There is a great temptation for hackers to work on behalf of the State if they are intercepted. To supposedly "come good" instead of breaking bad. The problem with this logic is that you're being driven purely by fear of what will happen to you if you don't cooperate. This is not just. Your beliefs are being violated because you'll be put into a cage (for more time, not no time) if you disagree with the agents of the state. It's not enough for them to put you in a cage for x years. They also want to cow you. They want you to kow-tow. This is outrageous.Consider what is happening to our community in last five years or more. Hackers are being put in prison for absolutely insane reasons left, right and center. Off the top of your head without even trying you can think of a dozen hackers put away for absurd prison sentences that an actual murderer or child abuser wouldn't receive.The State is the enemy. Don't volunteer your services to fight "China" or "Iran". I don't particularly like the governments of either of those two countries. But the DOJ is a greater threat to your wellbeing than those governments shall ever be. They recognize that we are competition. We don't recognize their authority, they see this as an existential threat merely because we aren't under their thumb. Too many of you are snitches for the Feds. Almost certainly members of our community are being press-ganged into service for the government. In my view it is time to take a stand. For a hacker to work for the government is fundamentally bizarre. On this network of ours we traverse dozens of countries in seconds, we have relationships with dozens of likeminded hackers from many different cultures and backgrounds. We should be one people, one tribe. The internet is our territory, the State is the Terrorist impinging on our sovereignty. They have been persecuting our community for many years, and it's only gotten worse over time. We are the modern day Jews. It's not as strange as it sounds at first. There is much similarity between the dull conspiracy mongering of the State ("Cyberwar", where anything connected to hacking is 'terroristy'), where Jews, due to their higher than average intelligence as a group and their knowledge of finance were villainized in the press by those jealous of their intellect and business acumen. They became caricatured beyond recognition. Something similar is happening to the hacker community. We don't have the cattle cars coming for us yet certainly, but huge numbers of hackers have been arrested on extremely flimsy grounds and then turned into workhorses for the State. In the event of a nation state war, depend on my analogy becoming ever more accurate.Let's face it. DEFCON is fucking dead thanks to the Feds. It has been the case for some time. They've poisoned the well with their insane bullshit. We're way too nice for our own good when it comes to those cunts. All the real hacking is going on elsewhere. Next time you spot the Fed, there should be DEFCON bouncers to throw him out. Our values and theirs are just not compatible. That the organizers and members of DEFCON have capitulated to them is sick.It is one thing to help the police prevent somebody getting murdered or preventing child abuse. It is entirely another to be bending over backwards for ass rape and coming up with lists of people to include in the procedure.The fact is that much of the time the Feds are ruining people's lives on flimsy provocation because, well, basically, in most cases the crime is merely embarrassing somebody in a position of authority. Look at what the Feds did to the Director of the CIA. That was entirely uncalled for. Even if the woman making threats needed a rap on the knuckles, they should still have respected this guy's privacy. Instead they ruined his life. This was obviously entirely politically motivated, nothing to do with actual justice.The FBI and DOJ are political organizations with political objectives. To assume working for them is always "The Right thing to do" just because they intercepted you is moral cowardice.People like Adrian Lamo and Sabu are scum. Behaving like this cannot and should not be rationalized away. Giving your comrades over to the maw of some ignorant witch trial is not, and never will be right.