Subj : Re: floppy disks are cool!
To   : AKAcastor
From : tenser
Date : Tue Apr 23 2024 12:09 am

On 21 Apr 2024 at 08:53p, AKAcastor pondered and said...
 
 AK>  AK> There were some interesting times with the law back in the day,
 AK>  AK> figuring out where it fits in the emerging digital world.
 AK> 
 AK>  pF> Bruce Sterling's book "The Hacker Crackdown" does a good job of
 AK>  pF> documenting those very weird times. I had a BBS during Operation
 AK>  pF> Sundevil, and remember boards disappearing with no warning.
 AK> 
 AK>  pF> The book also talks a lot about early law enforcement engaging hacker
 AK>  pF> and the founding of the EFF. It's worth a read, and available freely
 AK>  pF> online.
 AK> 
 AK> "The Hacker Crackdown" is on my bookshelf, but it may be time for a
 AK> re-read, I don't remember when I last read it.  A great recommendation.

The system that became SDF even plays a role in that book.

 AK> Drifting just slightly (but still within very weird times), another
 AK> great book is "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll.  The true story
 AK> written by theastronomer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who
 AK> uncovered an international hacking ring based in West Germany, working
 AK> for the KGB, penetrating American research and military computers.  A
 AK> fascinating story, anyone who hasn't read "The Cuckoo's Egg" should give
 AK> it a read!

+1 for "The Cuckoo's Egg".  Stoll was also on an episode of
Nova talking about tracking down said hackers.  The recent
conspiracy theory ramblings that have been posted around come
from someone calling themselves, "pengo", which is a name
that appears in the book.

The Masters of Deception book is also pretty good, as is
"Cyberpunk".

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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