Digital Underground - uXu - Underground eXperts United #uxu-350

### ### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### #### ### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### ### ### ########## ### ### ########## ### ### ### ### Underground eXperts United Presents... ####### ## ## ####### # # ####### ####### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### # ## ## ## ## #### ## ## #### # # #### ####### ## ## ## ## ## ## ##### # ## ## ## ## ## ## ####### ####### # # ####### ####### ####### [ The Decline of The Swedish Underground ] [ By Dare Devil Show ] ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ THE DECLINE OF THE SWEDISH UNDERGROUND as presented by DARE DEVIL SHOW for the uXu electronic magazine The title is lying, to a certain extent. This file does not really deal with the decline of the Swedish digital underground, because the real underground has not declined (it cannot, by definition, decline - if it did, it would not be the real underground anymore, but something else). Amateurs and newbies are not, and will never be, welcome to the underground. If they try to enter, they will be stopped. The 'public' underground (which is not to be confused with the 'real' underground) however, has always been a sorry sight. But even though it has been mostly harmless (and sometimes even funny), the public underground has nowadays expanded to the extent that it is a threat to not only to common sense but also to the Internet itself, in Sweden. In this file, I will briefly explain why I believe that to be the case. Nowadays, the Swedish underground is ruled by one magazine: FNA ('Flashback News Agency'). This electronic magazine (together with its WWW site) claims not only to be the HQ of the Swedish underground but also of the whole Scandinavia (which means that it also includes Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland). FNA releases a new issue around every two weeks, and it is filled with news which is supposed to interest those people who are involved in the underground. It also carries a lot of trix for H/P/A. It has several thousand subscribers, and its editor can be seen and heard on television and radio shows dedicated to the Internet culture. It is not hard to realize that FNA is a contradiction in terms: something that is 'underground' is not supposed to be available for everyone. But FNA is available for everyone. Of course, there is a real underground in effect, but FNA has no access to it (thank god - if the staff of FNA knew what went on in the real underground, they would become pretty amazed - it is not the usual mumbo-jumbo, that FNA is used to). Due to this, one would sometimes like to thank FNA for its existence. The magazine draws away the attention from the real underground to the 'public' childish underground news that the magazine spreads all over the country. Certainly, it is also possible to become quite depressed over the fact that the public Swedish digital underground has no pride at all. The so-called H/P/A tips'n trix that are spread are painfully outdated (or generally quite worthless), and the 'news' concerning the underground are childish beyond belief. FNA loves, for example, to publish tips on how to call without paying from phone boots that does not exist anymore, or just old H/P/A files that could be found on Interpol I, Interpol II or Project Athena last decade (of course, FNA does not give any credits to the real inventors of these files). The underground 'news' in question mostly contains information that could be read in the morning paper several days ago, or found at a public library. This ought not to disturb oneself for more than a few seconds. Ignorance has always ruled the amateurs; nothing new; we have seen it all before. If one does not mind, the life in the real underground can be quite comfortable anyway. One need not to read FNA if one does not want to. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to just sneer at the magazine and forget it. FNA has grown big, so big that it has obtained power. Power to change things. Power to teach the population that the digital underground is not something that can be seen as irrelevant. FNA has got the power, but no knowledge. FNA constantly misuses its power by spreading amateur opinions (as we all know an 'opinion' need not to be based upon any form of knowledge) concerning the importance of the underground. Due to this, FNA is not only a threat to common sense, the underground, but also to the whole Internet and its digital culture. The reason for this lies in the basic fact that FNA is regarded, in public, as The King of The Underground. The concept 'underground' in the digital world bears a special quality: it is the place where one will find the nomenclature of the trade, i.e. 'the best'. Therefore, when answers are needed, the public (media mostly) turns to the underground. Since FNA is The Underground, FNA is supposed to be the holy god ('the best') with answers to everything concerning the political and social aspects of the Internet. Naturally, FNA accepts this humble label without shame. But unfortunately, they are seldom able to give any good answers. Their lack of knowledge is their worst enemy. However, since the public is even more ignorant concerning the Internet culture, they will regard the answers as good, on the border to perfect ones anyway. There is no need for further analysis. FNA knows it all, so why debate anything they say? (It is, however, possible to find pathetic attempts to debate the Internet (not FNA) in a more serious fashion, in such papers as Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and InterNet Guiden, but the embarrassing writers all fail due to the same reason: lack of knowledge, lack of experience. I will not get into this subject much further since it has already been thoroughly explained in the uXu file 'The Internet Hysteria' (UXU-238)). Internet is still, even though it is the year 1996, something that is somewhat abstract to most people. 'How does it work?' 'What is it good for?' 'Who rules the Internet?' Such questions are not hard to answer, if one owns precious knowledge in the subject. Unfortunately, those who are given the chance to answer the questions have, as said, often serious defects in their knowledge. One could live with that. It is harder to live with the more annoying part: Questions of real importance, such as 'Ought someone control the Internet?' or (even worse) 'How are we to control the Internet?' are also answered by the amateurs of the net. If one deals with a trade of importance, and lets an amateur make up the rules and modus operandi for this trade, what will happen? It will fail, of course. Big time. What if FNA is chosen to save the Internet from its oncoming doom (state control and moral intervention)? It will fail. Big time. Unfortunately, FNA is actually the chosen one, and the future looks even darker than before. Amateurs will lead amateurs, and Internet will fall into the hands of the dumb, deaf and blind. We have reached the end of this file. But if you still do not believe any of the above arguments or claims, consult IRC channels #hack.se and #phreak.se for empirical proofs (if you are able to get any good answers out of the people there, you are not lucky - you are dreaming). IRC channel #flashback (FNA's place) offers pimpled kids who try to get laid via the Internet (nothing new, indeed) mixed with confused political activists who shout out their latest misunderstandings. Naturally, you will also find the usual wanna-be hacker who boasts about operations that has never taken place in any other world than his own. Yes, it is a sad sight; but it is the underground for the masses. And it is on its way to conquer the world. Plebs eris, indeed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- uXu #350 Underground eXperts United 1996 uXu #350 Call THE YOUNG GODS -> +351-1XX-XXXXX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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