Dear Hacker: Letters to the Editor of 2600

by Emmanuel Goldstein

Actual letters written to the leading hackers' magazine For 25 years, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has given voice to the hacker community in all its manifestations. This collection of letters to the magazine reveals the thoughts and viewpoints of hackers, both white and black hat, as well as hacker wannabes, technophiles, and people concerned about computer security. Insightful and entertaining, the exchanges illustrate 2600 's vast readership, from teenage rebels, anarchists, and survivalists to law enforcement, consumer advocates, and worried parents. Dear Hacker is must reading for technology aficionados, 2600' s wide and loyal audience, and anyone seeking entertainment well laced with insight into our society. Coverage For more information and sample letters, check out the companion site at

Genres: Nonfiction, Computers, Technology

576 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2010

Reviews

[Ixby Wuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual letters written to the leading hackers' magazine
For 25 years, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has given voice to the hacker community in all its manifestations. This collection of letters to the magazine reveals the thoughts and viewpoints of hackers, both white and black hat, as well as hacker wannabes, technophiles, and people concerned about computer security. Insightful and entertaining, the exchanges illustrate 2600 's vast readership, from teenage rebels, anarchists, and survivalists to law enforcement, consumer advocates, and worried parents.
Dear Hacker is must reading for technology aficionados, 2600' s wide and loyal audience, and anyone seeking entertainment well laced with insight into our society.
Coverage Includes:
Question Upon Question Tales from the Retail Front The Challenges of Life as a Hacker Technology The Magic of the Corporate World Our Biggest Fans Behind the Walls A Culture of Rebels Strange Ramblings
For more information and sample letters, check out the companion site at http://lp.wileypub.com/dearhacker/

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone interested in the culture around programming and hacking, this is a great book to read. What better way to get a feel of the hacker ethic than to read letters penned by young, old, rich, poor, beginner, experienced, gleeful, and distraught people looking for answers, a way to vent their frustrations with the system, peers, manuals, and more?

The book is divided into multiple chapters with themes ranging from "I hate the corporate world" to "I found this weird number in area code...". Each chapter covers a period of over twenty years and this constant back and forth in time serves to show the reader the evolution of attitudes, problems, beliefs, and many more attributes of the hacker culture.

I had a lot of fun reading these it struck me how little has changed between 1984 and today, except one thing - whereas people then lived in a technological void, sprinkled with the bright specks of BBSes, ARPAnet, or computer club, we live in a world drowning in technology. The thing that hasn't changed? People.

[Sean O'meara · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the history of 2600 magazine from the most chaotic of sources, the letters column. As an on/off reader of the mag, and interesting look back at the changing state of technology, politics and the perception of hackers of all sorts in both popular culture and the computer subcultures.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like computers and technology this a very interesting commentary on the history and culture of computers. Hacking is not about criminal activity but learning and sharing information. Of course there have been hackers who embarked on criminal activities, and those are the ones who make the news, but most rest in the realms of the law. A lot of stuff here...

[W.G.T. Fernando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like 'best of 2600', this one compiles letters sent in by readers of the 2600 magazine. Worth having a copy if you have an interest in hacking/coding

A full review of this book had been done by Chanuke Senevirathne (@chanux) and can be viewed here http://www.digit.lk/10_september_book...