Jack Recider

So you got to message the channel operators to ask permission to join. But they'll deny you because they don't know you. But you notice the person who denied you to get in is also in another chat room. So you join that one to see what's going on there. And you eventually find your way into some hacker chat rooms. Now, the year was 2008.

And being on IRC and in hacker chat rooms in 2008 was a very, very special time and place to be. Those who were there will never forget those years. In fact, the whole world will never forget what happened then. This was the heyday of Anonymous. And Default found his way right into the heart of it.

And being on IRC and in hacker chat rooms in 2008 was a very, very special time and place to be. Those who were there will never forget those years. In fact, the whole world will never forget what happened then. This was the heyday of Anonymous. And Default found his way right into the heart of it.

The anonymous chat room was a hot mess. The biggest disaster of a chat room you've ever seen. Whatever you can imagine is the most awful picture ever. Double that. And then spam it to the chat room. That's what was going on there. Gore, brutality, pornography, vile and disgusting imagery.

The anonymous chat room was a hot mess. The biggest disaster of a chat room you've ever seen. Whatever you can imagine is the most awful picture ever. Double that. And then spam it to the chat room. That's what was going on there. Gore, brutality, pornography, vile and disgusting imagery.

It was kind of a hazing experience that you had to get through in order to find your way deeper into anonymous. Sometimes new people would be asked to eat a stick of butter or a tube of toothpaste on camera to prove yourself. Because here's the thing. Cops, feds, journalists, security researchers, and normies would show up in these chat rooms.

It was kind of a hazing experience that you had to get through in order to find your way deeper into anonymous. Sometimes new people would be asked to eat a stick of butter or a tube of toothpaste on camera to prove yourself. Because here's the thing. Cops, feds, journalists, security researchers, and normies would show up in these chat rooms.

And if they pop in to see what's going on, and it's just full of gory imagery, a lot of them can't handle it. They might vomit even and then just nope, right out of there. Spamming the most graphic and awful pictures was like a firewall of some kind.

And if they pop in to see what's going on, and it's just full of gory imagery, a lot of them can't handle it. They might vomit even and then just nope, right out of there. Spamming the most graphic and awful pictures was like a firewall of some kind.

But if you could tolerate it, building calluses on your eyes and start talking with people through the noise, you might be welcomed deeper into the pockets of anonymous.

But if you could tolerate it, building calluses on your eyes and start talking with people through the noise, you might be welcomed deeper into the pockets of anonymous.

This made the edges of anonymous even more fuzzy. New groups were forming out of it, and they had their own ideas and agendas. And they'd look back at the anonymous chat rooms and think, those cats are cringe. We don't want to be affiliated with that stupid stuff. We're our own group. And IRC hacking groups would come out of anonymous. Some were loosely affiliated.

This made the edges of anonymous even more fuzzy. New groups were forming out of it, and they had their own ideas and agendas. And they'd look back at the anonymous chat rooms and think, those cats are cringe. We don't want to be affiliated with that stupid stuff. We're our own group. And IRC hacking groups would come out of anonymous. Some were loosely affiliated.

Some were even anti-anonymous themselves. There was infighting too, doxing people from other anonymous groups and other hacking groups. It was a real mess. Some other groups that were springing up in that time coming out of Anonymous were like LulzSec, Team Poison, UGG Nazi, HTTP. And some people in these groups were getting arrested and then working with the feds to catch other hackers.

Some were even anti-anonymous themselves. There was infighting too, doxing people from other anonymous groups and other hacking groups. It was a real mess. Some other groups that were springing up in that time coming out of Anonymous were like LulzSec, Team Poison, UGG Nazi, HTTP. And some people in these groups were getting arrested and then working with the feds to catch other hackers.

Things weren't safe. You always had to be looking over your shoulders in these chat rooms. You just didn't know who to trust in there.

Things weren't safe. You always had to be looking over your shoulders in these chat rooms. You just didn't know who to trust in there.

Yeah, in fact, I do know who Trick was very well. I did a whole episode about him called Team Poison. That's episode 109. But the scene was so hard to navigate to know who to trust. It almost became a thing that if you were hacking into stuff, breaking laws, then you were trusted. You must not be a fed if you're able to break the law. Everyone else keeps them at arm's length.

Yeah, in fact, I do know who Trick was very well. I did a whole episode about him called Team Poison. That's episode 109. But the scene was so hard to navigate to know who to trust. It almost became a thing that if you were hacking into stuff, breaking laws, then you were trusted. You must not be a fed if you're able to break the law. Everyone else keeps them at arm's length.

Now the thing is, at this little time and place in the world, hacks were happening everywhere you looked. Some from anonymous, some from anonymous adjacent, some from crews that were anti-anonymous. But what was their motivation? Some were politically motivated. Some wanted to get revenge. Some wanted to amplify a cause or an idea.