Information Warriors come in all shapes and colors.Hackers and phone phreaks1 have been waging2 Info War skirmishes3 against corporate America and the telephone companies for years，but the recent generation of young cybernauts4 is more aggressive.
Now， tens of thousands of ex-Iron Curtain5 intelligence agents seek to ply their trade for the highest bidder；some going as far as offering their services in the classified6 sections of daily newspapers.
Power-hungry dictators7，radical fundamentalists8，and a score of international political sects are candidates to use Cyberspace to effect their agendas. The narcoterrorists9 are well- financed，armed with a bevy of10 technical advisors，and have already taken aim at the Drug Enforcement Administration with Information Weapons.
Radical environmental groups have shown their willingness to be physically provocative11 and Information Warfare offers them the ability to strike out12 in a new， imaginative，and less personally dangerous way at oil companies，logging companies，and other groups unsympathetic to endangered species.
Information brokers and data bankers sell your name，your upper-middle class zip code，and the date of your last under-wear purchase to anyone with a floppy disk——all without your permission.Banks and credit bureaus allow computers to make decisions that affect our lives and our livelihoods based upon information that contains as much as thirty percent erroneous13 data——all with virtual impunity14.
Anyone can be an Information Warrior. Publications such as 2600：The Hacker Quarterly and Phrack provide the basic training for inductees15.Cyberspace itself offers safe havens for Information Warriors to build their armies，develop their weapons，and deploy them.An unhappy worker can suddenly turn against his employer with little chance of prosecution. A government employee may moonlight as an Information Warrior，or a teenager may live in Cyberspace twenty hours a day， alighting on16 Earth only for Coke and pizza.A hundred million potential Information Warriors，some less friendly than others，are out there waiting，honing17 their skills.
Information Warfare is about capabilities，the potential power of the individual and the potential power of an organized group. The capabilities of kids， the capabilities of technological mercenaries18， and the capabilities of nation——states are all threats we must face. Their intentions are secondary. If a group or an individual chooses to Wreak havoc， today they have the weapons to do exactly as they please.
有形形色色的信息斗士。近年来，黑客和偷打长途电话的人一直在对美国公司和电话公司进行信息战。最近一代的信息斗士则更为嚣张。
目前，数以万计的前铁幕国家情报人员试图为出价最高的客户开展工作，他们中的某些人甚至在报纸的分类广告上表明愿意提供服务。
渴望权力的独裁者、激进的原教旨主义者和数十个国际政治集团，可能会使用网络空间推行他们的计划。资金雄厚、得到技术顾问帮助的贩毒恐怖主义者，已经用信息武器瞄准了毒品管理局。
激进的环保组织已经展示了他们进行硬性对抗的意愿，而信息战争为他们提供了以新的、富有想象力并且人身危险较小的方式对付石油公司、伐木公司和其他对濒危物种漠不关心的集团的能力。
信息掮客和数据经纪人，未经你的同意就向任何一个有软盘的人出售你的姓名、中上阶层邮政编码、最近的内衣购买日期等信息。银行和信贷机构，允许计算机根据包含多达30％错误数据的信息做出影响我们的生活和生计的决定，而这一切实际上都未受什么惩罚。
任何人都可以成为信息斗士。《黑客季刊》这样的出版物提供了基本的黑客技术训练。网络空间本身，为信息斗士建设自己的军队、设计自己的武器并部署它们，提供了一个安全的场所。一个心怀不满的工人可能突然会对老板进行信息战争，这个工人因此而受到法律起诉的可能性非常小。一名政府雇员可能在夜里从事第二职业，充当一名信息斗士；一个少年可能每天在网络空间里待20小时，可口可乐与比萨饼是他与地球的惟一联系。1亿个潜在的信息斗士（有些是不友好的）正在等待时机，磨刀霍霍。
信息战争是关于能力的问题，潜在的个人能力和潜在的有组织集团的能力。孩子的能力、技术雇佣军的能力、民族国家的能力，均对我们构成必须面对的威胁，它们的意图是次要的。如果一个集团或某个人决定进行破？，那么他们现在手头就有武器想怎么干就怎么干。
注释：
1.phone phreak亦作phone freak（非法利用电子装置）不付钱打电话的人
2.wage vt.进行，从事，开始
3.skirmish n.[军]小规模战斗，小冲突
4.cybernaut n.网络用户
5.Iron Curtain铁幕（西方用语，指前苏联与东欧国家所设置的阻止同欧美进行思想、文化交流的无形屏障）
6.classified adj.登有分类广告的
7.dictator n.独裁者
8.fundamentalist n.原教旨主义者
9.narcoterrorist n.毒品恐怖主义者
10.a bevy of一群
11.provocative adj.挑衅的
12.strike out行进，反击
13.erroneous adj.错误的，不正确的
14.impunity n.（惩罚等的）免除
15.inductee n.[美]被征召入伍者
16.alight vi.（与on连用）偶然发现（碰见）
17.hone vt.磨练，训练
18.mercenary n.受雇佣者
