[Verse 1]

When I was sixteen, I knew I'd go to jail

Cause I wrote my first program for hacking into mail

Didn't even use it, no amount of malice

I was learning how to code, it was all about the challenge

Up until that point, I was trying to find a balance

Parents fully hoping I'd been chosen for a talent

Life feeling blurry, but no one ever noticed

I was always wide-eyed but couldn't ever focus

And it was at that moment, awoken to this dream

Face all aglow with my code up on the screen

In the same vein ashamed that this was all illegal

Just the letter of the law cause my spirit wasn't evil

Things sharpened up, at last I had my vision

But IT security wasn't even a position

Blind to decision, I didn't have a say

Finally find what I'm given, I can't let it get away

[Verse 2]

If I weren't a hacker, I would feel afraid

From the way that the media has put them on display

Regardless of the matter, that's what people say

But wait I am a hacker, sorta feel betrayed

Yeah an aloof kid, always said my two bits

Living for this learning from the joy and the amusement

Security's a mindset, and though it's been eluded

We like to find a problem, solve it and improve it

The only part that's foolish, is the asymmetric recourse

Like put ourselves through enormous fights and got a divorce

(Let it go) and now we're out here drowning

Desperately reaching just to pull ourselves out and

Defenseless, feeling marked and being counted

We're just tinkerers, makers, outnumbered and surrounded

I can't speak for everyone, but feel it's safe to say

That never should a researcher be treated in this way

[Verse 3]

2010, the beginning of the end

I can feel my heart drop, don't let it go again

From the hand that was dealt, you’ve gotta play your cards

How far would you take it? Don’t take it too hard

On January 11th, 2013

We lost one of the brightest minds that ever dared to dream

To be honest, I'm so angered and disturbed

Victim of a system, but you lived by your word

Betrayed by an act whose billings really aren't that clear

And gets more outdated as we age another year

The world lost a man who defended open speech

Then suffered at the hands of prosecution overreach

Before we lose another, there’s time to stop the bleeding

Please, can we finally get the changes we've been needing

So many questions caused the statement we’re declaring

We had to tell the world, this one is for Aaron