As someone who has an interest in hacking, but no skills whatsoever, I eagerly opened this huge compilation of letters written to the editors of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, a newsletter/magazine published since, fittingly, 1984. What I found was a sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-informative, sometimes-tedious series of letters compiled by theme. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this book is the chronological organization within topics that often combine to give a brief history of the rise of computers in American society through the eyes of hackers, security experts, and ordinary citizens who just want to understand more about the technology. Of course, since 2600 is a hacker's publication, there's an underlying rebellious streak and mistrust of authority in both the letters and the editors' responses.
I couldn't read this book from cover-to-cover in a few sittings the way I might a non-anthology book since, after a while, the letters became too much of the same despite their different topics. Even the editors' comments started sounding like more of the same. Instead, this book is best read by section, in chronological order, to give a sense of how technology and the issues that accompany it have progressed over the years. The clueless and the marginally insane among the letter writers can be both entertaining and sad; however, some of the letters are incredibly articulate about matters that go beyond criminal activity and into the realm of pure technology and common sense. And I really enjoyed the sense of history created by the dated letters. For example, I knew, but had forgotten, about the original hackers -- the phone phreaks of the eighties-- and how they worked more to conquer the limitations imposed by phone companies (or even just ATT, when there was only one) than to invade individual corporations since the internet was not yet prevalent enough to provide an entry into all aspects of American life. The section of letters written by prisoners focuses almost exclusively on how to circumvent prison phone restrictions; however, later letters by the incarcerated touch on matters of civil liberties, the issue of rehabilitation versus banned computer use, and a few others. That 2600 gave these largely ignored individuals a voice is remarkable, even if some of those voices are just trying to commit another crime, this time from behind bars.
As a cultural document, this book offers a sampling of the history of computer technology and the people who hope(d) to harness it, and for that, it's worth reading. Don't expect any articles or special insight into computers or hacking, however, since these letters were written mostly in response to articles that non-subscribing readers are unlikely to be familiar with. Still, you don't need the articles to understand the letters because most passages are relatively superficial. The more complex entries stand out and are probably the most interesting, but their technical expertise may be difficult to follow for the layperson.
-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann
