452 DEAR HACKER

452 DEAR HACKER

Come on! Is it really necessary to ask all of these questions? I was afraid that if I reminded the man that it was none of his business, he would forget about the sale that was in effect that day.

Please write back your response, because I doubt that I’ll be able to read about it in your mag. Under the circumstances, I don’t think I’ll

be able to find 2600 as easily as I did last time. The Apple II Evangelist

Palos Verdes, CA

Your problem is very easily solved. All you have to do is subscribe! It costs a little less to get us on the newsstand but there is that degree of uncertainty that you have to go through. Regarding Radio Shack, we don’t know why they have to inter- rogate all of their customers the way they do. It’s extremely annoying and has led many of us to go elsewhere. On those rare occasions when we have no choice, we always feed them bogus info. A little thing like an eight-digit phone number or a zip code with a letter in it can ruin their entire day.

Dear 2600:

I just received my first copy of your magazine and last year’s back is- sues, and I love them. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the guts to climb up telephone poles and do late night hacking sessions, but I have been known to poke around a few Internet sites and have a look. Your pub- lication has already given me ideas on some new fun things to try.

I’d like to know two things: 1) Do you or your readers know how I could get into any of the virus BBSes that are out there? Every time I read an article on viruses I keep hearing about the “awful BBSes” that carry virus source. But I’ll be damned if I can find one. 2) Are there people in the Rochester, NY area that would be interested in having 2600 meetings? I’d offer to try to set things up myself, but I travel quite

a bit and my attendance would be sporadic. Maybe if I find some European virus BBS numbers I’ll have a good

reason to build the Radio Shack red box and do my BBSing for free! YFNH

(Your Friendly Neighborhood Hacker)

A C U LT U R E O F R E B E L S

There probably are people in your area interested in having meetings but some- body has to take the initiative. There are BBSes that specialize in viruses but they’re kind of funny about giving their numbers out. If you succeed in your quest, you will certainly be a sight: a hacker with a laptop hooked to a payphone using a red box to connect to a European virus BBS. You just can’t get more evil than that.

Dear 2600: Just picked up your Winter 1993-94 issue (I love the looks my local

bookstore clerks give me whenever I buy it), and I must commend you upon another first class effort. I first came into contact with it thanks to the meetings in my area, which are always excellent. Of course, since

I started going to them, I have become known as a weirdo who goes to hacker meetings by my normal friends. They always say “hacker” as if they are literally spitting out the word. Ah, well, if we were all made to suffer fools gladly, why did they invent mental institutions?

Your journal is one of the magazines I most look forward to and the best thing to ever happen to the H/P community. What annoys me to no end is that most of those who are coming into the fold now are only in it to make free phone calls and get pirated games. There seems to

be very little desire to learn any more. That is one of the things that makes your magazine refreshing. Scudder

There are lots of us who are in this to learn and spread our knowledge. As we all know, there are kids who just want a free ride, criminals who just want a new scheme, and reporters who just want an easy story. Either we ignore them or attempt to reach them on our terms — anything so long as we don’t join them.