Hackers, Crackers, Pirates and Phreaks: The Rise and Fall of the 1980’s Global Computer Underground

by George Parthimos

Hackers, Crackers, Pirates, and Phreaks provides a vivid first-hand account of the emergence of the 1980’s global computer underground, and its ultimate downfall, as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneering members.

Follow the compelling journey of 'The Rebel,' an inquisitive 12-year-old who transforms to become one of the world’s most prolific software pirates by the age of 17, only to watch helplessly as his world collapsed around him.

In this compelling coming-of-age memoir, George Parthimos recounts a crucial period in history, where the world experienced a revolutionary online transformation, one computer at a time.

This is a story of ordinary computer enthusiasts from all around the world, whose audacious and covert exploits inadvertently shaped the Internet to what we know it today.

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2024

Reviews

[Herwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the book, until it took a turn in the last two chapters: from being a memoir it suddenly turned into a wannabe self help book with "I have been successful because I followed my dreams and so can you" kind of blanket statements. So let me get this straight: you told the story how you have been spending your teenage years being involved in illegal activity, where your family has sacrificed their vacations to be able to pay for the hardware you needed, and the moral of the story is that we should follow your example?
And if you really have been that successful in your life, you could have hired an editor.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has a very high opinion of himself which somewhat impacts the book. I’m also not entirely convinced with how important he actually was in the scene. He talks about hex editors to crack software which are used but mostly disassemblers are used to understand the code to be cracked, you never just alter bytes with a hex editor. Some other comments also don’t seem entirely accurate. Maybe I’m cynical. Maybe I witnessed the scene from a different perspective, whatever, but this could have been a better read.