Rating:
(18 reviews)
Author: Emmanuel Goldstein
ISBN : 0470620064
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Format: PDF, EPUB
Download file now Free Dear Hacker: Letters to the Editor of 2600 from with Mediafire Link Download Link
Actual letters written to the leading hackers' magazineFor 25 years, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has given voice to the hacker community in all its manifestations. This collection of letters to the magazine reveals the thoughts and viewpoints of hackers, both white and black hat, as well as hacker wannabes, technophiles, and people concerned about computer security. Insightful and entertaining, the exchanges illustrate 2600's vast readership, from teenage rebels, anarchists, and survivalists to law enforcement, consumer advocates, and worried parents.
Dear Hacker is must reading for technology aficionados, 2600's wide and loyal audience, and anyone seeking entertainment well laced with insight into our society.
Coverage Includes:
- Question Upon Question
- Tales from the Retail Front
- The Challenges of Life as a Hacker
- Technology
- The Magic of the Corporate World
- Our Biggest Fans
- Behind the Walls
- A Culture of Rebels
- Strange Ramblings
For more information and sample letters, check out the companion site at http://lp.wileypub.com/dearhacker/
Direct download links available for Free Dear Hacker: Letters to the Editor of 2600 [Hardcover]
- Hardcover: 576 pages
- Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 21, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0470620064
- ISBN-13: 978-0470620069
- Product Dimensions: 2 x 6.2 x 9.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Free Dear Hacker: Letters to the Editor of 2600
As someone who has an interest in hacking, but no skills whatsoever, I eagerly opened this huge compilation of letters written to the editors of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, a newsletter/magazine published since, fittingly, 1984. What I found was a sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-informative, sometimes-tedious series of letters compiled by theme. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this book is the chronological organization within topics that often combine to give a brief history of the rise of computers in American society through the eyes of hackers, security experts, and ordinary citizens who just want to understand more about the technology. Of course, since 2600 is a hacker's publication, there's an underlying rebellious streak and mistrust of authority in both the letters and the editors' responses.
I couldn't read this book from cover-to-cover in a few sittings the way I might a non-anthology book since, after a while, the letters became too much of the same despite their different topics. Even the editors' comments started sounding like more of the same. Instead, this book is best read by section, in chronological order, to give a sense of how technology and the issues that accompany it have progressed over the years. The clueless and the marginally insane among the letter writers can be both entertaining and sad; however, some of the letters are incredibly articulate about matters that go beyond criminal activity and into the realm of pure technology and common sense. And I really enjoyed the sense of history created by the dated letters.
I started reading 2600 many years ago when part of my job involved security on a University computer system. I never did learn much that was of use in my job but I always enjoyed thumbing through this little magazine, reading obscure bits of information about embedded systems, telephone networks and so forth. One of the most entertaining parts of 2600 has always been the letters section, in which hackers, would-be hackers, gamers, script kiddies, outraged citizens, paranoid schitophrenics, unrepentant convicted felons, and, for all I know, government agents wrote in with stories of screwing around with business computer systems, hacking foreign phone networks, obscure functions found in electronic devices, and countless requests for the secret information that would turn the writer into a real 1334 h4><0r, or some variation thereof. There were also the letters bragging of having cheated a store by switching price codes (very much frowned upon by pseudonymous 2600 editor "Emmanual Goldstein") or having stolen computer services (more acceptable). All of this provided a fascinating insight into at least part of the world of hacking and hackers.
This thick volume contains a very large sample of these letters, and while there's a good deal of variety in the themes of the writers, there's also a good deal of repetition. How many indictments and defense of Kevin Mitnick do we really want to read? How many ways can Goldstein make fun of someone asking the same dumb question? Still, I find myself repeatedly returning to the book, even if just to read a few letters before putting it aside again.
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