Shulou(Shulou.com)06/02 Report--

Who is Beto O'Rourke?

Many people will answer that he is a young Democratic candidate, a rookie in the 2020 election.

He is even regarded as Obama of that year-young, decent, fashionable and politically correct, which is in perfect contrast to Trump of today.

Now, another label on him is the first politician in the United States to run for president as a hacker. Half a month ago, Beto publicly declared that he was a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow, an established hacker association that also "claimed" the politician.

The hacker politician's candidacy also brings a different color to next year's election. Reuters even spoke highly of Beto's hacking identity, calling him "the most prominent former hacker in American political history."

A hacking convention in a slaughterhouse.

Logically speaking, hackers are not a glorious identity, nor can they be said to be beneficial to political careers. Why does Beto want to "reveal his identity"?

This also starts with the background of the "Cult of the Dead Cow"(hereinafter referred to as CDC), a hacker association.

Cult of the Dead Cow is a word that translates to "cult of the dead cow." CDC was launched in 1984 by several programmers on hacker forums and held a "ceremony" in a slaughterhouse in Texas. Although most of what several hackers have done before is to crack software and games for free use in small circles, CDC itself claims that this gathering is the first "hacker conference" in history.

In the technical history of cybersecurity, CDC's achievements are not high. Probably the most famous was the DEF CON hacking conference held in Las Vegas on August 1, 1998, which released the RAT program "Back Orifice" that can remotely control Windows PCs. In addition, there has been no other virus transmission, attack vulnerabilities and so on.

In this way, CDC is more like a hacker organization that is biased towards entertainment.

Internet Security Guards--hacktivism

Apart from the technology itself, CDC has another side.

In China, there is a noun called "Hongke." That is to say, to safeguard national interests and not to use network technology for their own profits, but to "safeguard justice and win glory for their own country hackers." It is this group of people who invade the official websites of embassies of other countries and hang the Chinese flag at some critical moments.

However, this kind of behavior of relying on network intrusion to express political views was pioneered by CDC.

Omega, a CDC member, first mentioned the term "hacktivism" in 1996 in an email with members of the organization. For a long time, CDC also condemned other countries and enterprises through network intrusion. The methods used are probably cultural interference by invading physical information display platforms such as billboards or other websites, publishing information, or simply attacking, imitating, or hijacking other websites to express their anger.

(CDC Member, Beto and Facebook Chief Security Officer)

Interestingly, the CDC is not a notorious political hacker group, but rather has a close relationship with Uncle Sam.

On the one hand, as early as 2000, CDC member Mudge explained Internet security issues to then-President Bill Clinton and appeared on CNN. On the other hand, CDC has been attacking countries with other interest camps, such as China and Iran. In this way, Beto's attitude towards China is likely to be the same as Trump's, except that Trump will use trade issues to contain China, while Beto is more likely to use technology and cybersecurity issues to contain China.

In this way, CDC almost has the meaning of "American hacker imperial army."

Why does America need a hacker president?

The CDC not only "identified"Beto as a hacker, but also hand-washed Beto, saying that Beto had never committed any hacking activities that violated the law, except once when he was a teenager and hacked into long-distance telephone service through a modem. In order to protect Beto's political path, they have not disclosed Beto's presence in the organization.

What exactly does a hacker background do for Beto's campaign?

First, rapid technological upheaval is causing panic among the people.

The rapid development of new technologies such as AI and 5G is becoming a common uncertainty for the whole world. As ordinary people, we are like textile workers on the eve of the Industrial Revolution, with a natural fear of unknown new technologies.

For Americans in particular, they have seen both the overall technological backwardness of the United States (especially behind China) and anger at the shameless invasion of people's privacy by technology companies.

At this time, the appearance of a politician with a technical background, especially the hacker organization behind it, has used technology to express politically correct political views, which can make the American people feel more secure.

Second, the next act of global competition will depend on networks.

We are almost tired of talking about the importance of cybersecurity warfare. Since 2016, there have been constant news that other countries rely on cybersecurity attacks to influence U.S. evidence, such as Russian hackers manipulating elections, Russian navy publishing fake news on Facebook, etc.

Whether the news is true or false, the United States has put cybersecurity warfare on a fairly high position. Last year alone, several related bills and plans were introduced, such as the Safe Elections Act, the Cyberspace National Alliance Program, and the Blockchain Act.

At this time, a "hacker president" means that the United States may have more initiative in the next world competition. For example, in the face of network attacks, they have better defense schemes, and may even initiate network security wars actively.

Third, the younger image of hacker identity is in sharp contrast to the current president.

One of the more realistic points is that hacker identity brings a very young label to Beto. CDC itself is relatively neutral, and CDC has been trying to build itself into a cultural symbol compared to hacker organizations that hibernate underground for profit. They have very stylish theme songs, cowboy-style armbands and logos, and their website is full of interesting meme emoticons. Beto's experience as the lead singer of a punk band is legendary.

In this way, Beto himself is very adapted to Internet culture, fashion and casual. Compared with Trump, who is now old and addicted to social media for the elderly and loves to use capital letters, it forms a very sharp contrast. This cannot help but remind people of Obama, who was a financial elite, and his elderly opponent, McCain, who came from a military family.

From symbol to card

Of course, it is still difficult to give an accurate answer to how much Beto's hacker identity can help his political career. Beto is also not a strong contender in the 2020 election compared with other politicians.

However, from Trump's "Twitter President" to Beto's "Hacker President", two symbols blown up by the media, we can smell the inextricable link between politics and technology.

At the time of Trump's election, people were still amazed at the power of the Internet in communication. By 2020, the desire and fear of technological power has made hacker identity a powerful weapon in the election campaign.

This also reminds us that regardless of the future situation of competition or cooperation in the world, mastery of technology, especially cyber security capabilities, will definitely become an important trump card.

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