality has been oriented towards Steemit.
Why? Because I saw some fucking amazing potential in it to be a game-changing platform, technology, vehicle, catalyst for massive socio-economic transformation.
Like I mentioned - I've always sorta been at odds with the society and it's corrupted systems. I always envisioned a more peaceful, harmonious, prosperous, sustainable world. And it's been a crazy internal battle coming to acceptance that none of that may be in my control, despite what positive intentions, hopes, and desires I had.
I'd been tipped off that the cryptocurrency & blockchain waves were going to be tsunamis of cataclysmic proportions. And I've seen the seeds of something in the concept, philsophy, execution, and growth of the venture that has inspired great hope that Steemit may be a force for tremendous good on a mass scale.
As I got into writing on Steemit, I experienced a flow like never before - constructive. The more I wrote, the more I felt to get aligned with the purpose of truly creating value for readers and the community. I'm not sure I've ever experienced anything like it before - all that inner chaos and addictive compulsion channeled into a purpose much bigger than myself, tangibly contributing to a project that held the potential to be an excellent entryway into the realm of societal & economic transformation that I'd felt drawn to my whole life, yet had ended up continually frustrated because I never found my place in the world (the same way it felt like I may have found on Steemit).
I kid you not, mate. It might sound like I'm overglorifying or hyping this platform up. But you don't have to believe it. Time will reveal what I mean. Others are already discovering it. Millions more will. I don't know how to fully explain it. But this platform has been a path I've been waiting for - that many have been waiting for, as it's a different ballpark that provides the social media space for outcasts like you & I to explore, create, and experiment in like never before - and facilitate the direct monetary compensation for what we bring to the community...
You were so focused on TAKING what you could get your hands on, that you nearly killed the fucking golden goose, dude.
You wanted a quick, huge cashout at the expense of others' hard work and investment of heart & soul - when you have just as equal an opportunity to step in and take abundantly in proportion to all you GIVE.
And if you're lazy as fuck, you might not be sold on the idea of having to give in order to receive. (You're probably not lazy-as-fuck, as I'd imagine the hack took ALOT of time & effort - unless you're just a complete hacking virtuoso).
But I promise you, bro - if you just gave it a chance and got a taste of what it's really like to be of value to such an open-minded community of pioneers in a blossoming cyberspace with the potential of disrupting outdated global paradigms... If you were to break out of your own bubble and come check out what it's like to be part of a worthy movement...
You know all those insecurities, conflicts, and inner demons driving the destructive behavior...? Words can't do it justice - but there's something transformative about the Steemit space that in conducive to channeling all that torment into a new direction that does others GOOD. I'm not the only one on Steemit who can attest to this.
I doubt you could have possibly understood what all this meant to us when you did it. If you did, and you had a heart, there's no way you possibly could have done it. (Unless, as previously pondered, you intentionally served as a facilitator of the upgrade).
So while I've personally been frustrated being locked out & in the dark, not knowing whether the fruits of my month of work are lost, not knowing whether this amazing venture thousands of us have been investing my heart & souls into - I hold no hard feelings against you.
It's quite likely you didn't know what Steemit really was, is, and could be to millions of people - yourself included.
And when I say, "if you had a heart..." Of course, you have a heart. Chances are, it's been hurt - like many people's do. Yet unlike other social media sites where douchebag trolls feel entitled to vomit hate all over others' posts, its actually a really great community of real, genuine, caring, compassionate people who value integrity and character that's growing on Steemit. It's a safe space, where vulnerability and healing is welcome - and those who don't respect that get checked. If you were open to exploring and transmuting the pains that have driven your compulsions to destroy others' creations, and yourself grow to constructively channel your creativity and computer skills into a collective vision of something extraordinarily beneficial for the world - you might find Steemit a pretty rad place.
Instead, you now face the prospect of years in a prison, getting ass-raped by hardcore criminals. And for what...??
For a big pay day? You could have joined in the Slack team and contributed to the development of the platform, putting your talents to use with integrity where they'd be greatly appreciated, earning yourself a legit share in a venture that could have the potential to provide financially for you for the rest of your life.
For a challenge? You could have attempted the same challenges as part of the team, gotten a proper bounty for it, and earned the credibility and reputation to be a part of even bigger projects with even more interesting challenges to solve.
Of course, to say "you could have" may not ben entirely fair - as for reasons neither of us may never consciously know, you couldn't. It wasn't your role to play.
Maybe you simply were destined to be the villian in this chapter of our shared drama.
Yet in doing so, you have contributed immensely to the advancement of the project - probably moreso than the ways you could have if you had played on the team. The weaknesses you found that needed to be upgraded - perhaps couldn't be found from within the perceptual framework of the team's perspective. Maybe the team needed your outside perspective to shine light on its blind spots. And therein may lie the paradox & irony of the whole fucking thing - the dark knight, the enemy as a force for constructive change, the perceived evil initating necessary evolution for the protection against even greater evil...
So what comes next...?
I dunno man.
If it was up to me, I might almost be willing to forgive and extend an invite for you to come join the Steemit team. They could use such talent as yours.
But, it's not my call, and the authorities may be after your ass because you were a naughty boy.
Maybe nobody will ever know who you are. Maybe you will always prefer it that way.
Oh, and as for that "challenge" I had for you... If you made it reading all the way to this end, you halfway succeeded.
The other half: really sit with the Truths waiting here for you in the message.
I dunno whether these words are coming from my mind, or through as a message that shall hold special importance to you here. Either way, I felt compelled to share this all - because while it's likely you may get your fair share of criticism and hate elsewhere, I think it's important to keep a balanced perspective. For all of us.
We all share similarities in what past traumas and insecurities haunt us. I don't believe you're a bad or evil person. Perhaps just misguided. Or maybe Divinely guided, despite some surface-level chaos.
I ain't gonna fake any sort of self-righteousness and say you should or shouldn't do anything. (If any self-righteousness has come through - I still haven't weeded all those demons out of my ego). I'm not smart enough to know how to get yourself out of the pickle you've put yourself in. You may have helped to upgrade the system, but you did fuck up pretty bad in the process.
Or maybe not. Maybe it was all perfect.
Maybe I needed the break away from Steemit just to realize how fucking addicted I've become to it. Maybe I needed the inspiration from the experience to create this article to pass on a message to you or someone else reading it.
Maybe its all just distraction. Maybe its all just God, playing itself out in Divine order.
Who the fuck knows.
In Conclusion:
Be blessed. Celebrate your victory, and be prepared for your fall.
Don't be afraid to face your shadows. The light is never too far off when we exercise the courage to dive in.
Thank you for your service to the community. Even if you did cause a shitload of people alot of fucking headache.
If you ever do "see the light," Steemit would do well to have you with your bad-ass computer programming skills join its ranks as a constructive collaborator.
And if the FBI catches up with you before then, just remember:
Don't drop the soap. ;-)
🙏
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