Loyd Blankenship


Loyd Blankenship, better known by his pseudonym The Mentor, is a well-known computer hacker and writer. He has been active since the 1970s, when he was a member of the hacker groups Extasyy Elite and Legion of Doom.

Writings

Hacker Manifesto

He is the author of the Hacker Manifesto ; the essay was written after he was arrested, and was published in the ezine Phrack. Since the essay's publication in 1986, it has been the subject of numerous panels and t-shirts.

Role-playing games

Blankenship was hired by Steve Jackson Games in 1989. He authored the cyberpunk role-playing sourcebook GURPS Cyberpunk, the manuscript of which was seized in a 1990 raid of Steve Jackson Games headquarters by the U.S. Secret Service. The raid resulted in the subsequent legal case Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service.