Cyber Privateer

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

All my books will be free in Kindle format on Wednesday, October 14th via Amazon

I'll be speaking (via Zoom or in person if you can come) at the SPEED DATING WITH A BOOK event Tuesday, October 13th from 7-8:30 in the Brigham City Library. For those who attend in person, I'm bringing hard copies (20 each) of my 3 novels and 1 novella. If you attend via Zoom (see the link below), I'm giving away free Kindle versions of the book on Wednesday, October 14th at Amazon. This will also be helpful if more than 20 people show up at the event (Hey, most people are reading online these days, anyway).

Shared post from Brigham City Public Library

Friday, October 2, 2026

5 Guerrilla Warfare books will be free October 14th on Amazon.

On October 13th at 7pm, I'm giving a lecture on my guerrilla warfare novels at the Brigham City, Utah public library in their Speed Dating with The Author night. It will be on Zoom, and I'll let you know as soon as they give me the Zoom link. I'm giving out 20-each of the hard-copy books. Then, for those of you on Zoom, I'll give you the QR code to get free Kindle versions of these 5 books on Amazon. Consider this my new phase of guerrilla warfare. With more to come.

Sincerely,
Rick Bennett
The Destroying Angel

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

What President Trump got Wrong in his CYBER PRIVATEERING authorization: EVERYTHING

In President Trump's August 12th memorandum, he simply sets up another bureaucracy with roadblocks to success. And he ignores Congress's prerogative to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Read the memorandum here (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expanding-capabilities-to-combat-transnational-cyber-enabled-crime/) and see the ilconcieved and bloated plan.

Sigh

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett
Creator of cyberprivateer.com

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Dear President Trump - You might want to replace your cybersecurity team.

Listen to Utah Senator Mike Lee and Arizona Congressman David Schweikert (and his bill HR 4988), or read my book DADDY'S LITTLE FELONS for the recipe to victory the current cyberwar. Your current cyber advice can best be described as what Oracle's Larry Ellison calls "malicious obedience." My novel goes into detail on a truly workable approach to shutting down all the bad guys. And my blog (www.cyberprivateer.com) details my decade of advice, chapter and verse. Or read my op-ed piece in TIME MAGAZINE (https://time.com/7317012/can-cyber-privateers-combat-cybercrime/).

Sincerely yours,
Rick Bennett

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

The Pirate Cottage is now fully operational in Brigham City, UT.

Now working on my 5th novel, a tribute to Frank Herbert's short story THE TACTFUL SABOTEUR. Novel #4 (DADDY'S LITTLE VIGILANTE) is in the can and waiting for the right agent (ie; one who has made some movie deals).

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."