Amazon.com info for 'The Hacker Crackdown : Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier'

---

Back to reviews and details of The Hacker Crackdown : Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier

Amazon.com reviews:

Rating: 5 Summary: Essential reading on computers, freedom and privacy.
Comment Bruce Sterling of Cyberpunk fame takes a journalistic approach to researching law and disorder on the electronic frontier by examining two specific events in depth : the 1990 Operation Sundevil, a concerted nationwide effort by district attorneys, the Secret Service, the FBI, local authorities and various Telco security to bust and publicize a hacker crackdown; and the resulting trials and creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and rise of the civil libertarians.

The book is divided into four parts: crashing the system, the digital underground, law and order, and the Civil Libertarians. Mr. Sterling does a credible job explaining the telco systems and motivations and actions of the people on both sides of the issue - phone phreaks/hackers and law enforcement/district attorneys without succumbing to a lot of jargon or taking sides.

The book is replete with interesting accounts of Alexander Graham Bell and history of telephony, the origins of the Secret Service and its' early battles with "Boodlers", and the dissemination of the E911 document that came to cause grief to many people.

Reading this in 2006 and beyond will cause a few chuckles at his penchant for describing and drooling over advance systems (I have a real urge to drive down to the storage unit for my Commodore 64 and IBM clone), yet the events of the early hacker sub-culture remain relevant to anyone interested in computers, freedom and privacy.

Rating: 5 Summary: Very worthwile...
Comment A very lively, interesting, and well-written (by Bruce Sterling no less) summer read for those interested in the history of phone phreaking and computer exploration and mischief. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Summary: EXCELENT BOOK UNTIL THE ''UNDERGROUND'' PART
Comment this is an excellent book until the ''underground'' part. But it forgot to talk about the cybergang ''Master Of Deception'' the opponent of Legion Of Doom.

Rating: 5 Summary: Learned more about the phone in 12 hours than in 12 years
Comment I learned more about the telephone in 12 hours than 12 years of school life. The dates and times depicted in this book happened during a time when I'd been 'off-line' with the computer world. I began with AOL (unfortunately) and due to my own reasons gave up computers for a while. It's like going back home and finding out what's happened to everyone after you'd left years back. Historically, this is the place to begin reading about phones and phone systems. To understand at least the fundimentals of the technology we wrap ourselves into.
Most definitely a must-read book. If you liked this, try At-Large, the Strange case of the world's Biggest Internet Invasion by David H. Freedman and Charles C. Mann.

Rating: 5 Summary: A near-complete retrospective history of cyberculture...
Comment Sterling's book is a must-read for anyone genuinely interested in the roots of Cyberculture. It documents everything from old-school phone phreaks to the 1990 crash of AT&T. It goes into great detail as to how "cybercops" were established, their training, and the mass-reluctancy a decade ago to utilize their services. While this may sound like a history textbook, it is not. It is a fair and unbiased look at the past from the eyes of one of the greatest cyberpunk authors ever, which is probably why the book is so often quoted in academic research papers and in other works on the subject. The book does not lack charecter nor does it lack accuracy. Those who are looking to find an entertaining yet accurate, if not dated, historical account of hacking need not look any further.