In todays world, there are Cracking Gangs, what they do is crack software copyright/copy protection schemes.

To alot of them it is not the money they might gain but the challenge of the so called uncrackable copyright/copy protection schemes. Sort of bragging rights among their kind, and also a competition to see who is first to crack it.

Cracking gangs of today have places where their cracked softwares are kept, call them Cracking Havens.

So in 2070 I do not see such gangs or havens going away into the past.

Right now I have to locate a Cracking Gang is a knowledge skill, Cracking Gangs, Cracking Gang + Logic, threshold 4, day.

Once one has located on a Cracking Gang, one has to convince them to give the current location of the Cracking Haven. This has to be done in the Matrix in a selected Matrix meeting place, Etiquette(Cracking Gangs) depends upon the rating of the software you are seeking, 1-2 rating software is threshold of 2, 3-4 rating software is threshold 3, 5-6 rating software is threshold 4.

One note some Cracking Gangs will not deal with TM or Hacking Adept wannabes. All in all there will be some bias for the ones who are not TM or magical.

Also note that Cracking Havens do not have all of the cracked softwares you could ever hope to see. I would have the character be able to find 1-2 softwares per Cracking Haven.

Also note irritating a Cracking Gang into giving your character the location of a Cracking Haven, could mean they give you a location of a Haven filled with bug/booby trapped softwares. So I would not keep attempting roll after roll after you have failed the first.

So let me know of anything that I might change or improve on the above.

WMS

how does a cracking gang tell if someone is an adept or not?

for that matter, how do they know it isn't a technomancer? there isn't any matrix perception related way to know other than to hack into their node and observe there is no data storage, to my knowledge.

in any event, i don't see this being terribly important... if someone wants to be a hacker, they should start off with the programs. it's not like they're horrifically expensive or anything.

Well lets see, to do the meet the one seeking the softwares, has to make the matrix connection from a set location, like specific matrix cafe. While you are there, a cyberwear scanner is used on you.

But as Frank has already proved a TM can not hack. So you could demonstrate some hacking in the Matrix, with others there looking on. Now if you used a Sprite, busted.

Pilot 6 is 15,000 purchased, if one ignores the avail.

Thats a damned inefficient and risky way for a group to operate.

Most cracking groups are fairly widely ditributed rather that just being located in one sprawl/subsection of a sprawl.

If these groups are biased, I would merely expect paranoia, slurs, and a fair amount of anger when they find out they have been duped.