300 DEAR HACKER

300 DEAR HACKER

that disrupt the activities of government? And why do you relate the U.S. Secret Service to the Nazi SS? You are simply a menace to society. The “hackers” who like to flatter themselves by replacing government pages with repulsive pieces of crap! You all deserved to be arrested and imprisoned for treason.

Fraas

First off, that wasn’t one question, it was three. Maybe your definition of safe is closer to our definition of brain dead. If so, you’re certainly safe from anything we can say to you. The people like you who are in power now and solve every issue by imprisoning people are a far greater menace than any hacker ever could be.

Dear 2600:

I bought my first issue of 2600 a year plus ago and was quite impressed with the variety and detailed information it held. Over the last several issues I have witnessed something strange, uncanny even. 2600 has not just changed, but it’s had its own revolution. Not only have the articles become soporific but many of the authors have become some- what indolent in their writing, writing articles that lack charisma, detailed info, and that 2600 quality. But what has caused this change? Is it because 2600 has become the trendy thing for teenage hackers to idolize? That every kid using a computer has now got his 2600 stuffed in his backpack, just waiting for the moment to pull it out and show his leet-o mag to his friends? Or, in all our wildest dreams, has something more occurred, something no one would even dream of? Has 2600 become... censored?

A friend pointed out to me that if I am that dissatisfied with 2600’s quality, then I shouldn’t support their cause and buy it. There’s a reason behind every action and, to tell you the truth, who am I to judge 2600? I’ll probably get some wisecrack answer to this anyway, but hey, you’re a publication. When people “suggest” something is wrong, that they are dissatisfied with the quality, it’s your job to fix it. Not mine.

pokis

OUR BIGGEST FANS

There are all kinds of possibilities here. But one thing that’s not uncommon among magazines, music, and nearly all other artistic/consumer items: Someone discovers something, it becomes more popular, the earlier people resent all the newcomers, and they redefine the item or the culture itself as “just not the same.” We’ve seen this happen so many times over the last 14 years that there has to be some truth to it. Either that or we’ve been on the decline since day one. Whether or not this is the case, you seem to have some misconceptions about a few things. First, what appears on our pages comes from the hacker community. We don’t write every- thing “in-house” like bigger publications. If the hacker community falls apart, then we fall apart. If it flourishes, then so do we. You also seem to think that because something isn’t what you want, that censorship must be taking place. Censorship is something that is imposed upon people by powerful entities. If we don’t print an article you wrote, it’s an editorial decision, not censorship. If we are prohibited by law from printing your article, then that is censorship. The seriousness of this issue is undermined when the word is misused in this way.

Dear 2600:

I am an avid reader of your zine. But I have noticed that most of your letters and articles seem to take a predominantly liberal/leftist approach. This both confuses and disturbs me. While it is true that the government as a whole does often try to suppress free speech, it is mostly its more liberal elements. It was the liberals who pushed the Clipper Chip and who f*cked up at Waco. It would, in my opinion,

be more beneficial to the hacker cause to give less lip-service to the socialists. They won’t repay the favor. Rhyme-Chai

And the conservative/rightists try to ban flag burning, eliminate gay rights, and force “family values” down our throats. We can go around in circles forever. We don’t think about what political slant we take when we spread information. We just spread information and try to wake people up. If that seems leftist to you, you’re probably standing so far to the right that everything else does, too.