Cyber Privateer

Thursday, February 19, 2026

I came up with this domain, the name, and the animation about 20 years ago. Still haven't chosen a product.

Yeah, check out www.titaniumeagles.com. Great name for a clothing line for senior bicycle riders, a software company that's unique, or a novel? Someday I'll…land.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

I like creating billboards. They're up for a month and ideal for places like Silicon Valley.

Tenfold is one of the biggest ironies of my professional life. They lost their two biggest customers in the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, and never recovered.

Sigh.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Here's my "THANK YOU" ad for the $54-million investment from companies who "looked over the shoulder" of the people Talk2 was targeting.

Yep. Hewlett-Packard swooped in and gave hardware to my client, who was going to get free hardware from Sun Microsystems. And Oracle swooped in to replace Informix. Interesting, that ads often draw competitors.

As Oracle's M&A team was tasked with closing the deal, they almost tanked it by insisting that Talk2 pay annual maintenance fees. I sent a note to Larry Ellison suggesting that his M&A team was doing "malicious obedience." He not only reversed their decision, but canned the whole team. At least I THINK he canned them, as they ended up at Siebel and contacted me to see if Talk2 would entertain the same kind of equity deal with Siebel as they did with Oracle.

Go figure.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Monday, February 16, 2026

My WSJ ad that generated a $54-million investment from the target.s competition.

My client, Talk2, wanted strategic investments from three guys at Cisco, MCI, and Sun Microsystems. I'd "salted the mine" by making contact with my old friend Ed Zander, CEO of Sun.

This ad generated $54-million investment from competitors who were looking over the shoulders of these targets. Tomorrow, I'll tell you who jumped in.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Just like in the movies ENDER'S GAME and THE LAST STAR FIGHTER, I wanted to do an ad where you could predict success factors of new hires by observing their online game success.

This ad for Spring Lake Technologies and client Stephen D'Angelo is as far as I got. I still think Sony could make a fortune giving gaming-profile access to recruiters. Selah.

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Ad Hit Man

Background: Welcome black hats, white hats and cyber swashbucklers

The Revolutionary War was fought, financed, and pretty well WON by bonded privateers, legalized pirates who were given Letters of Marque and Reprisal by the Continental Congress and authorized to attack, capture and monetize British ships. The purpose of this site is to explore the possibility of a modern-day doctrine much like the Monroe Doctrine, by means of which the U.S. government could legally and, more importantly, effectively stop international hackers. Current cybercrime law is not only ineffective, but downright stupid. My Linux servers are attacked hundreds of times a day (mostly from China and former USSR domains), yet if I retaliate against those servers with some creative technology at my disposal (I know some VERY smart guys), then I am in violation of federal law and subject to some onerous penalties. We need more than a new law. We need a new international doctrine. I call it The Morgan Doctrine, named after Morgan Rapier, a fictional character I've created (hey, this is my way of establishing ownership of the concept, should it ever see the light of day).

Why a new international doctrine? Simply, nothing else will work. Introduced on December 2, 1823, the Monroe Doctrine told the world to keep their hands off the Americas. Combine this with current legal thinking on "hot pursuit" of fugitives. In 1917 the US Army went into Mexico after Pancho Villa. More recently, in 1960 Israeli Mossad agents abducted Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Granted, much of the world regards the Eichmann adventure as a violation of international law. I don't share that opinion and therefore use it as the third leg of my Monroe-Pancho-Aldof platform for The Morgan Doctrine.

If someone comes into your home and attacks or attempts to rob you, you may shoot them dead. You may do so as long as they expire on your property. But what about cyber criminals? They attack you in your home from their homes. Retaliate in kind, and you go to jail. The Morgan Doctrine states simply that if you attack my computers (or my banking assets held in US-based computers), then under a certain set of well-defined conditions, a licensed and bonded "cyber privateer" may attack you in your home country and split the proceeds with the U.S. government. For the sake of argument, let's call it a 50-50 split (heh heh).

Right now, American law enforcement is completely unequipped to deal with the sheer number international cyber hackers. Sure, I could report each of the thousand daily attacks to the FBI, as could the millions of other attackees in the USA. But the volume of such reports would make any meaningful resolution laughable. Not to mention that the FBI has no jurisdiction outside the USA. Yet to make such "enforcement" profitable to recognized (ie, "bonded" "deputized") privateers, as Heath Ledger's Joker said in his last role, "Now you're talking!" You raid our bank accounts, we raid yours. You make money from off-shore child pornography, we're going to loot your bank accounts and, with some REALLY creative black hat operations, you will be taken off the grid worldwide to the extent that you'll not even complete a cell phone conversation for the remainder of your miserable depraved life. Okay, that last part probably won't fly, but you get my drift.

The purpose of this site is to explore the mechanics, legalities and practicality of The Morgan Doctrine.

And I will be the sole arbiter of whether or not your comments get posted. As Mel Brooks wrote, "It's good to be king."