Category: Information Society

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Review: Masters of Deception–The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace

4 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Information Society, Information Technology

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4.0 out of 5 stars Fun But Reader Beware,

April 7, 2000
Michele Slatalla
This is a fun read, but as with the Hafner and Markoff book, reader beware. Erik Bloodaxe, one of the major characters in the book and my friend as well as a trusted security engineer, inscribed this book as follows: “Robert, Hope you enjoy this classic example of 3rd rate speculative fiction. So much for journalistic integrity, eh? /s/. I also know Phiber Optic, and tried to keep him out of jail, even offered to house him and hire him on parole, but to no avail. This is a good story that crosses over frequently into speculative reporting, but it may be better for that, capturing some of the spirit of competition that exists between very talented hackers who by and large do no harm.
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Review: The Hacker Crackdown–Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Culture, Research, Information Society, Information Technology, Justice (Failure, Reform), Misinformation & Propaganda

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5.0 out of 5 stars Distingushed, Accurate, Superior to Government Story,

April 7, 2000
Bruce Sterling
This is one of three books I trust on hackers and hacking (Levy and Turkle are the other two trusted authors). Bruce, a very distinguished author in WIRED and science fiction circles, went to great lengths to investigate and understand what was happening between hackers exploring corporate systems, corporate security officials that were clueless and seeking scorched earth revenge, and Secret Service investigators that were equally clueless and willing to testify erroneously to judges that the hackers had caused grave damage to national security. Bruce is a true investigative journalist with a deep understanding of both technical and cultural matters, and I consider him superior to anyone in government on the facts of the matter.

Update of 31 May 08 to add links:
The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Information Payoff: The Transformation of Work in the Electronic Age
Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace (Helix Books)
The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do For Us
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

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Review: The Second Self–Computers and the Human Spirit

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Best Practices in Management, Change & Innovation, Complexity & Resilience, Consciousness & Social IQ, Culture, Research, Information Operations, Information Society, Information Technology

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5.0 out of 5 stars Priceless Early Look at Hackers with “The Right Stuff”,

April 7, 2000
Sherry Turkle
This is “the” book that described the true origin of “hacking” as in “pushing the edge of the envelope” by writing a complex program in six lines of code instead of ten. This is a really superior piece of work about computer cultures and the people that belong to them. It is a wonderfully readable book with magnificent insights into the psychology of the young people at the bleeding edge of the computer frontier.

Update of 31 May 08 to add links:
THE HACKER CRACKDOWN: LAW AND DISORDER ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Information Payoff: The Transformation of Work in the Electronic Age
Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace (Helix Books)
The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do For Us
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

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Review: New Rules for the New Economy

5 Star, Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Complexity & Resilience, Culture, Research, Economics, Information Society

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5.0 out of 5 stars Toffler on Jolt Cola–Great Tour of the Horizon,

April 7, 2000
Kevin Kelly
Building on a series of article for WIRED Magazine, Kevin explains ten rules for the new Internet-based economy that make more and more sense as time goes on. From “follow the free” to “feed the web first” and on to “from places to spaces” and “relationship technology”, his insights provide an easy to understand map of where the digital economy is going.
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Review: Blown to Bits–How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy

5 Star, Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Economics, Information Society

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5.0 out of 5 stars Navigation, Not Content, Will Rule,

April 7, 2000
Philip Evans
Navigation, not content, will rule. Navigators will compete based on reach, affiliation, and richness. Privacy will be a mandated aspect of every offering. Traditional organizations and bureaucracies are unlikely to survive because there is no one there willing and able to “deconstruct” them down to core functionalities and then rebuild them back up with a focus on customer service as the driving force rather than assembly of whatever it was they used to understand as the primary organizing principle.
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Review: Silicon Snake Oil–Second Thoughts on the Information Highway

5 Star, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Information Society, Information Technology, Misinformation & Propaganda

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5.0 out of 5 stars When High Priests Recant, Worshippers Beware,

April 7, 2000
Clifford Stoll
“Our networks are awash in data. A little of it's information. A smidgen of this shows up as knowledge….The Internet, that great digital dumpster, confers not power, not prosperity, not perspicacity…Our networks can be frustrating, expensive, unreliable connections that get in the way of useful work. It is an overpromoted hollow world, devoid of warmth and human kindness. The heavily promoted information infrastructure addresses few social needs or business concerns. At the same time, it directly threatens precious parts of our society, including schools, libraries, and social institutions.”
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Review: Information Payoff–The Transformation of Work in the Electronic Age

5 Star, Best Practices in Management, Change & Innovation, Complexity & Resilience, Information Operations, Information Society, Information Technology

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5.0 out of 5 stars One of Five “Must Read” Books on Information Age,

April 7, 2000
Paul A. Strassmann
Paul, former Chief Information Officer for Xerox and later Director of Defense Information, used this book to address the basic issues of employee productivity in relation to information technology. This is one of a very few books, including those by Carkhuff, Cleveland, Kelly, and Toffler, that I regard as fundamental-required reading for anyone with any authority over anything.
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