Gene Hackman

A Gene Hackman is someone who can (or claims they can) hack into a scroll or feedbling and 'liberate' it from its owner by delinking or spoofing the genetic aura detector. In practice very few can actually do that and get away with it, but many try. Gene Hackmans often go on to become cloud sysops. Although no doubt many of them are brilliant enough to break the system if they tried, they are usually motivated by nothing more than a desire for notoriety and attention, and a crook who draws attention to themselves doesn't stay in business for long. By and large, the siddhas regard the cat-and-mouse with younger 'lawbreakers' as a game that makes the system stronger, and they closely monitor the hackman sites where the payoff happens.

The term is thought to originate in [[Radical Age|radical times, though no one is quite sure who or what the original Gene Hackman was.