490 DEAR HACKER

490 DEAR HACKER

anything about computers, it’s still hard to put down. So, good job on that. Anyway, my question to you guys or the hacker community in general I guess would be this. With all the new powers given to the authorities to crack down on “terrorists” with this Patriot Act, they’ve created a perfect weapon to attack organizations like yours. Has it directly affected you yet? What measures have you taken and what can others do to protect themselves from this? It just seems the authorities can now legally monitor in any way they see fit and get away with it. It just seems to me that this act was created solely for the purpose of going after your organization and others like you.

Lindsey The Boy It does indeed feel like it was meant for us sometimes but then reality kicks in. This

is meant for everyone — we’re just one set of voices. We may stand up for free speech and controversial opinions more often which is why it seems as if these crackdowns are aimed squarely at us. But there are so many more people who stand up for these values in one way or another every day. Instilling fear in the populace as a whole is the real goal.

Dear 2600: They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary

safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Ben Franklin

Will you please stop telling us this every damn day?!

Dear 2600:

I just came across this article with the following quote from John Kerry: “Have you had a beer with me yet? I like to have fun as much as the next person, and go out and hack around and have a good time.” It made me wonder if Kerry is a hacker in disguise. Maybe being a Massachusetts senator (home of MIT) did him some good.

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

That was actually a coded message. We demanded that he use the word “hack” in a public statement as a gesture of good will toward the disenfranchised hacker electorate. Bush has yet to respond to our demands. But we probably shouldn’t be telling you this.

Dear 2600:

I found Spua7’s letter in 20:3 about the FBI’s presentations in Phoenix interesting since I also saw a similar presentation several months ago (set up by my employer). I disagree, however, with Spua7’s assessment that the presentation lacked “actual real knowledge” or that it was all about a repressed fear of lack of control. In fact, I would argue quite the opposite — for what is truly going on here is a total hijacking of the hacker ethic by the authority that formerly sought to suppress it. While I found it rather amusing (on the surface) that the FBI focused heavily on 2600, the most chilling aspect of the whole thing was the overall message to my employer: when it comes to cybercrime, the FBI can’t help you.

The FBI agent doing the presentation made the point that security starts on every desktop. 2600 has been saying this for years, has it not? Now it seems your message has finally gotten through to the FBI. According to this presentation, the FBI’s strategy to fight cybercrime is something called “information sharing.” They have set up a network of organizations intended to work together, sharing knowledge of security flaws and weaknesses. The whole idea revolves around prevention and enabling corporations and those “at risk” to take their fate into their own hands — to arm themselves with knowledge. And yet, hasn’t that been the point of 2600 from the beginning?

Simon Shadow

Dear 2600: First, I want to say that I love your magazine. I have only read two

copies of it and already I have learned new things and now am wanting