Hackers '95 Review Review by Blue Whale Hackers '95 by Phon-E and R.F. Burns $34.95, $29 through website: rockpile.com/~security/hackersvid.html $5 shipping outside U.S. PAL/SECAM $10 extra. Custom Video Productions 15 Lakeshore Drive Middletown, NJ 07701 Hackers '95 is not the first independently produced video depicting real hackers, but it may be one of the most accessible. Typically hacker videos are rarities that debut at hacker conventions to a select audience of peers, following which the videos promptly disappear for the five or so years needed for the statute of limitations to absolve everyone involved of anything they may be guilty of. Thus, one is not likely to find a video of hackers performing their craft at the local video store. But Phon-E & R.F. Burns offer their video direct to you - for a price. Hackers '95 is divided into roughly six parts. Part one depicts two casual interviews (actually more like monologues): one with former Legion of Doom member Chris Goggans (aka, Erik Bloodaxe; the other with 2600 Editor-in-Chief Emmanuel Goldstein. Part two shows some interesting highlights from SummerCon95 in Atlanta. Part three continues with highlights from DEFCON III in Las Vegas. Part four puts us in the driver's seat with a bone fide Motorola cellular phreaker. Part five is a discussion of "Area 51," a military base in Nevada where outer space aliens are known to frequent. Finally, part six is a press conference on "Operation Cybersnare." If some or all of this sounds unfamiliar to you, don't be alarmed. Watching Hackers '95 one gets the impression that there are inside stories going on to which you may or may not be privy, depending I suppose on who you know and how much you spend on IRC's #hack. Hackers '95 has a definite "home video" feel to it, and one of the dangers inherent in commercializing such a video is that the subject matter may only be of interest to those who attended the various conventions or took part in the depicted events. Fortunately, Hackers '95 includes a wide range of topics that should offer something for everyone. The production quality of Hackers '95 falls somewhere between your average high school orchestra recording and the public access television show Kaleidoscope; it's not bad; it's just not good. The fairest word I can think of to describe it is amateurish, only with endearing qualities. I don't want to be mean, it's just that the production quality can be frustrating at times, as when Chris Goggans repeatedly knocks his tie-clip microphone with his manic hand gesticulations, causing the automatic sound levels to fade out for critical seconds during his spiels. It is my sincere hope that the producers of this $35 video will take some of their loot and invest it into, say, a real microphone, or at least disable the automatic volume controls on their camera equipment.
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