Goldstein Emmanuel $29.95 US/$35.95 CAN “2600 is the beating, thrumming lifeblood of “It’s always interesting to hear what the 2600 the militant arm of the information hobbyist community has to say, whether it’s discussing Photo by Dave Buchwald wt—awnoCidrc loecdr o.ay eTs dD hiinoteofycert co aotrrifeoo Bwuaos,s .ib”dnlagon gBggeoeriron, ugjos u a r sn aanli sidt,e aau atnhdo r, smsKsooueommpvrpeieeon oinr nnmteifewvoo ehvr c maeloesmao twttleei onerrisxntt, pt aaeIln bnordo ieat muacbttooei oamum nthm.b a mDeecrenku trtirhsenio angiddng t i oo2nthpr6g eir0 ca e0F lvtl rhew etaahehlte i in cgh De Dear Goldsrtein “You are hearing voices from under the fl oor- raised up my spirits in such a diffi cult time.” EMMANUEL GOLDSTEIN boards of telecommunication here. Scholars —Kevin Mitnick, computer security consultant, a ke The hacker — god or demon? One’s should treasure this.” author point of view determines the answer, saw his fi rst letter to the editor published c in The New York Post at the age of eight. —Bruce Sterling, author, one of the founders r a but one fact is irrefutable — hackers of the cyberpunk movement in science fi ction H feed on questions. Questions are the IdImnis chmoigeudhrsi easc ttehhloayto hol cedc uwurraisns i gna dtahd “eilc eltatetteder st1”o9 st7eh0cest i,o n. hackHearr dhi-jhienakdse, da nredb heolpse, hleastse pmaarialn,oia H pQttihoouerne tmsas ltao itorsoent nswp eoghwpeyut wLltahoeretr mtfleedr asist n out ofrtr e kot honuefob w2lEe6ld.e0 iQdt0ogu:r eeT .is sh- e Gcoomldpsuteteinrs b. eHciasm inef aetnucahtaionnte sdo wonit gho t — read all about it! Hacker Quarterly. a him into trouble as he discovered he Since 1984, 2600 has been the voice could access things he shouldn’t. A few From consumer advocates to criminals, the readers of 2600:The Hacker Quarterly c and forum for the hacker subculture, years and an FBI raid later, he co- are a diverse and dedicated lot. Corporate spies, adolescent rebels and their worried and thousands have raised their voices founded 2600: The Hacker Quarterly parents, computer geeks, anarchists, survivalists, private eyes, representatives of k in letters to the editor. Now you can as an outlet for stories and tutorials law enforcement — they read the magazine, and they write letters. Amusing letters. read the best of them, from the simply from hackers around the world. Insightful letters. Letters that reveal genius, and letters that frighten you out of curious (“What does ‘2600’ mean?”) to e Since 1988, Goldstein has hosted Off your socks. the slightly paranoid (“For years I have been hearing voices saying they are the Hook, a hacker-themed radio talk r show airing on WBAI FM in New York Whether you’re a subscriber or merely curious, they will entertain you, enlighten the Secret Service telling me what to City. In 1994 he organized the fi rst you, enrage you, and quite possibly, alter your perspective forever. do….”), along with 2600’s responses. HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) THE CATEGORIES: It’s entertaining, challenging, and conference, held every other year, T sometimes, just plain scary. But you which attracts attendees from points • Question Upon Question • The Magic of the OL O E will discover what makes a hacker around the globe. Goldstein served • Tales from the Retail Front Corporate World FTT as technical consultant for the 1995 • The Challenges of Life • Our Biggest Fans 2 HT tick. You will recognize the rebel, EE the insatiably curious, the visionary feature fi lm Hackers, and has testifi ed as a Hacker • Behind the Walls 6 R ES LETTERS determined to push the envelope. You before Congress on the issue of hacking • New Technology • A Culture of Rebels 0D may recognize yourself. and where the threat actually lies. I • Strange Ramblings 0T O TO THE EDITOR To this day, Emmanuel Goldstein has COMPUTERS/Security/General R The landscape has radically changed over 26 years, but the tone and attitude never taken a course in computers. ISBN 978-0-470-62006-9 OF 2 6 0 0 of the 2600 letter writer remains as Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks fresh as ever. 620069ffirs.indd 2 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM Dear Hacker 620069ffirs.indd 1 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM 620069ffirs.indd 2 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM Dear Hacker Letters to the Editor of 2600 Emmanuel Goldstein 620069ffirs.indd 3 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM Dear Hacker: Letters to the Editor of 2600 Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-62006-9 ISBN: 978-0-470-88978-7 (ebk) ISBN: 978-0-470-88979-4 (ebk) ISBN: 978-0-470-89020-2 (ebk) Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies con- tained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010926616 Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 620069ffirs.indd 4 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM This book is dedicated to those people who always feel the need to speak out about whatever is on their mind. For my entire life, letter writers have been an inspiration to me. These are the people who actually make changes because so few of us take the time to compose our thoughts into a written form. Even today, when online forums are everywhere, it’s those people who think it through and present their thoughts in a cohesive style who really wind up getting through to the rest of us. With all of this, it’s no wonder that the individuals who have written letters to 2600 over the years to express their opinions, ideas, or outrage have comprised the most popular part of our magazine. It’s this explosion of ideas that has made the whole thing so worthwhile. 620069ffirs.indd 5 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM AbouT THE AuTHor EmmanuEl GoldstEin ([email protected]) has been publishing 2600 Magazine, The Hacker Quarterly, since 1984. He traces his hacker roots to his high school days in the late ’70s, when he first played with a distant computer over high- speed, 300-baud phone lines. It didn’t take long for him to get into trouble by figuring out how to access something he wasn’t supposed to access. He continued playing with various machines in his college days at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. This resulted in an FBI raid, as he once again gained access to something he really shouldn’t have. It was in the midst of all this excitement that he cofounded 2600 Magazine, an outlet for hacker stories and tutorials from all over the world. The rapid growth and success of the magazine was both shocking and scary to Goldstein, who to this day has never taken a course in computers. Since 1988, he has also hosted Off The Hook, a hacker-themed technology talk show on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City. In addition to making the hacker documentary Freedom Downtime, Goldstein hosts the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) conferences in New York City every two years, drawing thousands of hackers from all over the world. You can contact 2600 online at www.2600.com or by writing to 2600 Magazine, P.O. Box 752, Middle Island, NY, 11953. 620069ffirs.indd 6 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM CrEDiTs Executive Editor Vice President and Carol Long Executive Publisher Barry Pruett Project Editor Maureen Spears Associate Publisher Jim Minatel Production Editor Eric Charbonneau Project Coordinator, Cover Lynsey Stanford Copy Editor Maryann Steinhart Compositor Chris Gillespie, Editorial Director Happenstance Type-O-Rama Robyn B. Siesky Proofreader Editorial Manager Jen Larsen, Word One Mary Beth Wakefield indexer Marketing Manager Johnna VanHoose Dinse Ashley Zurcher Cover image Production Manager Jake Tilson/Getty Images Tim Tate Cover Designer Vice President and Ryan Sneed ExecutiveGroup Publisher Richard Swadley 620069ffirs.indd 7 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM ACkNoWLEDGMENTs T his book started off looking relatively simple but grew more and more complex as the sheer size of the project became apparent; we print so many letters in every issue of 2600 and we’ve been publishing the magazine since 1984, which means we had a huge amount of source material to draw from. On top of that, it was no small task to figure out the best way to sort them all into various categories and decide which of those would be the most interesting. Because of the size of this collection and the incredible number of pieces that it includes, many letters didn’t make the cut despite each letter being precious in its own unique way. In our last book, I thanked a whole ton of people who helped the magazine get off the ground, stay afloat through difficult times, and remain relevant to this very day. Without repeating those words precisely, I’d like to reiterate the tremendous contribu- tions of 2600 cofounder Dave Ruderman back in our early years, cover designer and photographer Dave Buchwald who continues to add magic and creativity to every project he undertakes, our layout artist Mark Silverberg who makes the current issues of 2600 look sharp and attractive, and our office manager Mary Nixdorf who manages to keep the entire operation running smoothly, despite the odds. We never would have succeeded without all of the writers, office managers, system administrators, HOPE Conference organizers, radio show participants, and artists that have worked with us over the years and helped to make this thing we do unique and unparalleled. Special thanks also go to Robert Barat, who helped sort through the many pages of letters in piles of issues to find the best ones. Finally, I must acknowl- edge the inspiration and encouragement of Kyle Drosdick, whose appreciation and skill in the fields of technology, history, and unbridled fun is a perfect summation of what the true hacker spirit is. I’m pleased to have once again worked with the folks at Wiley, particularly Carol Long and Maureen Spears, who make it all so enjoyable. I also want to thank my agent, Cameron McClure, without whose diligent efforts, this book would likely never have come to fruition. Last, but certainly not least, a big round of thanks to all of those many thousands of people who decided to put their opinions into writing and compose a letter to the editor of 2600. Whether it was praise, hostility, the sharing of a personal story, or the discovery of some new security scandal, you’re the people who created the magic of interaction that our magazine has become famous for over the years. I hope you continue to use the magic of words to get your message out. 620069ffirs.indd 8 5/3/10 2:52:30 PM