Hacked: A Radical Approach to Hacker Culture and Crime

Alternative Criminology

by Kevin F. Steinmetz

Public discourse, from pop culture to political rhetoric, portrays hackers as deceptive, digital villains. But what do we actually know about them?

In Hacked, Kevin F. Steinmetz explores what it means to be a hacker and the nuances of hacker culture. Through extensive interviews with hackers, observations of hacker communities, and analyses of hacker cultural products, Steinmetz demystifies the figure of the hacker and situates the practice of hacking within the larger political and economic structures of capitalism, crime, and control.This captivating book challenges many of the common narratives of hackers, suggesting that not all forms of hacking are criminal and, contrary to popular opinion, the broader hacker community actually plays a vital role in our information economy. Hacked thus explores how governments, corporations, and other institutions attempt to manage hacker culture through the creation of ideologies and laws that protect powerful economic interests. Not content to simply critique the situation, Steinmetz ends his work by providing actionable policy recommendations that aim to redirect the focus from the individual to corporations, governments, and broader social issues.

A compelling study, Hacked helps us understand not just the figure of the hacker, but also digital crime and social control in our high-tech society.

Genres: Crime

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 29, 2016

Reviews

[Claire Binkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an expanded thesis that offers some interesting food for contemplation. It is not unlike Corsair, but in a non-fiction format. In fact, I might have to reread that other book and give it a much better shot after done with this.

This 235-page essay suggests a few reasons that people hack which might be unexpected and novel for the reader to behold. I think you might have to see what Steinmetz has to say before you can make a judgement call on how to continue. I never REALLY thought about hacking into computer systems in this way myself.
I mean, OF COURSE I did the whole Marxist thing for semesters ad infinitum (I will* probably even end up doing the Marxist thing for terms ad infinitum after this too, who knows how life will continue for sure), but... you know, everything else! I honestly found it absolutely stunning.
(I sometimes end up missing a word somewhere making myself incomprehensible, usually when I get excited or anxious. This just happened a few sentences ago. Thank you, John, for calling this to my attention.)

I also found it fascinating to note that the age range of the hackers sampled in his study was 23-61. (To the statistically inclined of us, the average is 34.71 and median 32.5 ...so... around my current age! That's so bizarre! I was kinda interested in this stuff when I was perhaps fifteen, but I WAS SO BOGGED DOWN with classwork I could never totally focus on it...)
That's so wide! I was imagining before I read this book that all hackers were like little eight-year-old munchkins lying on the "ARE YOU 16 OR OLDER?" blockade on the AOL forum JUST LIKE I DID WHEN I WAS THAT AGE.

So, I particularly liked this book. You may, too, but I am about to embark on a journey into graduate study [library and information science].
This is a useful book for that purpose.

[Darnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is somebody's thesis, and I'm not using that as a compliment. Bizarrely rigorous and academic for what amounts to some interviews and article analysis. I've got to stop getting lured in by slickly-marketed nonfiction...

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like it was written for a sociology class, so it was not speedy reading for me. Also it was pick and choose chapters as I wasn't interested in learning about how to best deal with cyber crimes (boring). I just wanted to learn more about hacker culture, the kinds of people who go into it, what their focus is, etc for a story I'm working on. It was interesting to read how the media has created such a negative picture of hackers and why we think "crime," when hacking is mentioned in the media. Also interesting is how the media shapes our perceptions, such as connecting hacking with autism, especially, Aspergers, which may or may not be true but when people like Jullian Assange say it, people tend to believe it. I liked some of the first hand accounts of hacking but other than that, save this book for the classroom or read it to put yourself to sleep.

[Mills College Library]

364.168 S8234 2016