Skate stoppers, fences, walls, surveillance, cops: all are obstacles to those who interact with the architecture of the built environment in ways unaligned with the desires of those who control it.

Skate the wrong spot and you might catch a charge. Hack the wrong system and three-letter agencies may come knocking on (or kicking down) your front door.

Capitalism runs the show, and our choices are to survive under it or perish: get bread or get dead. Despite this, for most of us, our dedication to the act of skateboarding is not about financial reward. True gains come from the stoke of discovering the undiscovered, of unlocking the potential in neglected spaces. Oh, this was built for that, but what if we used it like this?

Handrails aren’t just for hands. Ledges aren’t just for sitting. Skate stoppers can be removed, security guards can be bribed, passwords can be cracked, and defenses are only as strong as the last person who set the bar.

Finding ways to exploit computer systems is similar to wandering through the alleyways of a city, or spot-hunting in general. Vulnerabilities, AKA hacks, exist where they are least expected, buried deep within forgotten codebases. Skateable terrain can be found in the most remote parts of the world.

All it takes is curiosity, creativity, and the desire to explore the unexplored.