280 DEAR HACKER

280 DEAR HACKER

“We do not believe in cover-ups. By not printing that bit of ugli- ness, we would have been doing just that.”—2600 Magazine, Autumn 1988, page 46.

This brings me to the main thrust of my letter: Lately, in the New York City area, hackers have been receiving quite a bit of media attention, probably more than ever before. This has ranged from newspaper and magazine articles to local NBC news coverage of the UAPC hacking ordeal. In each instance, 2600 Magazine has been prominently men- tioned, and your editor has appeared in both televised and printed interviews. Due to these appearances, it is becoming readily apparent to the society outside of our “subculture” that 2600 Magazine is a “spokesperson” for the hacker community.

I have nothing against that. In fact, the hacker community needs a unifying force or even a tangible home base where hackers of differ- ent backgrounds and computers can interface. The presence of 2600 itself, as a public voice for hackers, may also prove to be a medium through which we can help expose inequities in the system itself, in this world of Secret Service confiscations and arrests, biased trials, and unjust sentences.

What I am protesting, however, is the image 2600 Magazine is project- ing of the “American Hacker” to the outside world. Since its beginning, 2600 has coveted its beloved disclaimer of how the hacker is born out of the desire for intellectual stimulation, which can be satiated via the use of a computer and the exploration of it and others with it. 2600 feels this is how the world should view us. I quote from Spring 1988, page 8: “...hacking involves so much more than electronic bandits. It’s

a symbol of our times and one of the hopes of the future.” This may be a rosy-eyed, naive view, but it is, however, accurate.

But lately, 2600 Magazine has drifted from this ideology, and the hacker is gaining a reputation as a criminal with destructive intent, as the editors and writers of this magazine are getting caught up in the sensationalism of it all. The pictures of several members of the close-knit group of friends (I will call the “2600 Gang”) appeared on the front cover of the Village Voice the week of July 24, 1990, and Eric Corley himself has appeared on both an NBC prime-time television newscast and in the cover story of Newsday Magazine, July 8, 1990,

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page 12. This simply supports my argument that 2600 Magazine is compromising the security of its subscribers, as well as that of fellow members of the hacking community, to gain a spot in the limelight.

Perhaps it is 2600’s belief that society should be made aware of our “habits,” to “show how the machine really works.” Does this include the public announcement of the “Flare Gun Assaults” that 2600 Magazine has conducted against several telco installations? Or does it include televised admissions that the 2600 staff has penetrated the New York City Board of Education’s computer system? Does it also include concessions that close affiliates of 2600 Magazine are repro- gramming ESS switches?

Do you realize the repercussions of your bragging and arrogance? 2600 Magazine is the only place where such material can or should

be discussed, where it will gain worldwide acceptance. The outside world will condemn 2600 Magazine for its actions and all hackers along with it. If the “spokesperson” of the hacker community itself is tied to such activities, then hackers will be depicted to the world as perpetrators of crimes far worse than those mentioned above and will

be considered detrimental and a threat to society as a whole. Your magazine speaks of ignorance of “the system” and the resultant

fear of it. In fact, 2600 Magazine was created in an effort to enlighten people and dispel this fear. But of late, 2600’s activities and their glo- rification by the media, are generating a fear of hackers themselves, which is already developing into a hatred. In the public’s eye, the hacker has degenerated from the forgotten War Games character, an inquisitive and smarter-than-average teenager with a gift for comput- ers, to a malicious cyberpunk that is a threat to society and cannot be trusted in it. This computer whiz kid that was once greatly desired in the work force for his knowledge and ingenuity is now banned from employment in the computer science field as a security threat, and is being viewed as a criminal and the keyboard his weapon.