LYING
Case
case@pilosoft.com
lying, cheating, social engineering, socialism, se, hackers, stupid, fucked up


This file is not a tutorial on how to lie. Instead, it is about
something that really disurbs me, not only in the hacking scene, but in
every area of life. It is particularly bad in the hacking scene, though,
since it is so easy to meet and talk to people without knowing anything
about them. Everyone is "on their honor" to represent themselves
accurately, and it seems that some of us are not very honorable.

	Time and time again, I am shocked that people feel the need to lie
in order to impress me. I am not that hard to impress. Show me something
you've done, written, or programmed, and if it is half decent, I will
respect you for it. And yet so many people, lacking the real experience
and know-how to really do anything hacking-wise, just make shit up when
they talk to me. The worst part is that it is so obvious. I am experienced
enough, and hopefully intelligent enough, to know when someone is making
up whatever hacking feat they are bragging about. So there's simply no 
point in lying to me about it.

	Of course, in most cases they are skilled at covering up lies,
probably because they are very experienced at it. If I ever ask, out of
curiosity or with the outward appearance of trying to help (and I would
help if the proof actually existed), for some scrap of evidence, a log, or
partial log, or what-have-you, there is always some perfect excuse: "Oh, I
got scared and deleted it all." This excuse is kind of silly, because
without some secure-deletion diskwiping program (or the secure delete flag
in an ext2 filesystem under Linux), deleting a log will not keep it out of
the hands of a government agency determined to get it. It is pretty common
knowledge among people who...KNOW what they're talking about(!) that law
enforcement can, and do, spend a lot of time with sophisticated disk- 
recovery tools picking over seized computers' hard drives. In any case, I
have heard even more outlandish coverups from filthy liars, but I won't
name any specifically, for reasons I will explain shortly.

	So there you go, you know the sort I am talking about, and if you
have spent any time on BBS's, on underground-ish channels on IRC, on
confs, or wherever beginners (I've always hated the term "newbie," it's
degrading, and as long as someone calls himself a newbie, he will amount
to nothing) congregate, you have probably encountered this type of person.
Maybe you've known some in real life, I know I have. But the question
remains, WHY do they lie? What makes them feel the urge? I can think of a
few reasons people might lie to me:

1.	He/she underestimates me, and thinks I won't know he/she is lying.
	The person tries to seem "elite" in my eyes by claiming to have
	commited serious acts of telecomm crime.

2.	He/she looks up to me, for God only knows what reason, and wants
	me to accept him/her. The person wants me to see him/her as an 
	equal.

3.	He/she is fucking neurotic, and needs to boost his/her self worth,
	consciously or unconsciously, by trying to portray his/her self as
	being more important in the grand scheme of things than he/she
	will ever really be.

	I am sure there are more specific reasons, but most are probably
going to fall into those categories. Look, I am not perfect, I have lied
before in my life. But I am glad to say that I have not lied for any of
these reasons, because these sorts of lies are entirely inexcusable.

	What it all boils down to is that the person is trying to elevate
my opinion of him through lying. Well that simply doesn't work. If I know
he is lying, my opinion of him will be as low as possible. And if I think
he might be lying to me, I will always be suspicious of the person, always
wondering about everything he says, looking for inconsistencies. I will
probably pass my opinions of the person along to other people I know, and
his reputation will not improve.

	Even though I can often detect a lie, I never (well, rarely)
confront a liar. There are a few reasons for this. One is that I always
give people the benefit of the doubt, unless they have let me down many
times in the past, so if there is any uncertainty as to whether they are
lying, I will not say anything. I might deliberately ask a few difficult
questions, just for the pleasure of watching them squirm, but I will not
call them a liar. I would feel terrible if I had accused someone of lying
and they turned out to be telling the truth, or to be genuinely confused
about something they didn't really understand.

	The other reason I don't confront certain people is a little more
complex. In some cases, the liar is a good friend, or significant other,
of someone I consider a friend. So I make an effort to act civil towards
the liar, because I don't want to complicate any other relationships I
have with anyone. This can be difficult, but it is worth it to avoid
having friends of mine, who may be slightly gullible, angry at me.

	Now, I would be wasting my time if I didn't expect someone to gain
something from reading this. So here, I will spell out for you exactly
what you should gain:

	If you are a beginner to the hacking scene (such as it is...ugh),
or really if you are anyone at all that ever communicates with any other
people in any way, this should tell what people think of liars, and how
easy they are to spot. I hope you'll think twice before making shit up to
impress people. For those of you who are just naturally honest (but aren't
we all naturally honest?), this should be encouraging. Your peers who lie
won't have any real advantage over you. Be yourself. Be true.

	If you are not such a beginner, or if you think you are being lied
to, don't tolerate it! If someone is dishonest, knowing them will not help
you. It will only hurt you. They might get you into trouble, in any number
of ways. Worse yet, the person might be a fed, or some sysadmin who feels
he has a personal vendetta against you or someone you know. If you have a
bad feeling about a person, don't bother getting to know them.

	I hope I have made myself clear. Liars try my patience, more than
almost anything else. When I was a bit younger, I had quite a temper.
Nowadays, it takes a lot to set me off. Most things just don't get to me.
But people lying for any of the reasons I mentioned just ruin my day. I
want you to notice that I did not mention any specific incidents. The
people I am talking about know who they are. If you haven't lied to me,
then I am not talking to you. If, after this is published, you confront
me, and claim I have been slagging you or whatever, then you are admitting
that you're a fucking liar. So this shouldn't hurt anyone's feelings, I
guess. That is all.