The Hacker Crackdown : Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier

Rating:
Summary: netsocietyhistorywithagoodfrontsidestory
Review: An exciting read - if you are in any way interested in the early development of the electronic side of our world, right the place were you read this now.

Hacking - OK, sounds like a good selling story.

But this is also about traditions of e-commerce: the phone companies. And about democracy: government vs. civil libertarians meeting on the electronic frontier, both exploring.

It is the history of the settling of cyberspace (how I hated this word until I read this book!).

Yes, history. Although it is less than a decade ago, the times of adventurous exploration are "long" ago, and books _have_ to be read about this.

Example: You read this book about people making their first unsecure steps into cyberspace, and then some day you recognize one of its main actors, Jerry Barlow, in the news speaking for the EFF, now an important organization in the world of civil liberties, but just in its early founding days, when mentioned in "The Hacker Crackdown"

Shurely our children will have excerpts from this in their history books at school :)

Rating:
Summary: Distinguished, Accurate Look At Computer Hacking
Review: Bruce Sterling's "Hacker Crackdown" is a thoughtful, occasionally mesmering, look at the early days of computer hacking. Here he excels as an investigative journalist tracing the history of hacking from its earliest days through the late 1980's. Those who find technology confusing may find Sterling's account a bit confusing too. However, it suceeds in giving an unbiased portrayal of hacker culture and a critical look at Federal government investigations into hacking. At times it does read like one of Sterling's cyberpunk novels, but truly in this case, the truth is a lot stranger than fiction.

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Summary: Learned more about the phone in 12 hours than in 12 years
Review: I learned more about the telephone in 12 hours than 12 years of school life. The dates and times depicted in this book happened during a time when I'd been 'off-line' with the computer world. I began with AOL (unfortunately) and due to my own reasons gave up computers for a while. It's like going back home and finding out what's happened to everyone after you'd left years back. Historically, this is the place to begin reading about phones and phone systems. To understand at least the fundimentals of the technology we wrap ourselves into.
Most definitely a must-read book. If you liked this, try At-Large, the Strange case of the world's Biggest Internet Invasion by David H. Freedman and Charles C. Mann.

Rating:
Summary: I'm biased, but I think it's great
Review: It would be hard for me to write an unbiased view of this book, so I might as well be up front with why I was predisposed to like it. One, I know Sterling, count him as a friend, and have always liked his writing style. In fact, I credit Sterling (along with Mike Godwin, about who more later) for helping me to develop my reading palate, that is, to urge me to examine what I was reading with a critical eye, in order to discover a wider variety of interest. Two, although I'm not a hacker, I play one in my mind. Oh, I know that I'm nowhere near the anarchistic fellows of the Legion of Doom--I'm not even in the same class as Gail Thackeray, former assistant attorney General of Arizona and one of the leaders of the "Crackdown" of the title. But ever since my cousin showed me his modem, and what you could do with it, I've been a hacker at heart.

So a book like this, that attempts to show me what I've been living through for the past ten years, and, more importantly, what I've been missing, is like reading a biography of someone you know. In fact, it contains two such biographies among other things: brief sketches of both Sterling himself and Godwin, staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and my former unofficial collegiate advisor.

But I don't think this book is of interest only to me; anyone with an electronic mail account should find this an enlightening study of the burgeoning electronic community. Sterling does an excellent job of linking today's electronic growth with the rise of the original telephone industry, pointing out some startling similarities. Sterling also comes across very even-handed, even though he admits to the fact that he has a stake in the power games that are being played out over the lines and in the courts.

The best thing about this book, however, is Sterling's novelististic sensibility--that is, Sterling knows what makes a story, and his non-fiction is structured with plot, dialogue, tension, revelations, and conclusion. If only more non-fiction read like this! Needless to say I strongly recommend this to everyone receiving this message.

Rating:
Summary: Just So-So
Review: Look, if you want to know just how far the government can go to abuse your rights, here it is. An interesting book, easy to read.

This book will walk you through how Operation Sun Devil happened, and how a small role-playing game company in Texas was almost ruined by the Secret Service. How the government played "guilty until proven innocent" and got away with it ... for a while.

If you are in any way concerned about the Government and the Internet, read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dated but interesting.
Review: Not checking the publish date, I bought "Hacker Crackdown" thinking it would be a high-tech dossier of a select group of computer hackers. Rather, this book, published in the early 90s, is more of a slice-in-time case study of what hackers really were, pre-internet era.

This book chronials the evolution of the hacker, from the antics of teenaged boys fooling with the now antique manual switchboard, to the 90s version of voice mail cracks and computer document theft. "Crackdown" also gives the reader an understanding of the disjointed law enforcement that fumbled it's way through the grey areas of the law to stop these hackers from electronic document and phone service theft.

The good point is the book is accurate, and does capture the mindset of actual hacking in the 80s and later, right at the dawn of home accessible PCs. However, consider this text a historical document that's a bit outdated by today's standards.

Rating:
Summary: A near-complete retrospective history of cyberculture...
Review: Not checking the publish date, I bought "Hacker Crackdown" thinking it would be a high-tech dossier of a select group of computer hackers. Rather, this book, published in the early 90s, is more of a slice-in-time case study of what hackers really were, pre-internet era.

This book chronials the evolution of the hacker, from the antics of teenaged boys fooling with the now antique manual switchboard, to the 90s version of voice mail cracks and computer document theft. "Crackdown" also gives the reader an understanding of the disjointed law enforcement that fumbled it's way through the grey areas of the law to stop these hackers from electronic document and phone service theft.

The good point is the book is accurate, and does capture the mindset of actual hacking in the 80s and later, right at the dawn of home accessible PCs. However, consider this text a historical document that's a bit outdated by today's standards.

Rating:
Summary: Forget This Book Until 2050
Review: Now is not a good time to read this book. 1990 is a very long time ago, but not long enough to make it interesting. It doesn't help that Sterling's writing style is mostly that of a bright 14-year old's and the structure is like "1066 And All That." Hackers universally "boast, brag and strut" are then "busted", whereupon the police take their computers "out the door." Sterling also takes the journalist's hackneyed standby of taking it upon himself to pigeonhole everyone into groups: hackers, police, feds, libertarians and others, and then concentrates, ad nauseam, on their personalities (and everyone is wonderful, *dahling*) rather than the system that spawned them. The fact is that this turgid tale of teenagers and the modems that make them do naughty things will, as the author admits, be more interesting in fifty years time. Right now it's just boring and certainly too long. It's typical of Sterling that he includes the ENTIRE text of the so-called "911 Document", the primary piece of evidence in the Phrak Magazine trial of 1990, simply to demonstrate how long and boring it is. If you like lists - exhaustive lists that go on needlessly for ages, then this is the book for you. The only compelling reason to read this rather badly-written and self-congratulatory book is that it was possibly the first book ever to be freely available on the net, and with its author's consent. I read it on my Palm, having downloaded it free from Palm Press. But hey, gosh, gee, wow that's just like the ultimately worthless documents those hackers copied off telco mainframes back in '90.

Rating:
Summary: A near-complete retrospective history of cyberculture...
Review: Sterling's book is a must-read for anyone genuinely interested in the roots of Cyberculture. It documents everything from old-school phone phreaks to the 1990 crash of AT&T. It goes into great detail as to how "cybercops" were established, their training, and the mass-reluctancy a decade ago to utilize their services. While this may sound like a history textbook, it is not. It is a fair and unbiased look at the past from the eyes of one of the greatest cyberpunk authors ever, which is probably why the book is so often quoted in academic research papers and in other works on the subject. The book does not lack charecter nor does it lack accuracy. Those who are looking to find an entertaining yet accurate, if not dated, historical account of hacking need not look any further.

Rating:
Summary: A little bit dry
Review: This is a fun read for geeks or anyone interested in hacker culture,or early internet culture. The book is published literally minutes before the internet explosion in the early 90's. So, most of the activity documented takes place on bbs's (bulletin boards) and not the actual internet. The internet is mentioned, but within its original academic/scientific context that we now think of as the roots of the internet.

Its interesting that this 'culture' had just reached the level of warranting an entire book right before it outgrew its own technology and expanded into the realm of the internet.

Don't expect any of Sterling's brilliant literary creativity in this one; just good journalism and documentation. He gives his rationalization for doing the project as his feeling threatened by the possiblity he would be targeted by frightened and misinformed federal agents, as was a fellow cyberpunk fiction writer and game-maker friend of his. All in all, its a fun read with a good punchline...