Cult of the Dead Cow
Cult of the Dead Cow
Fri Feb 23 15:20:07 1996 1 tselba.nara.gov 2616 /pub/cDc/files200-300/cdc290.txt
Long live the underground! When the underground is gone, when the people's will to resist overbearing government and kneejerk morality is gone...
Then, shall I be able to declare America dead.
-- Jello Biafra
"It didn't help that underground hacker boards sported terrifying sci-fi heavy-metal names, like 'Speed Demon Elite,' 'Demon Roach Underground,' and 'Black Ice.'"
"cDc; CULT OF THE DEAD COW, is a nation of psychic signal jammers. We're talking GOOFY. Headquartered at DEMON ROACH UNDERGROUND (which is continually busy, but try and try), the cDc provides a real service to the hacker community by confusing the hell out of the feds."
http://www.e-Commerce.Com/Shift/shift3-3/hackers.html
"One hacker known as 'DEATH VEGETABLE,' who gained notoriety a couple of years ago for posting on the Internet instructions for building a bomb, said he likes nothing better than a corporate computer relying on outdated operating software, conventional hardware and overworked, poorly trained electronics technicians. Or, to put that in the parlance of would-be intruders, 'Unix running on VAX and watched by MIS - it's a hacker's wet dream,' he said. 'You see it all the time.' In his view, companies that are sloppy deserve whatever happens to them."
"Cult of the Dead Cow: Their concern is 'Global Domination through Media Saturation' and they're out to titillate the Internet community with social commentaries and insights." (Ha! That's what they think!)and the Dark Side of the Web,
"If you like vampires, mysticism, books and movies about evil things and cemeteries, you could live here. Over 350 links from the lightly shaded to the depths of darkness."
Listen here suckah, I pity the fool that visits this site. Size up Mr. T and the world's biggest tree. Visit the A-Team episode guides. Points off for no mention of his famous breakfast cereal or insipid cartoon, the fools!
[Rating:] 3 Stars.
"U gUyZ aiNt HAck3rZ! WheRE aRe YEr cDc fILeZ?!?!1111?!?1 cuLt of dA DeAd coW rUleZ!!!!!11111!!11!1 hAy!!11!1 I wUz L00kInG aT Y0RE P@GE An|> 1 DId n0t SeE a L1nk to the cDc w3b P2G3!1!!!1 Iz thiz SuM KINd uv KREWL J0kE!?!1/ It r0x wif gl0ckZ!! cDc! We Are THE FutuRe of ROCK N' ROLL!"Their WebGuide(tm) insert contains a quick blurb about the cDc web page at the L0pht, though after all their learned research on tYpP1nG K3wL, they mistook the zero in 'L0pht' for the letter O. Later, they include an extra period in the L0pht URL, "http://lOpht.com./"
"One such site, noted in Happy Mutant and forwarded to me recently by the builders themselves, is the controversial CULT Of THE DEAD COW, found on the Web ... cDc is a spew of bilious rant, cultural commentary, psychological purgation, and twisted fun. It's been around for over a decade, published by Ross Messiah, a k a Swamp Ratte ... [cDc] is 11 years old -- several generations in Web years. cDc has wrinkles that date longer than most e-zines. Is the best indication of the future of the Net a glimpse into its deep and dusty past?"Mr. Berry compares cDc's content to that of Slate -- "Microsoft's heavily hyped new electrorag" -- and finds Slate lacking. We're not surprised.
"What do a group of hackers do when the equipment they've accumulated over years of dumpster diving no longer fits in their apartments? They get a L0pht. Since 1993, a core group of seven Boston-based hackers have rented a loft space for hacking, trading information about cellular phone security, and building things like a wireless Internet service using discarded microwave equipment. All strictly for educational purposes, of course. ... why do they keep at it? 'For the girlies and the text files, of course,' says Mudge."
"Hundreds of thousands of times a year, the Cyberwarrior [the U.S. Air Force Information Warfare Center] defends the nation's secrets from the members of the Legion of Doom and the CULT OF THE DEAD COW in a battlefield that spans the globe."The Cult of the Dead Cow can neither confirm nor deny the allegations of this reporter.
"'In the old days, to be a hacker, you really had to be good," he said. 'Now, it is basically a point and click world. If you can run Windows 95, you can be a hacker.'"This is patently ridiculous. Although if it were true, the Air Force has just issued a damning testimonial of their own security. Maybe they're running NT?
"At The Dark Side Of The Web you can connect to 1500 horror-related sites, including the Cannibalism page with its detailed recipies for 'the preparation of humans for consumption.'"
DRU is mentioned first on pg 104 and continues to page 111 in which there is some stuff direct from DRU with a world domination update with Carrie's "Earth Goo", Obscure's "Ruth", and the Mad Hatter's "Interesting Things to do with a Scanner". Then the protagonist types "CHAT" and somehow manages to talk realtime with the hacker "Phrank." Then she logs off, exhausted.
"Are you mad at the world? Do you have disdain for those who have any semblance of normal societal ties? Do you sit in your apartment with the blinds closed and think of new ways to cause discord? Join the Cult of the Dead Cow. Even if you don't care about any of that other stuff, they have a really cool ASCII logo."
"These d00dz are dangerous! Hundreds of incredibly witty, well-written files covering everything from simple social engineering to truly wizardlike techno spoofing. ... Get 'em. Read 'em. Trade 'em with mutant kids on local BBSes."
Pg 83 continues with the Girl Band Guide,
"Grrrrrllll bands galore. The latest scoop on your fave female bands."
The Cult of the Dead Cow is the oldest underground telecommunications organization, dating back to 1984. Although the membership is small -- consisting of only about 20 active members -- their influence is felt around the world. The cult's main product is a series of articles, written at various times by various members, with new articles being added from time to time. The articles are regularly read by thousands of people, so why not expand your mind and give it a try? Do you think you might like to join the cult as a member (as opposed to being an outsider)? Here is a hint: don't ask to join. Cult members are welcomed by invitation only, and once you ask, they will never invite you.Despite that there are several books claiming to be "The Internet Yellow Pages", Harley Hahn's is the original and most authoritative.
"Cult of the Dead Cow?!... These guys are a bunch of Sickos!" (while pointing to a copy of Sex With Satan, cDc #40)
Cult of the Dead CowA collection of telecommunicators who write text files. The files are numbered sequentially, but since they are often written by different people, they vary in style and content from issue to issue. Topics and form vary wildly, covering religion, defecation, cows, simulated and real capture files from BBSs, politics, hack/phreak articles, poetry, short stories, interviews, and mindless raving. The common themes running through all issues are dead cows and a focus on experimental mind control propaganda techniques. The group is laying the footings for a global empire based on a desire to control and command those who would oppose them.
KeywordsAlternative Press, Rantings, Zines Audience
Zine Readers, Free Thinkers Description
The publishers of the Cult of the Dead Cow describe cDc as (paraphrased) the personal rantings of flamboyant and opinionated people in Telecom. The Ninja Strike Force is about stealthy, secretive agents that exist only to fight and die for the glory of the Dead Cow. An article called 'New Hack City' is about the results of 200 hackers who group together one New Years Eve. You can also browse through some online cDc archived articles.
When you hear numbers like 12,000 total internet e-lists bandied about, the 1700 or so here are a valuable culling of that mass. At the same time, this is no blue-nosed selection: PSYCOLOQUY and MIT Press's *Artificial Life Journal* are there, but so is *Cult of the Dead Cow* -- not quite respectable, but in an odd way quite serious and worth at least a small detour if you happen to pass it on a gopher menu.
MOTOR 308
308 E. 40th
Lubbock, TX 79404
Follow the digital hoof prints to this green pasture in TechnoWasteland and you have found the Cow. The Cow is made up of articles on today's culture, expressing righteous anger and maybe more, on the loss of freedom of speech and global domination through media saturation and control. Links to publication information.
"The Cult of the Dead Cow is a cadre of hackers and subversive types who preen themselves on being 'definitely cooler than the Legion of Doom.' ... Cult of the Dead Cow deserves a nod of assent for its passionate (albeit sometimes hysterical) support for unfettered freedom of expression on the Internet."
"cDc? I'd have to vote them 'Most Likely to Pillage the
Global Village'."
"I am like Ward Cleaver compared to cDc... 'June, those cDc boys
are outrageous, we shouldn't let the Beave play with them!@'"
"cDc. Punks with computers. You've been warned."
"The cDc is one of those groups, for true or not, whom one
feels has 'underworld connections.' If you want hash, a
bail bondsman, a nude model, a hit man, a smuggler, a
Chinese hunchback dwarf, a system of ripping off AT&T, a hot
car, a kangaroo with a broken tail, a cure for rinderpest,
a fast loan, a mail drop for Justice Scalia,
a long-out-of-print bit of pornography, or a Corvette from
the mothball fleet... cDc is the group one contacts."
"...it's pointless to compare LoD to the cDc... it's like
comparing Albert Einstein to Charles Manson... Both were
geniuses in their respective genre."
"Until I found the CULT OF THE DEAD COW, I was a high
school nobody! I couldn't get laid if my life depended on it!
Now, I'm humpin' all of my teachers!"
"I can attest to the fact that cDc is the sexiest group of
computer hackers there ever was. You may think this silly,
but it's the God's honest truth."
"LOVE YOU SEXTY[sic] HACKERS"
"The cDc is the biggest can of Whoop-ass that I have ever seen!"
"Those cDc fuckers ran up my hotel phone bill while I was on tour!"
"I wish those CDC guys would spend less time writing textfiles,
and more time in the Lab curing diseases!"
"If it's illegal, immoral or revolting, cDc has a file about
it -- and possibly three of them."
"The brilliant and
contraversial bad boys of telecom, Lubbock's own Cult of
the Dead Cow... This group of cyberpunk misfits has created
over 300
text files, distributed internationally, and are setting new
standards of humor and obscenity. The language and
situations in these files are extremely harsh and not for the
faint of heart. But if you're willing to read them, you'll find
yourself looking straight into the eyes of Genius. And
it's not always a pretty sight."
"I know these guys, they've been around a long time. Fedland
doesn't like them, the media tries to either use or glorify
them,
and some religious folk would like to strap 'em to a stake and
have a cookout. Some people call them digital outlaws, some
people call them satanists. The really misguided ones refer to
them as 'malicious hackers'. The Elite of the Elite, The
Cult of the Dead Cow. They know what's up. "
"I don't have time to give you a quote about the Cult of the
Dead Cow right now. Talk to me in June."
1984 Its mourning in America. 1985 1986 You've grown up with cDc. 1987 1988 The awkward adolescence, confused teens 1989 and stumbling 20/30-nothings. 1990 1991 1992 We always knew. 1993 1994 1995 1996 Now we're going to turn on you, 1997 and leave you for dead.
