Chapter I. Dream You Could Not Buy

Dima was born in 1990 and grew up in Grodno. In his childhood a computer was an item in a shop window: out of reach for him and his mother. He dreamed of becoming a hacker, and not because of the films. Forbidden things pulled him most of all.

In 1996 he stood by the window of the Elektronika shop, pressing his palms to the glass. A friend sometimes invited him to play. Games were gripping, but the main thing was something else: the feeling of touching the forbidden and the alive.

In 1997 his friend got a dial-up connection. Seven-year-old Dima saw a chat on open.by: strangers from all over the country were friends and laughed in real time. The internet cost a lot and the conversations faded, but the sense of wonder stayed.