I got so passionate about technology. Hacking to me was like a video game. It was about getting trophies. I just kept going on and on, despite all the trouble I was getting into, because I was hooked.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I was addicted to hacking, more for the intellectual challenge, the curiosity, the seduction of adventure; not for stealing, or causing damage or writing computer viruses.
Hacking was the only entertainment that would occupy my mind - like a huge video game, but with real consequences. I could have evaded the FBI a lot longer if I had been able to control my passion for hacking.
As a young boy, I was taught in high school that hacking was cool.
I went from being a kid who loved to perform magic tricks to becoming the world's most notorious hacker, feared by corporations and the government.
I was hooked in before hacking was even illegal.
I started with CB radio, ham radio, and eventually went into computers. And I was just fascinated with it. And back then, when I was in school, computer hacking was encouraged. It was an encouraged activity. In fact, I remember one of the projects my teacher gave me was writing a log-in simulator.
I get hired to hack into computers now and sometimes it's actually easier than it was years ago.
At the end of the day, my goal was to be the best hacker.
I had so much fun in early days learning about networking, security, scalability and other geeky stuff.
My primary goal of hacking was the intellectual curiosity, the seduction of adventure.