Once upon a time there was a big bad war

Or two or more, i’ll stay vague so i don’t bore

Combat influenced the invention of hardware

Parallel to oppenheimer’s nuclear death stare

Then in comparison, similarly harrowing

Initial internet infrastructure carried in

By the US department of defense

Cos ARPANET made a lot of sense

As a failsafe plan for when the damage got dense

“mission control come in, come in

The phones are down, but did we win, we win?

Decentralized networks, we can rebuild again….”

So we can trace computers’ roots to top-down control

It’s a chunk of the picture but it’s not the whole

We owe an equal debt to hacker academics who worked hard with their heart and soul

Typing till carpal tunnel sets in with the allnighter blood sweat and tears

The software we share is free as in knowledge, and not free as in beers

The tension between surveillance and liberation

Structural constraint and grassroots innovation

Has been twisting and shifting for ICT’s last hundred years

Of course I’ve got a crush on richard stallman

Teeheehee, MIT, please give me a call when

You need more troops for the FREEDOM battles

Expose the source code till the corporate brat tattles

Proprietary infant putting patents on the rattle

Sensible folk see that knowledge isn’t chattel

Every time they knock us down we’re back in the saddle

Solving puzzles like scrabble they call us filthy rabble

I write to honor the memory of aaron swartz

Targeted as a scapegoat by archaic courts

We demand progress and significant change

In the current laws which seem dark and strange

Right now sharing information gets you more jail time

Than stabbing up a stranger in a night crime

Might not change much, short rope double dutch

But it keeps me stuck on this sad rhyme

So if we relegate cyberspace to top-down control

Giving an inch at a time takes its toll

Databases expand

While they’re shaking your hand

While they’re choking your soul

While they’re shaking your hand

And it’s choking your soul

Past data profiles a perfect picture of you

What you think, what you say, what you’ll probably do

Today and then tomorrow, if you beg steal or borrow

Infinite history, inquisition’s sweet sorrow

Your microchipped arm is no cause for alarm

The warlords in charge, they don’t mean you no harm

And you can check your email as long as they can look too

Missing fliers posted up on youtube cos they took you

Into super secret custody, indulging their police state gluttony

Didn’t even say goodbye so it flustered me

Wish i could have helped you to escape cos you trusted me

If my white hat heart heard their jackboots coming

We coulda grabbed our hard drives and got to running

It’s feeling like time to hide, to hide

From what this world’s becoming

And all human history was a fight for control

Davey versus goliath

Maybe john connors versus skynet

We can stay defiant

Try to slay this giant

Pocket full of bitcoin to buy ourselves a boat

Encrypt that little ship

Use tor to ford the moat

But i know if i left it all without a note

The regret of not fighting might close up my throat