Dug this from my old archives, after finding out it vanished from the Net. Decade-old, but more truthful than before. May it provide some inspiration. -------------------------------------------------- Title: The Criminal Lyrics by: Steve Brinich Tune: The Idiot (Stan Rogers) Date: 1994 Found online at: http://www.access.digex.net/~steve-b/myfilks.htm Recorded on: Subject: Government [This is one of my reactions to the US government's attacks on freedom of electronic speech (I was thinking specifically about the government's Big Brother wiretap/encryption policies, but it applies equally well to the CDA and other such offenses. As for the politicians who vote for these abuses -- alas, cutting out the tongues of oathbreakers has gone out of fashion, so we will have to settle for turning them out to find honest work. They're sneaky characters, but groups such as the Voters' Telecom Watch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, etc. do a fairly good job of monitoring the hired help in Washington and sounding the alarm when they start getting out of line again.] I log onto this homebrew Net where the Feds are not around I've turned my back on Big Brother's track and made this open ground I slip past the surveillance taps; the alarms will make no sound I set up the link and I always think back to my old account I remember back six years ago, this outlaw life I chose When every day the news would say there's another rule to impose Well, I could have stayed and just obeyed, but I'm not one of those I'm remaining free, and that makes me a criminal, I suppose. So I bid farewell to the tamed old Net I never more will see But write I must, and I put my trust in human liberty Oh, I miss support, and the GUI ports, and the realtime videos But I like being free, and that makes me a criminal, I suppose. So, come you fine young hackers all, to the cyber underground This outlaw life's no paradise, but it's better than lying down Oh, the interface isn't cut-and-paste, and the system's often down But the government spies will set their eyes on a licensed Net account So bid farewell to the tamed old Net you never more will see Here your words will ship without censorship; there's real liberty You'll miss the bells and the fancy shells; here we just have plain old prose But you'll be free, and just like me, a criminal, I suppose.