Charles “Chip” Powell
Hacktivist

Charles "Chip" Powell is a hacker from San Jose.  Born and raised in Palmyra NY until the age of 8, when his parents moved to CA for work.

Chip was always a skinny kid from the wrong side of the tracks.  Girls didn't show any interest and he was bad at sports.  He was depressed and withdrawn after the move.  Feeling bad, his mother bought him a computer for his 9th Bday and Chip fell in love.

Growing up in Silicon Valley, Chip’s interest in high tech and the internet was nearly all consuming.  At home he was small.  At school he was weak.  But online he was a Titan with few rivals.
Chip joined the Hacker group known as Anonymous when he was 14 and thinks of himself as a crusader for social justice.  A Cyber-space vigilante in the vein of the early 21st century Hacktivists that inspired him.

Chip was always a slacker with everything that didn't have to do with computers, but he's smart.  Instead of applying to his college of choice, Chip got himself a job there emptying trashcans and cleaning messes instead.  It gave him access to computers, classrooms and the culture of Stanford; more than enough for him to fake an education.  He didn't care about a degree, he wanted the education.  By rigging cameras in class rooms, hacking computers systems of professors and students and manipulation grades for students willing to pay for his services, Chip made himself a nice comfortable life at Stanford.
He was eventually caught and fired, serving 2 years in Stockton prison.  When he got out he resumed his black market business, this time being much more careful.


When Chip's cousin Morris was arrested for robbing a bank in Rochester NY, he wanted to find out all he could.  He asked his college friend Anthony Daniels for help.  Anthony was a reporter for the Oakland Tribune and Chip hoped he could help by spreading the word about Morris's bizarre case.