A journalist investigates the past, present, and future of computer crimes, as he attends a hacker convention, documents the extent of the computer crimes, and presents intriguing facts about hackers and their misdoings. Reprint.
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Bruce Sterling's classic work highlights the 1990 assault on hackers, when law-enforcement officials successfully arrested scores of suspected illicit hackers and other computer-based law-breakers. These raids became symbolic of the debate between fighting serious computer crime and protecting civil liberties. However, The Hacker Crackdown is about far more than a series of police sting operations. It's a lively tour of three cyberspace subcultures--the hacker underworld, the realm of the cybercops, and the idealistic culture of the cybercivil libertarians.
Sterling begins his story at the birth of cyberspace: the invention of the telephone. We meet the first hackers--teenage boys hired as telephone operators--who used their technical mastery, low threshold for boredom, and love of pranks to wreak havoc across the phone lines. From phone-related hi-jinks, Sterling takes us into the broader world of hacking and introduces many of the culprits--some who are fighting for a cause, some who are in it for kicks, and some who are traditional criminals after a fast buck. Sterling then details the triumphs and frustrations of the people forced to deal with the illicit hackers and tells how they developed their own subculture as cybercops. Sterling raises the ethical and legal issues of online law enforcement by questioning what rights are given to suspects and to those who have private e-mail stored on suspects' computers. Additionally, Sterling shows how the online civil liberties movement rose from seemingly unlikely places, such as the counterculture surrounding the Grateful Dead. The Hacker Crackdown informs you of the issues surrounding computer crime and the people on all sides of those issues.
From Publishers Weekly
Cyberpunk novelist Sterling (Involution Ocean) has produced by far the most stylish report from the computer outlaw culture since Steven Levy's Hackers. In jazzy New Journalism proE;e, sounding like Tom Wolfe reporting on a gunfight at the Cybernetic Corral, Sterling makes readers feel at home with the hackers, marshals, rebels and bureaucrats of the electronic frontier. He opens with a social history of the telephone in order to explain how the Jan. 15, 1990, crash of AT&T's long-distance switching system led to a crackdown on high-tech outlaws suspected of using their knowledge of eyberspace to invade the phone company's and other corporations' supposedly secure networks. After explaining the nature of eyberspace forms like electronic bulletin boards in detail, Sterling makes the hackers-who live in the ether between terminals under noms de nets such as VaxCat-as vivid as Wyatt Earp and Doe Holliday. His book goes a long way towards explaining the emerging digital world and its ethos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Sterling's book is a must-read for anyone genuinely interested in the roots of Cyberculture. It documents everything from old-school phone phreaks to the 1990 crash of AT&T. It goes into great detail as to how "cybercops" were established, their training, and the mass-reluctancy a decade ago to utilize their services. While this may sound like a history textbook, it is not. It is a fair and unbiased look at the past from the eyes of one of the greatest cyberpunk authors ever, which is probably why the book is so often quoted in academic research papers and in other works on the subject. The book does not lack charecter nor does it lack accuracy. Those who are looking to find an entertaining yet accurate, if not dated, historical account of hacking need not look any further.
By D. Fazio
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Not checking the publish date, I bought "Hacker Crackdown" thinking it would be a high-tech dossier of a select group of computer hackers. Rather, this book, published in the early 90s, is more of a slice-in-time case study of what hackers really were, pre-internet era.
This book chronials the evolution of the hacker, from the antics of teenaged boys fooling with the now antique manual switchboard, to the 90s version of voice mail cracks and computer document theft. "Crackdown" also gives the reader an understanding of the disjointed law enforcement that fumbled it's way through the grey areas of the law to stop these hackers from electronic document and phone service theft.
The good point is the book is accurate, and does capture the mindset of actual hacking in the 80s and later, right at the dawn of home accessible PCs. However, consider this text a historical document that's a bit outdated by today's standards.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It would be hard for me to write an unbiased view of this book, so I might as well be up front with why I was predisposed to like it. One, I know Sterling, count him as a friend, and have always liked his writing style. In fact, I credit Sterling (along with Mike Godwin, about who more later) for helping me to develop my reading palate, that is, to urge me to examine what I was reading with a critical eye, in order to discover a wider variety of interest. Two, although I'm not a hacker, I play one in my mind. Oh, I know that I'm nowhere near the anarchistic fellows of the Legion of Doom--I'm not even in the same class as Gail Thackeray, former assistant attorney General of Arizona and one of the leaders of the "Crackdown" of the title. But ever since my cousin showed me his modem, and what you could do with it, I've been a hacker at heart.
So a book like this, that attempts to show me what I've been living through for the past ten years, and, more importantly, what I've been missing, is like reading a biography of someone you know. In fact, it contains two such biographies among other things: brief sketches of both Sterling himself and Godwin, staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and my former unofficial collegiate advisor.
But I don't think this book is of interest only to me; anyone with an electronic mail account should find this an enlightening study of the burgeoning electronic community. Sterling does an excellent job of linking today's electronic growth with the rise of the original telephone industry, pointing out some startling similarities. Sterling also comes across very even-handed, even though he admits to the fact that he has a stake in the power games that are being played out over the lines and in the courts.
The best thing about this book, however, is Sterling's novelististic sensibility--that is, Sterling knows what makes a story, and his non-fiction is structured with plot, dialogue, tension, revelations, and conclusion. If only more non-fiction read like this! Needless to say I strongly recommend this to everyone receiving this message.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
A little bit dry
I've read most of the hacker history books and this one reads like a textbook at times. Probably should cut 1/3 out of it to make it flow better.
Published on Mar 31 2002
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun read...
This is a fun read for geeks or anyone interested in hacker culture,or early internet culture. The book is published literally minutes before the internet explosion in the early... Read more
Published on Jan 17 2002 by Mark Twain
5.0 out of 5 stars
Distinguished, Accurate Look At Computer Hacking
Bruce Sterling's "Hacker Crackdown" is a thoughtful, occasionally mesmering, look at the early days of computer hacking. Read more
Published on Nov 20 2001 by John Kwok
3.0 out of 5 stars
Forget This Book Until 2050
Now is not a good time to read this book. 1990 is a very long time ago, but not long enough to make it interesting. Read more
Published on Aug 27 2001 by J. J. Baker-bates
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just So-So
Maybe being forced to read this book for class has colored my thoughts some, but there's not a lot of good things to say about "The Hacker Crackdown. Read more
Published on Mar 14 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amusing telling of government abusing power
Look, if you want to know just how far the government can go to abuse your rights, here it is. An interesting book, easy to read. Read more
Published on Mar 4 2001 by Another Guy From Atlanta
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of information
Rather than chosing a "Hollywood-movie storyline", Sterling starts the book by writing about the history involved in hacking - since the beginning of the American... Read more
Published on Oct 29 2000 by Zeh Fernando
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your money!
This book gets mildly interesting after the first 95 painful pages of telecommunications history. I would rather see the author delve right into something a little more nail... Read more
Published on Oct 1 2000
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sterling is a Hackers Friend...Well, Kind of
With all of the media attention being paid to hackers these days, it's hard to find an unbiased source of information. Read more
Published on July 20 2000
4.0 out of 5 stars
Oddly fascinating read
Bruce Sterling does a masterful job of switching focus and using pejorative language to describe all sides in this true-crime piece so that the reader understands exactly how each... Read more
Published on May 11 2000
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