My life after Anonymous: 'I feel more fulfilled without the internet'

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/sep/09/jake-davis-anonymous-charged-bail

By Jake Davis
The Observer
8 September 2012

The last time I was allowed to access the internet was several moments 
before the police came through my door in the Shetland Isles, over a 
year ago. During the past 12 months I have pleaded guilty to computer 
misuse under the banners of "Internet Feds", "Anonymous" and "LulzSec". 
One of my co-defendants and I have also been indicted with the same 
charge in the United States, where we may possibly be extradited, and if 
found guilty I could face several decades in an American prison. Now I 
am on conditional bail and have to wear an electronic tag around my 
ankle. I'm forbidden from accessing the internet.

I'm often asked: what is life like without the net? It seems strange 
that humans have evolved and adapted for thousands of years without this 
simple connectivity, and now we in modern society struggle to comprehend 
existence without it. In a word, life is serene. I now find myself 
reading newspapers as though they weren't ancient scrolls; entering real 
shops with real money in order to buy real products, and not wishing to 
Photoshop a cosmic being of unspeakable horror into every possible 
social situation. Nothing needs to be captioned or made into an 
elaborate joke to impress a citizenry whose every emotion is represented 
by a sequence of keystrokes.

Things are calmer, slower and at times, I'll admit, more dull. I do very 
much miss the instant companionship of online life, the innocent 
chatroom palaver, and the ease with which circles with similar interests 
can be found. Of course, there are no search terms in real life -- one 
actually has to search. However, there is something oddly endearing 
about being disconnected from the digital horde.

It is not so much the sudden simplicity of daily life -- as you can 
imagine, trivial tasks have been made much more difficult -- but the 
feeling of being able to close my eyes without being bombarded with 
flashing shapes or constant buzzing sounds, which had occurred 
frequently since my early teens and could only be attributed to 
perpetual computer marathons. Sleep is now tranquil and uninterrupted 
and books seem far more interesting. The paranoia has certainly 
vanished. I can only describe this sensation as the long-awaited renewal 
of a previously diminished attention span.

[...]


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