The cult of the dead cow is one of the most media-savvy of hacker groups. Their goals involve free speech and access to information, as well as the self-stated "Global Domination Through Media Saturation."

When the group was first established in the 1980s, the internet did not exist in the way it does today. Much of the activity that approximates what we consider online activity today was then conducted on BBSs.

BBS stands for bulletin board system, and in certain ways was a precursor to the social communities that operate on the internet today. A BBS worked on an individual computer, and functioned much like the bulletin board from which it took its name. Users could log in and exchange messages and files. The fundamental difference from the internet is that each BBS was a closed system run on one machine, and their was no communication between BBSs. Each BBS was a club, and required a direct modem connection from wherever the user was to wherever the BBS was. In this way an underground community of sorts developed, with many BBSs operating in a secretive fashion with impossible-to-find phone-numbers etc. . .

The Cult dead cow become known in this BBS scene for their ezine, the concept of which they claim to have created. The cult of the dead cows ezine was distributed among select BBSs and their users, and dead cows quickly became one of the most respected hacker groups in the internet's infancy. They are still higly respected though understood rarely.

The cult of the dead cow is a classic example of an older, or original, type of hacking group which is not seen so often today. Unlike many modern groups, cult dead cow exists for higher purposes then the distribution of pirated software, or malicious attack of personal computers. The group has ideals surrounding the free use and access to information, and the importance of individuals' privacy.

In the 1990s, a member called Drunkfux started the first hacker conference, which invited not only hackers from around the world but law enforcement officials and journalists. In this way the group began to evolve towards the media-savvy. Another member of the group called Omega, invented the word 'hacktivism' - hacking as a force of good, if you will. An example is in 1999, when the cult of the dead cow joined a coalition of hackers opposed to cyberwar against China and Iraq. The Cult of the dead cow also created a subgroup called Hacktivismo, whose stated goals are internet human rights, and the development of software and technology geared towards preventing censorship.

The cult of the dead cow still write the text files which they were famous for today. What sets them apart from other groups is their philosophical ideals, and well as their mysterious and often playful interaction with the media. The cult of the dead cow are probably the most well known example of a dying breed: the original BBS hacker groups that were concerned with information and security and the way it was used, and this remains the case today.