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Computer Undergroud Digest Vol. 04 Issue 61
Computer underground Digest Sun Nov 29, 1992 Volume 4 : Issue 61
Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Boffo Idolater: Etaion Shrdlu, Junior
CONTENTS, #4.61 (Nov 29, 1992)
File 1--Crackdown on Reality (Review of THE HACKER CRACKDOWN)
File 2--Some thoughts on "The Hacker Crackdown"
File 3--The Hacker Crackdown
File 4--Hacker Crackdown Review
File 5--Remembering the Hacker Crackdown
File 6--Bruce Sterling & Cyberhemian Rhapsodies
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Date: Tue, 6 Oct 92 19:55:56 MDT
From: ahawks@NYX.CS.DU.EDU(gogo is insane)
Subject: File 1--Crackdown on Reality (Review of THE HACKER CRACKDOWN)
CRACKING DOWN ON REALITY
A review of Bruce Sterling's THE HACKER CRACKDOWN:
LAW AND DISORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
by Andy Hawks (ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu)
THE HACKER CRACKDOWN:
LAW AND DISORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
by Bruce Sterling
Bantam Books, 1992
Non-fiction, 328 pp., $23 (hard-cover)
ISBN 0-553-08058-X
My eyeballs are squirming. Squirming out of their sockets.
Wanna know why? Ok, I'll tell you, but be warned - it is not a
pleasant experience to have your eyeballs squirm.
"Theoretically, the task force had a perfect legal right to
raid any of these people, and legally < could have seized
the machines of anybody who < subscribed to Phrack." <
Well, I told you so. You can't say I didn't warn you. And, by
the way, please stop looking at me while your eyeballs are squirming.
There is no doubt in my mind that T.S. Eliot was reading Bruce
Sterling's new non-fiction book entitled THE HACKER CRACKDOWN: LAW
AND DISORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER when he said "Human kind Can
not bear very much reality." No doubt, no doubt.
I subscribe to Phrack, and I'm sure many of you do as well, or
have at least pondered and wandered your way through an issue or two
if you have even any remote connection to the cyberspace underground.
In case you're lost, I'll fill you in. Phrack is a magazine, but you
can't buy it at your local newsstand. Phrack might be considered in
some circles to be the keystone of what we commonly call the computer
underground - that dark, mysterious, anarchistic domain of rebellion
occupied by a stereotypically benign group of goggled white faces, 140
IQs, and Mt. Dew addicts - the hacker. Phrack is also one of the many
landmarks Bruce Sterling points out on his wonderfully lucid trip
through this unreal domain dominated by fear, greed, and power.
Knowledge is power. Information is knowledge. Information wants
to be free. Such is the ethos of the hacker. And thus we have laid
out before us the battleground upon which an incredible struggle of
superegos is waged. On the one hand we have the computer hacker, the
teenage boy with a heightened sense of curiosity and the initiative
enough to take some action to satisfy this incredible hunger. On the
other end of the keyboard we have the government, the CEOs, the powers
that be.
Computer hacking is just another example of social deviance,
rebellion, and a desire to make one's reality fit one's personal
wishes and desires. This is natural. Yet somewhere along the line,
this natural tendency to rebel took on new meaning, acquired a scope
of infinite importance, and was thrust into a world where the ability
to obtain immense power via hacking was real, concrete, and
threatening.
It is this deviance and rebellion that Bruce Sterling shows us in
THE HACKER CRACKDOWN. Hackers are not an easy thing to explain mind
you, and to delve into the world of the computer underground is to
find one's self in a surreal painting filled with confusion and delusion
concerning the basic moral, ethical, legal, and philosophical
questions that plague modern society - the information society.
It has been attempted before. Cliff Stoll, whom I liken to
"Sherlock Holmes on acid living in Berkeley" because of his extremely
inventive and non-conventional line of thought, has shown us the
computer underground via his first-hand encounters with "the other
side" and asks himself who "the other side" really is. Cliff Stoll's
THE CUCKOO'S EGG is rich in adventure and "car-chases in cyberspace",
yet it fails at even attempting to put "the hacker problem" in
perspective. In retrospect, the egg is fried. (But fried eggs,
though not the most wonderfully healthy breakfast choice, are still
tasty).
On the other hand, we have Steven Levy and his classic among the
computer literate, HACKERS. Yet in the constantly changing
technocratic society we seem to reside in, Levy may be found sitting
out on the porchbench, telling his grandson who has just hacked into
Bellcore, "Why, in my day, you wouldn't be a hacker, you'd simply be a
criminal! In my day, we didn't want to free information, we wanted to
create information! Now go away, ya bastard kid....", as he mumbles
off into the sunset. Levy's book is certainly a necessary part of the
hacker tradition, but it's just that - tradition. Levy seems to fail
to acknowledge, let alone accept, the *evolution* of the hacker spirit
as relevant to today's world. Levy and his followers are the system
administrators found on countless virtual communities arguing for the
term 'cracker' to describe today's 'hacker', saying that today's
'cracker' is not worthy of the term hacker since they lack in
innovation and excel at regurgitating. Well, all I would have to say
to that is read Sterling's THE HACKER CRACKDOWN.
Then we have a more recent contribution to the book of myths and
facts surrounding hackers, CYBERPUNK: OUTLAWS AND HACKERS ON THE
COMPUTER FRONTIER by Katie Hafner and John Markoff. Now, cyberpunk!
There's a word! In the similarly titled HACKER CRACKDOWN, Bruce
Sterling, commonly considered to be the co-creator of the cyberpunk
literary genre along with his pal William Gibson, addresses the
evolution and transformation of the word he helped create - cyberpunk
- from a fictional character to a reality hacker. CYBERPUNK by Hafner
& Markoff is unique in that it takes three very real, very human
people and attempts to turn them into post-modern science-fictional
characters, such as Case in William Gibson's legendary NEUROMANCER.
Throwing "cyberpunk" for all it's literary and cultural significance
into the realm of the computer underground greatly twists its
landscape, contorts the stereotypes, and leads us into the
near/now-future future with a trippy view of "things to come".
And then of course came the crackdown. We have myth, we have
legend, we have history, and we have entertainment, but until now, the
literary accounts of the computer underground have lacked clear focus,
cultural significance, and unbiased sociological and psychological
viewpoints. Bruce Sterling cracks down on the post-modern realities
of a world based around curiosity and a need for information.
For what it's worth let me say that after having read a few of
Sterling's accounts about writing this book (featured in various
publications such as Electronic Frontier Foundation newsletters and
e-magazines, Steve Brown's wonderful Science Fiction Eye magazine
to which Bruce Sterling contributes regularly, and various other
resources), my opinions of Mr. Sterling are very enthusiastic. For a
long time I have admired Bruce Sterling for his wonderful and integral
contributions to the cyberpunk literary genre of science fiction.
Let's face it, his MIRRORSHADES anthology helped revolutionize the
otherwise complacent and all-too-familiar world of science fiction. I
am a humungous fan of literary cyberpunk and some of Sterling's books
hold a high place on my bookshelf, next to many literary classics. I
have always thought of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling as men of a
truly amazing vision, and with his first non-fiction work, THE HACKER
CRACKDOWN, Bruce Sterling extends that vision into a phenomena of our
society very analogous to the societies proposed in cyberpunk fiction.
In THE HACKER CRACKDOWN, Sterling acts less as social critic and
more of social observer. Rather than spew forth opinions regarding
hackers that we've all heard ad nauseam, he puts everything regarding
the hacker underground into perspective. Basically, he makes sense of
those events in the underground that previously resulted only in
head-scratching confusion. From Abbie Hoffman to the U.S. Secret
Service, from AT&T to LoD, from the WELL to the courtroom, from the
dawn of cyberspace to Terminus, Bruce Sterling provides the reader
with a firm grasp of the events that are shaping our world and that
will have an incredible influence on the emerging information society
of the twenty-first century.
Included in the book is almost every event you could deem even
remotely significant to the hurricane instability of cyberspace: the
genesis and evolution of cyberspace from the telegraph to
globally-linked real-time virtual communities, the AT&T crash on
Martin Luther King Day in 1990, Abbie Hoffman and YIPL/TAP, BBSes and
text philes (phreak/hack/anarchy/credit-card fraud/etc.), the hacker
"elite" of the mid 80's, the various Legion of Doom activities and
cases, the E991/Phrack case, Operation Sundevil, Steve Jackson Games,
RPGs, cyberpunk fiction, the U.S. Secret Service, the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, the WELL, the Grateful Dead, Phiber Optik and
Acid Phreak, Craig Neidorf, Shadowhack, NuPrometheus League, the
Atlanta Three, Mentor, Phoenix Project, Metal Shop, Pirate's Cove,
Computers Freedom and Privacy, and civil liberties. It's all here.
Aside from the extreme volume of information that's bound to
impress even the most comprehensively informed hacker, Sterling,
throughout THE HACKER CRACKDOWN and in other statements he's made,
subliminally asks some vital questions about the ethics, morality, and
philosophies behind the very idea of cyberspace, forcing the reader to
(God forbid) *think* about the events in cyberspace in the last
decade, to think about the creation and evolution of this surreal
civilization. Bruce Sterling destroys the myths and presents the
facts. All the facts. To quote U2 THE HACKER CRACKDOWN is "even
better than the real thing."
Bruce Sterling, at least for now, wins the prize. THE HACKER
CRACKDOWN, in this reader's view, is the definitive word on
cyberspace. I'd like to read it again, but my eyes are still
squirming. But on second thought, having your eyes squirm around in
your brain is a small price to pay for reading THE HACKER CRACKDOWN.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Nov 92 14:06:05 CST
From: bei@DOGFACE.AUSTIN.TX.US(Bob Izenberg)
Subject: File 2--Some thoughts on "The Hacker Crackdown"
My first exposure to Bruce Sterling's book "The Hacker Crackdown" was
a draft of the second chapter. I read it, and found at the end that I
could not warm to the self-important tone of the crackers and
prosecutors who were its subject. Names and pseudonyms... These
people hadn't a straight word to say.
The book is out now. I saw my first copy in a book store here in
Austin. I saw my name in the index. I did not throw the book across
the store in dismay at seeing my name in print... It was a close
thing, though. Having read it twice now, I find that I liked the book
more than I expected to after reading that early chapter.
If you've been reading Computer underground Digest for awhile, you may
find the second and fourth chapters to be old news. Skip to the third
chapter... "Law and Order". Here Sterling warms to his subject, and
I found myself wondering if his fascination with the computer cops
stems from their physical presence... An interesting position for an
author writing about goings-on in a virtual community to be in.
Certainly there is more detail for a writer here: A physical place, a
sense of community... All the things that don't exist in a world
defined by the boundaries of a CRT screen.
I'd really like to see this book re-done as hypertext. The sometimes
awkward bridges that Sterling constructs to get the reader across
topical or temporal chasms could then be left out.
Bob
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 15:01:36 EST
From: Rich=Gautier%SETA%DRC@S1.DRC.COM
Subject: File 3--The Hacker Crackdown
Amen!
Every hacker/phreak, law enforcement weenie, security professional,
law maker, (and probably a whole bunch of other people!) should be
FORCED to read this latest book.
"The Hacker Crackdown" by Bruce Sterling is an IMPRESSIVE overview of
everything from cops to bad guys to civil liberty workers in the never
ending battlefield of cyberspace. Right after the author forgives
himself for using the word 'HACKER' in the title, the book grabs your
attention, and it doesn't let go at all.
The book provides the reader with a sociological, historical and
analytical view from one of the most revered men in cyberspace, Bruce
Sterling. His insights will have you, too, saying "Amen!" to at least
some of what he has to say in this book. It should provide
interesting reading to all audiences on both (all three) sides of the
battlefield in the never ending war for power and control in the area
of computer and telephone security. He starts the book out with a
history of the system itself. It doesn't bore you like you thought it
would, and suddenly you are gripped by the history of the underground,
the digital underground.
This chapter alone could make the book worthwhile. For hackers, it
would be a fun look back into the good ole days. For security folks,
it is a great peek into the views and sociological drive of the
underground enemy. It also covers the history of Operation Sundevil,
and all the unpleasantness that seems to have followed. This part of
the book will take you, in Clifford Stoll-like style (wonder if this
is where he picked up his writing style). One long stream of data
later, and you're into the next section of the book, "Law and Order".
If you aren't one of the people pictured herein, you may find yourself
learning a great deal more than you hoped. Only someone with ties to
both sides of this great battle could bring the insight that is so
needed here. Although I preferred the first two sections of the book,
I actually found myself liking to find out what the real drive of the
"money-hungry prosecution" was.
The last part of the book, I guess you could call the END RESULT of
the whole history lesson in the first three parts of the book. Civil
Liberty as an ACTUAL issue. Even the hackers, (excuse the term)
should be glad that some of the things they have been screaming about
for YEARS, actually have a public voice now. This section also
includes the famous Phrack with the edited E911 document in it. (Just
in case you missed it).
All in all, a good buy...I highly recommend it. I read it from my
Public Library, and I intend to go out and buy me my own personal copy
as soon as I can.
------------------------------
Date: 9 Nov 1992 16:57:51 U
From: "Steve" <copold@SMTPGATE.TECHRSCS.PANAM.EDU>
Subject: File 4--Hacker Crackdown Review
That "truth is often stranger than fiction" is a time worn and often
over-used cliche. If anyone has ever doubted its veracity, however,
all they need do to confirm the accuracy of the phrase is read _The
Hacker Crackdown_ by Bruce Sterling. It's probably a wise marketing
decision that the book is being hawked as Sterling's first volume of
non-fiction. Even the likes of a Clancy or a Le Carre would gasp in
disbelief at many of the twists and turns in this complex tale.
As a part-time dweller in cyberspace, one learns to expect the
unexpected. It is all too easy to assume that you really have a handle
on what is happening in, as Sterling calls it, "the un-real estate" of
the networks. In that regard, _Hacker Crackdown_ can do serious damage
to one's ego. When I read the teasers on the book's jacket, I actually
laughed when I got to the quote from Lex Luthor, "I learned a lot from
this book that I didn't know." Having read quite a few of Lex's
postings on MindVox, I assumed that this was a touch of hacker humor
that the publisher had bought into. Little did I know how much I was
about to learn from _The Hacker Crackdown_.
Having been involved, at one level or another, in the electronic
information business all of my adult life, and after hanging out on
the nets for the past few years, I had, however foolishly, come to
consider myself as being relatively "clued." Even though I regularly
communicate with a number of the people written about in the book, I
found that I only knew bits and pieces of the story. And to compound
my arrogant assumption, most of what I did know was woefully
incomplete and often could not be linked to the other parts of the
whole. In this sense, _Hacker Crackdown_ was a genuine wake-up call.
It can be a rude awakening to spend a pleasant weekend having a really
enjoyable read only to find out that you're actually just another
"clueless computer geek."
Make no mistake, _The Hacker Crackdown_ is a terrific read, but beyond
that it is the product of a determined effort by Sterling to report in
an organized and coherent fashion the most confounding, bewildering,
and downright puzzling collection of rumors and facts imaginable. To
make his task even more challenging, he found himself dealing with an
equally unstable collection of subjects that ranged from socially
maladjusted hackers and phone phreaks, to the paranoid fringes of law
enforcement, to the "Big Brother" attitudes and often ham-fisted
behavior of corporations that deal in information...No small task to
be sure! In this effort he not only succeeds, but succeeds
brilliantly.
In telling the story of the crackdown, Sterling leads us from event to
event while maintaining an understandable chronology. Many of the
principle offenses and incidents that occur in this incredibly complex
chain of happenings are separated by months and, in some cases, more
than a year. If there is an aspect of the book that makes it a
challenge, it is in gaining a true grasp on the actual sequence of
events as they relate to the various elements of the bigger picture of
cyberspace circa 1990-1991. It is, in fact, a tangled morass that is
at best difficult to follow even with Sterling acting as guide and
pathfinder. If there is a side of _The Hacker Crackdown_ that will
ultimately slow its distribution, it is that it could prove to be near
inaccessable for the uninitiated.
Having said that, let me point to what is in my opinion the best that
_Hacker Crackdown_ offers the reader. Referring to the subjects of the
book (all of them...not just the hackers) as a strange and diverse
group may be the biggest understatement I'll put in print this year.
They are, in fact, almost incomprehensible to those who live, for lack
of a better term, within the accepted social norms. Sterling has
accomplished what megabytes of e-mail and hours of conversation had
not managed to do...He has given these characters a human face.
Somewhere in the middle of this highly technical narrative, a great
number of these folks ceased being handles on a node and started
taking on a form...a very human form.
It would be impossible to mention them all in a short review, so I'll
make examples of just a few. Perhaps the most glaring of these is
Terminus. He's a regular contributor on MindVox, and has become good
friends with a mutual acquaintance. As a result of this, I've had the
chance to hear a lot of what he has to say. I think I had prejudged
Terminus, because he had been unfortunate enough to have been caught
and prosecuted. In _Hacker Crackdown_ we are made privy to a side of
Terminus that just doesn't register in e-mail or in his postings on
Vox. Although it is made clear that he probably committed
transgressions, it is also equally clear that he is not evil, that he
bore no malice toward anyone, and that he certainly should not have
gone to prison. Granted that is a personal judgment, but it is one
that rises from the picture of Terminus painted by Sterling. Whether
Sterling feels that way or not is immaterial as his writing left me,
the reader, with that conviction.
Not all of the creatures that arose from the printed page were as
pleasant as Terminus. The best example of this is Emmanuel Goldstein.
Another early contributor to Vox and the publisher of 2600, Emmanuel
Goldstein has always been a highly enigmatic figure. Sterling's
portrait of Goldstein appears to be brutally honest. To put it
politely, it is an image of an individual that you would not want to
have for a next-door neighbor. To be fair to Emmanuel, there are not
many that are mentioned in _The Hacker Crackdown_, including the Feds
that would be high on my list of desireable neighbors.
Then there is Gail Thackeray...Recipient of endless name-calling in
hacker chatter. Yet, the Gail Thackeray we meet in _Hacker Crackdown_
is a sympathetic persona that I found very likeable. If she has a
fault, as Sterling draws her, it is her obsessive nature and her need
for results...two very hacker-like qualities. The more I read, the
more I found myself thinking, "Hey, this is a person I would hire in a
minute!" Suddenly, the hated Gail Thackeray had be come someone I
could admire and probably call friend. (Let's do lunch Gail!)
The last person I wish to mention, but certainly not the least
significant, is the homeless man in Phoenix. Sterling paints him as an
icon of the future-disenfranchised. Whether he is addressing some
looming caste-based society where only those that have one foot in
cyberspace and the other in the real world will emerge pre-eminent
must be addressed by the individual reader. It is, however, a truly
chilling scene he draws of his encounter with this lost soul set
against the steel and glass backdrop of modern Phoenix. Although
Phoenix just happened to be where the chance meeting occurred, it is
ironic that the information society may have to rise from the ashes as
did the bird of legend. Bruce Sterling - Prophet of Doom - I doubt it,
but it is food for thought.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 92 21:30:20 CDT
From: Jim Thomas <cudigest@mindox.phantom.com>
Subject: File 5--Remembering the Hacker Crackdown
Sheldon Zenner, the defense attorney for Craig Neidorf in the June,
1990 "Phrack" trial, began and ended his opening comments with a
reminder that wisdom often accompanies reflection on past mistakes:
MR ZENNER: What I would have written on there if I could is
something I got in a fortune cookie that said:
"To remember is to understand".
I have never forgotten that. To remember what it was to be a
struggling lawyer makes a good judge. To remember what it was to
be a student makes a good teacher. To remember what it was to be
a child makes a good parent.
*************
To remember is to understand. To remember what it's like to be
14, or 15, or 16, or 17, or 18, or 19. To remember what it's
like to do some stupid things. But stupid things, doing stupid
things isn't illegal...and a good thing for all of us, I
suspect.
Recent allegations that the U.S. Secret Service has been involved in
disruption of public gatherings, surveillance of private citizens
beyond the scope of their authority, and perhaps disseminating
information to employers of those surveilled, suggests that some
agents have forgotten the lessons of Sun Devil, of restrictions on
covert surveillance common during the 1960s, and of resistance to
abuses of government authority. To remember that Constitutional
protections extend to cyberspace is to understand that freedom should
be protected, not subverted, by some over-zealous law enforcement
agents.
In The Hacker Crackdown (THC), science fiction writer Bruce Sterling
(Islands in the Net, co-author of The Difference Engine) forces us to
remember, to remember so that we understand. Drawing from interviews
with hackers and law enforcement officials, participation in the
activities of each, and available documents, Sterling pulls together a
concise summary of the context and the events of the U.S. Secret
Service (USSS) "hacker raids" of early 1990. For both the "hacker"
community and law enforcement, the crackdowns represented a coming of
age. Both sides won a little and lost a little, and both sides were
responsible for helping shed a little more light on the nature of
cyberspace and the responsibilities and rights of those within it.
Sterling refreshes our collective memories and provides new insights
and understandings.
The losses of the indiscriminate "hacker crackdown" of the 1990s
exemplified by the "Bill Cook cases" of Phrack and Len Rose and by
Operation Sun Devil, have not been calculated: Lost equipment,
attorney fees, lost time, lost revenues, embarrassment and loss of
credibility for some prosecutors and the US Secret Service (not to
mention the potential losses to taxpayers if the Steve Jackson suit
against them is successful), delay of publication of Steve Jackson's
GURPS, needless drain on federal resources and taxpayer dollars, and
emotional and psychological anguish, computer users raided with no
subsequent indictments, and lives shattered. All this resulted in
relatively small pay-off of a few minor guilty pleas raise the
question: WAS THE HACKER CRACKDOWN worth it? My reading of THC
suggests that the answer is a complex "yes." Part of the inevitable
process of establishing and protecting rights lies in the continuous
struggle against abuses. Struggles over rights reflect the social
tension between freedom and control and helps shape the boundaries of
responsibility, the limits of public and government behavior, and the
form and content of what is to be protected and how. The government
crackdown on hackers can be seen as part of this process. Sterling
attempts to show the complexity of this struggle.
_The Hacker Crackdown_ provides a comprehensive background of the
events of 1990 that most in the computer community consider a fiasco.
Sterling avoids taking sides as he describes the context of
technological and social changes underlying the "hacker" phenomenon
and law enforcement responses to. His depictions of the participants
are sometimes flattering, other times not, and he attempts to depict
the subjective and human element that guides adversaries and others in
the pursuit of their goals. Most law enforcement agents, Sterling
reminds us, are dedicated and competent. Others are less so, and some
are simply incompetent. Likewise, some "hackers" are criminals, some
are simply curious while others are obnoxious delinquents, and a few,
such as 2600's Emmanuel Goldstein, are best understood as dissidents
in the tradition of European gadflies who tweak authority.
Those in the computer community tend to see law enforcement and
telecommunications security personnel in the same one-dimensional
cartoon stereotypes as those agents perceive the "criminals" they
chase. One of the subtlest and most pernicious consequences of the
anti-hacker images is the creation of myths, misunderstanding, and
fear of those who display considerable techno-competence. An equally
inaccurate image is the view held by many in the computer community
all law enforcement agents are techno-illiterate, ill-intentioned, and
fail to understand the computer culture. There is sufficient evidence
that both sides have cause for their views. However, as Sterling
cogently illustrates, both views are simplistic and belie the reality
of complex and sometimes confused agendas, generally well-intended
actions gone awry, and legitimate misunderstandings arising that cloud
the perceptions and actions of all parties. One value of Sterling's
tome is its attempt to lay bare these intricacies of motive and
action.
Fear of the unknown is a subtle theme in Sterling's interpretation of
law enforcement responses to "hackers." Buried in the middle of the
volume (pp. 188-191), Sterling shares his encounter with a large
homeless man whose contact with reality was suspect. From this
encounter, he realizes the intertwining of fear and surprise, and how
both shape our perception of "what's going on." This provides the
central metaphor for THC: Lack of understanding contributes to fear,
and fear leads to excess.
Sterling begins with a helpful summary of the history of the telephone
system from its earliest days of implemention and marketing battles
through the emergence of AT&T as the primary telephony corporate
monolith. Sterling reminds readers that today's hackers had their
counterpart in earlier explorers and mischief-makers, and he suggests
that all that is currently new is the technology by which contemporary
techophiles operate. By providing a social context for "hacking,"
Sterling removes the techno-mystique surrounding it. After all, he
reminds us, when the telephone was first introduced, it inspired fear
amongst some, was seen as limited in scope, and the technology was
understood by few. And even the Futurians, a group of famous science
fiction writings in New York in the 1930s, felt the power of the USSS
when their wackyness was suspected by neighbors as masking a
counterfeiting ring. To remember the history of technology and its
relationship to law enforcement is to understand, and understanding
reduces our fear of the unknown.
>From THC, we understand that most hackers are little more than
curious, white, middle-class teenagers with considerable computer
proficiency. We learn that Gail Thackeray, considered the mastermind
behind Sun Devil, is just a normal person and, behind the scenes,
attempted to bring an awareness of Constitutional rights to law
enforcement agents. We learn that the USSS is comprised of
technologically competent people, but none of them seemed present or
involved in Sun Devil or the Bill Cook incidents. We learn the
background behind the formation of EFF, we are reminded of forgotten
Sun Devil victims such as Charlie Boykin and Rich Andrews and others
who were caught up in the crackdown, and we are reminded that Craig
Neidorf's success in his trial was the result of numerous backstage
players, including John Nagle (who discovered the public nature of the
supposedly confidential documents Neidorf was accused of reprinting)
and Dorothy Denning, a computer security expert. Readers of CuD or
EFFector Online will find little new information in THC. This is of no
consequence. The major contribution of THC is that it places events
in chronological order and provides a unifying theme not possible when
information leaks out sporadically. Sterling crafts the individual
tiles into a rich mosaic that depicts the primary actors and events
that eventually brought them together in the crackdowns. Sterling
helps us to remember in order that we understand.
In any work, one can find points to criticize, and although the
quibbles one might have with THC are minor and in no way detract from
the significance, they do suggest strategies for a paperback re-write.
These include a few minor factual discrepancies (indicating in one
passage that Sun Devil occured on May 9, and in another on May 8); An
occasional tendency to engage in seemingly gratuitous attention to
secondary topics such as a long account of The Well public access
system; an over-long discussion of the proficiency of the Secret
Service that digresses needlessly; and far too much significance given
to the role of the Martin Luther Day AT&T crash as a catalyst in the
crackdowns. Some "hackers" also took minor issue with some of the
technical details, such as referring on occasion to "switching
stations" ("there's no such thing," said one). However, some of the
digressions work: Sterling's account of his own serendipitous attempt
at "trashing" (mucking through others' trash in search of useful
information) provides a poignant and vicarious experience for the
reader as Sterling reconstructs a series of letters written by a woman
to her former boyfriend.
The 35,000 copies of first printing of THC are virtually gone,
suggesting a second, smaller, printing will follow. Presumably the
eventual paperback version will allow for revisions that might include
the following: Sterling's journey through the events of the crackdown
is limited to 1990. An epilogue would be helpful. It would also be
valuable to make more visible the many other nameless individuals who
were raided and never indicted as a way of making more clear the
extent and futility of the operations. And, one glaring void struck
CuD editors: Cu Digest receives just a passing reference in a quote
from a law enforcement agent. CuD was, after all, a direct result of
the Phrack and Len Rose cases, and it was a primary source of news for
many during those events, and it made available trial transcripts,
documents, and detailed the USSS's use of an informant in the Sun
Devil operation.
These cavils aside, Sterling's ambitious attempt at the re-creation of
Sun Devil events is successful. In emphasizing the emergence of the
"civil libertarians" from the chaos of the crackdown, he reminds us
that the struggle for rights is as long as history, and that to see
the crackdown as little more than law enforcement excess is to fail to
understand its significance. Sterling's balanced discourse does not
provide the reader with answers, but in demanding that we remember, he
prompts us to greater understanding.
The central message of The Hacker Crackdown may be summarized by
Sterling's experience with the homeless Stanley, and the message
should be read carefully by all sides:
In retrospect, it astonishes me to realize how quickly
poor Stanley became a perceived threat. Surprise and fear
are closely allied feelings. And the world of computing is
full of surprises...To know Stanely is to know his demon.
If you know the other guy's demon, then maybe you'll come
to know some of your own. You'll be able to separate
reality from illusion. And then you won't do your cause,
and yourself, more harm than good (pp 190, 191).
*******************
After the above was written, allegations that the Secret Service may
have been instrumental in breaking up a 2600 meeting in Washington,
D.C. have emerged. If they prove to be true, it suggests that a new
chapter to THC might be written to address the failure of some law
enforcement agents to remember or to understand. If the allegations
are true, perhaps a witch-hunting metaphor might be more appropriate
to describe the attitude of some federal agents' views of hackers.
Sterling makes one crucial point in his book worth emphasizing: The
emergence of the "civil libertarians" from the events of 1990 was the
result of a number of individuals and groups joining together out of a
dedication for civil liberties. The current activities of these
groups--such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)--are part of the legacy
of Sun Devil. Supporting these and similar groups is one way to
protect against those few agents who fail to understand that the
electronic frontier, like the rest of society, is subject to
Constitutional protections and not a frontier town where a few
gun-slingers can take the law into their own hands.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 92 05:29:48 GMT
From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (scooby dooby doo)
Subject: File 6--Bruce Sterling & Cyberhemian Rhapsodies
"What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been", the all-too familiar
statement by the Grateful Dead, has probably been heard countless
times in the echoes of cyberspace. Probably moreso than in any other
forum aside from Classic-Rock radio stations, and this is no accident.
Cyberspace has indeed been a long, strange trip, but more
appropriately we might rephrase the statement to read "what a long
strange trip it's going to be if we don't take a step back and look at
ourselves, damnit."
Bruce Sterling, noted cyberpunk author and purveyor of sociological
possible futures and realities, has begun to take that step back, as
evident in his recent contribution to SF Eye #10, also appearing in
EFFector OnLine #3.06. He writes passionately about the current
states of cyber-realities, about where we seem to be headed, his
contributions and role in the whole grand scheme of things, and all
within the deeply moving realm of Sterling's philosophical mind where
moral questions remain unresolved about all these issues.
And well they should. Cyberspace, bohemia that it is, is still
fairly analogous to any other notable social movement in history. In
one area of the movement, you have the deeply frightening individuals
who proclaim to have all the answers. On the other end of the
spectrum you have, in this case the "cyberpunk" hackers, those
individuals basically saying "fuck the answers and fuck the
questions". Rarely, though, do you find those individuals in the
midst of the movement willing to step back and say "what's it all
about....what kind of trip are we on, anyways?"
This is what Sterling has done in the article, basically presenting
on paper (or monitor) philosophical questions applicable to any
society:
"What is a 'crime'? What is a moral offense? What actions are evil
and dishonorable?"
Obviously, if a society does not answer these questions, if it does
not agree upon (at least to some basic extent) these issues, the
society will die. It is my impression that Mr. Sterling is saying:
'We, the residents of cyberspace, whether we liken ourselves as punks,
hackers, hippies, administrators, frontiersman, virus writers,
programmers, information freaks, our simply by-standers, we are all
residents of a very large community. We coexist fairly complacently,
yet we coexist without the degree of self-analysis and self-criticism
present in most other successful societies.'
Now, of course this is my interpretation of the article, and in fact
I'm probably off in my own little corner of this reality, but, suffice
to say, whether or not this was Sterling's intent, these are facts we
must face up to.
Bruce Sterling has been fairly outspoken on the question of
information as commodity, and the idea of knowledge as power. What
we, the citizens of cyberspace, fail to realize is that we as a
collective group have the means of storing, analyzing, regurgitating
more information than ever before. Thus, we should be the richest,
most powerful community in the world. But of course, being a *fairly*
democratic reality, whoever might wish to obtain this power is struck
down by the opposite extreme. Ie: Joe Hacker consciously or
unconsciously believes he has power via his skills at penetrating
information until he is taken off to jail by Ms. S.S. Agent. Ms. S.
S. Agent believes she has power until the hacker community strikes
back at her individualy, or grows to the point where their values and
morals infiltrate the norms of the cyber-society to the point where
they are acceptable to some degree. And so, the debate rages back and
forth constantly, to no end. One of the victims is information.
Bruce Sterling wrote a little note to me in his wonderful collection
of short stories, _Globalhead_, that says "Information *wants* to be
free". Information is the battleground upon which we, the entire
cyberspace student body, wage our war. Sterling writes that he is
distrustful of a society that seeks to control, encrypt, restrict
information, likening the results to building a sand castle. What a
wonderful metaphor, since on the surface the fortress we have created
seems impenetrable, yet it quickly crumbles under its own weight when
the uncontrollable forces of nature have their way. Information is
infinite in scope. It has no end, thus there is no possible way a
society can really control information to any degree of success.
Certain information can not be used as commodity, for, as I believe
Bruce Sterling has himself stated before, if I give you information, I
am not really losing anything, but you are gaining. In monetary
terms, it's like giving someone a $20 bill and somehow keeping the
bill for yourself. Thus, information is infinite and would quickly
devalue in a world where it is abundant.
In our society, we do not realize the abundance of information.
Each new day, new resources are available to receive various types
information at a relatively low cost: new television stations,
newspapers, magazines, radio stations, underground zines, BBSes, FTP
sites, Usenet newsgroups....
When the majority of the inhabitants of the entire global virtual
community realize this, we can begin to step forward back into the
realm of cyberspace. We will have analyzed "the hacker problem", seen
it as a necessary subset of our new society, and to accept it, not
criticize it, for what it is. We will have set forth standards of
behavior, folkways and mores, manifestos and constitutions, applicable
to a society of the future, the society of the infinite realm of
cyberspace.
There is no doubt in my mind that the civilization of cyberspace is
going to be a long, strange trip. It already has been, and it will
continue to be. As it stands now, there are few worthy pieces of
e-literature we can look to as timeless watermarks of this infant
realm, but I would certainly have to place Bruce Sterling's
contributions as integral to the healthy development of this society.
------------------------------
End of Computer Underground Digest #4.61
************************************
