Reviewing cyberpunk's economic positioning of hackers - how Gibson's `computer cowboys' fit into the labour market - will inform a reassessment of the socio-economic impact of real-world virus writers and hackers in globalised capitalism. Popular perceptions of hackers as `rebels' have been shaped by many sources, but few have proven as influential as William Gibson's 1980s cyberpunk fiction. I start with the premise that hacking is indeed a gesture of defiance. I do not mean to imply that individual hackers do not feel that they are genuinely resisting dominant norms and values but I am interested in defining how the economic and social order can accommodate, and, perhaps, coopt this resistance. My own understanding of hackers, however, is quite different. This reading would mesh nicely with an understanding, popular amongst contemporary intellectuals, of legitimate hackers as a positive social force, who have been unfairly lumped together with computer vandals in order to disqualify threats to the dominant system, such as free software. GURPS Covert Ops Assassins, saboteurs, and terrorists have been with us all through history. Includes gadgets, a comprehensive list of real-world agencies, and a glossary of spy talk. It would be tempting to portray hackers - highly specialized knowledge workers who rebel against state and corporate authority - as a progressive general intellect, opposed to the economic and social order. GURPS Espionage covers both the high-tech world of the cinematic super-spy and the gritty adventures of the real-life secret agent. Technoscientific progress depends on cooperatively produced knowledge, which Marx called `general intellect'. Contemporary capitalism's cycles of production and consumption are fuelled by the development of information and communication technology (ICT).
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