The Cult of the Dead Cow
cDc is a bizarre organization, with a fittingly bizarre home page. Every member is a fugitive, every member is elite and every member thinks that they are the Gnostics’ gift to cyberspace. Gnostics because they claim to know. The homepage, http://www.cultdeadcow.com, features a crucified cow, a top-down convertible, a sunset and a set of either thorns or razor wire. The words, “la vaca es muerta” – the cow is dead – is sprawled across the upper right portion of the graphic.
The men, and woman or two, of cDc are a little off the
beaten path. They warn: “Warning:
This site may contain explicit descriptions of or advocate one or more of the
following:
adultery, murder, morbid violence, bad grammar, deviant sexual conduct in
violent contexts, or the consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs. Then again,
it may not. Who knows?”
While most of the things that site purports to warn against do not come through, the website is a virtual haven for a group of cyber-cowboys. Independent by nature, the group has bonded into a cadre. Their group has a specific mission. One can learn that mission through the main page, a blog and a link to hacktivismo – their sister corporation.
Entering the all red site, the text is rife with intentional misspellings and colloquialisms. If Thehacktivist.com and ifex.org were polished and serious, cDc is an altogether different beast entirely. The group, established in 1984, seems to update this portion of their site fairly irregularly.
“Grafx,” “Linkz” and “Who We Be” are among the few drop-down boxes on the left side of the page. Grafx has eight images, including this one pictured below. It’s confusing at best.
The blog portion of the site, powered by blogspot.com, commands more of their time and attention. Pastel colors set the backdrop for a cross-shape with a cow skeleton overlay. Postings are weekly and on a wide array of topics, few, if any, are related to their mission as hackers. Most of the information is schizophrenic, probably because more than one person can post to the site. The hackers personalities are varied, fitting to the page’s top statement:
Braindumps. Rants. Mind viruses. Deadly memes. Extreme fashion statements. Direct from the hackers of the CULT OF THE DEAD COW. Taste the 31337 hax0r flavah. W0rd.
All in all, the site serves as an interesting comparison to thehacktivist.com and ifex.org. It may not be that glitzy or flashy. The site may even seem thrown together; given how much expertise – and claimed elitism – that keeps the site and the cDc going. If the hackers of the cDc are the best in the world, their site is more like a whacky tribute to some higher superhero than it is a well-crafted, well-maintained and well-coded website.