Category: Reviews (Books & DVD)

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Review: Hackers–Heroes of the Computer Revolution

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Change & Innovation, Culture, Research, Information Society, Information Technology

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Thing–Definitive Early Study,

April 7, 2000
Steven Levy
This is the definitive book on the early hackers, true hackers, and should be required reading for all those people, generally with good intentions, that ignorantly refer to electronic criminals and vandals as “hackers”. Steven starts his book with a “who's who” in hacking that includes Lee Felsenstein from Interval, Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, and Woz Woniak, among others, and then goes on in three parts to examine the original night hackers at MIT and other nodes of excellence, then the hardware hackers, and finally the game hackers. Hackers are a national resource, and it is only the ignorant who do not understand this.
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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: Cuckoo’s Egg

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Communications, Crime (Government), Crime (Organized, Transnational), Information Operations, Information Technology

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5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting, Relevant Now, Deep Insights,

April 7, 2000
Clifford Stoll
This is an absolutely riveting story of how a brilliant physicist, assigned as an initiation rite to track down the reason for a 75 cent error in the computer accounts of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, ultimately identified and nailed an East German electronic espionage specialist. In passing, he outlines with great preciseness the insecurity of the entire U.S. government, military, law enforcement, business, and academic electronic communications and computing network, and reveals the total fragmentation as well as the general ignorance of almost all of the US and international organizations associated with these networks.
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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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