334 DEAR HACKER
334 DEAR HACKER
Dear 2600:
I have one question. When will 2600 go back to being a magazine/ organization about technology? Ever since the Kevin thing, your mag- azine has been nothing but a legal magazine. I will be the first to say that the legal issues are important, but it seems to me we have lost track on the real content of the magazine. Why can’t 2600 maintain the level of technology information and add the legal news to their website? I personally think that 2600 can make more money to sup- port the fight if the magazine was to increase sales by adding more technology-based content. I personally do not purchase the magazine anymore because over half the magazine is on the legal issues which
I can read at www.2600.com . Steve
It’s a shame you won’t see your letter then. We’ve always focused on the issues that are of importance to the hacker community and we’ve done it from a hacker perspective. The price of not doing this is ignorance. And we cannot afford to be ignorant on such important issues. While we publish some material on the legal happenings, we don’t believe it’s changed the overall tone of the zine. The vast majority of our pages still deal with very specific technology. If they didn’t, corpo- rate America wouldn’t be so pissed off at us.
Dear 2600:
I may excuse you because of the September 11th terrorist attacks, but I sent you four photographs of payphones (by mail) and I don’t have my free subscription. I also sent an email to [email protected] and the only thing I got was an automated answer: “Thank you blablabla....” Maybe sending to all of your addresses may work. Thank you for be- ing so communicative.
Johnny
OUR BIGGEST FANS
First off, we have always been way too busy to respond to each and every piece of mail we get. Most people and certainly most magazines simply cannot do this. Second, we’re quite clear on our web page that you will get a free subscription if your payphone photos are printed. You seem to think that just by sending us photos you qualify. That’s not how it works. Third, the automated answer you got from the letters email address explains that personal replies aren’t possible. Why you then chose to enter into an extended dialogue with an automated reply func- tion is something people who do have time on their hands may choose to ponder. Finally, all you succeed in doing by flooding us with annoying mail is to be labeled as someone worthy of being ignored altogether.
Dear 2600: I’m writing to disagree with your analysis that the government should
release an original digital version of the bin Laden tape. Apparently, all digital video tapes have special “markers” for things like time, camera lens settings, etc. It seems silly to think that our government is good enough to fake bin Laden’s image and voice, but can’t fake a few digital markers to go along with that. The government didn’t have to release any evidence at all, so be lucky you got any. If you reject it, then reject it, but don’t expect them to pander to your whims.
Dan They didn’t have to release any evidence at all? What kind of world do you live in?
It is the obligation of thinking people everywhere to question and analyze without relying on blind faith. Almost every major conflict in the world can be traced to people who refuse to even entertain the possibility of seeing something they don’t want to see. As people with a technical knowledge of such things, it was a lot more than a mere “whim” for us to want to see the timecode of the tape. There were numerous details attesting to the authenticity that could have been garnered by seeing these values. While they could have been faked, it would take an extraordi- nary amount of effort and time to get all of them just right. That’s why their release in a timely manner was so essential. And it’s a perfect example of how hackers can help in these troubled times—by using some technical knowledge to let the world know if something makes sense or not. Of course, to do this properly you have to accept the fact that you don’t know the answer until you analyze the data. It’s