Letters: verdicts

Curiosity

Dear 2600: My wife and I are very interested in educating ourselves with all your knowledge.  How do we become members?  Is there a process?  If so, please do tell us what that is, so we can get it started!  Thank you!       David and Sarah Your enthusiasm is very inspirational.  And maybe just a little scary.  The best way for you to learn is to read and experiment.  There's no membership or formal process.  Anyone telling you there are courses you can take to learn hacking is basically trying to sell you something and it's something that doesn't work.  You can certainly gain knowledge with the more information and interactions you expose yourself to.  But to become a hacker requires you to think like a hacker - ask questions, push the boundaries, think differently, and don't be surprised when you meet resistance in all sorts of places.  That spirit can be nurtured and inspired, but it ultimately comes from within.  Good luck.

Dear 2600: May I please have a public key from you so I can encrypt an article submission?  Thank you.       Undecodable Name While we still believe this process is entirely too kludgy and poorly designed for most people to make use of efficiently, we will make one and only one key available on our website.  Invariably, people will use an invalid key from decades ago that can't be canceled or will encrypt to their own key instead of ours or perhaps use an incompatible version or application, all of which will ensure that we can't read the encrypted message.  Until such time as encryption is the norm and it's implemented sensibly and transparently, please only use our key if it's really necessary, as we've found that problems arise more times than they don't.  We simply don't have the time to try and debug whatever issues arise each time and we certainly don't have the time to engage in lengthy correspondences to try and troubleshoot the problems.

Dear 2600: What is your Phoenix address?       Renee What a strange question.  We don't have one.  Why on earth would we?  Perhaps you mean the address of our monthly meeting that takes place there.  Rather than take up valuable space reprinting the same information, we instead direct you to the meetings section which appears in this publication, as well as on our website.

Dear 2600: When is the cutoff date for submitting a meeting for the summer issue?  And what kind of info would you need from me to put this in motion?       Mel Well, here's a little tip, considering that this is now the winter issue.  Waiting for us to send you a personal reply is going to result in frustration and a lot of time going by.  Unlike other magazines, we don't have a huge staff of people dedicated to all kinds of tasks.  Rather, we focus primarily on publishing and pretty much leave it to our readers to shape things to their liking and keep us apprised.  So our auto-response would have told you what is expected for a new meeting and, if you send us updates, your meeting will become official.  Simple.  Many people, however, expect us to contact them directly to discuss this, which is simply not going to happen unless, perhaps, you're planning one on Mars (and have the means to get there).

Dear 2600: Good morning.  I want to know if this message has anything to do with you or members of your site: HACKED BY DEBIAN EVILZ MAYHEM AXIS NICK1 - TUTTI I DIRITTI FREGATI!!!!!!! If so, I ask that you please un-hack my site.       Dan Well, that does certainly sound like us.  But to un-hack a site, you need the services of an un-hacker.  Regrettably, we don't have those certifications.  Next?

Dear 2600: I locked my iPhone 5.  Can u guys unlock?       Dan We publish a magazine, sell hacker soda, and occasionally put on a kick-ass conference.  We don't unlock phones for the public, but will happily print any info that could help people achieve such goals. Nothing personal, but this, incidentally, is indicative of a disturbing trend among many of our recent letter submissions.  They're basically the length and style of SMS messages, with lousy grammar, poor spelling, and lack of depth.  We prefer real words, sentences, and paragraphs.  Plz!

Dear 2600: Someone helpfully suggested I submit this blog post as a 2600 article.  It's currently licensed under Creative Commons, but I wouldn't mind licensing it under something else if it helps.       Liraz A blog post is already public, so that alone disqualifies it as an article.  You're free to make an article you write public after it's published, but we don't print material that's been previously published, whether online or on paper.

Dear 2600: i was wondering if i could speak to you about a security problem i was having?       Blake Another one of those Tweet-like messages that we hate.  We're not security consultants, but we've been known to pontificate on security issues when they're presented to us in more than 140 characters.  Please don't expect a personal reply or give us specific info that would violate anyone's privacy, as we intend to address such problems right here in the open.

Dear 2600: Who was the manufacturer of custom padlocks at the HOPE with the Big Brother banners?       Thom And it's the 140-character messages that somehow expect us to do the most work.  So we have to figure out which of our conferences had Big Brother banners (wasn't too hard - The Fifth HOPE from 2004).  Now we have to go through our records and figure out who was involved in custom padlocks.  We spent about an hour trying to track this down before realizing what a waste of time this is.  You've likely gotten distracted and stopped reading before the second sentence, if you even remembered to pick up this issue at all.  For anyone else interested, perhaps watching the lockpicking talk from that conference (Channel2600 on YouTube) might reveal a clue.  We'll happily share any info discovered on this mystery. (Community Note:  Part #1 Audio and Part #2 Audio.  The audio on the YouTube version is messed up.  Part #1 - YouTube and Part #2 - YouTube)

Dear 2600: Do you have any resources for cyber-security?  Thanks.       Antony Yes, we're good, thanks.  (Perhaps we should make a rule that answers to vague SMS-like questions cannot be longer than the questions themselves.)

Dear 2600: Why does The Hacker Digest have volumes 1-4 and 25-30?  Where are volumes 5-24?  I'm new to 2600, and I'm trying to find the answer.  Were they ever created, or are they just not archived?  This is a great periodical, and I'm going to support it!       Alexander We started releasing The Hacker Digest each year after we started digitally publishing.  We then got to work on the earlier editions and that's pretty much what we're in the middle of now (Volume 5 will have come out since you wrote this).  We've managed to speed up the process quite a bit (thanks to a suggestion from a reader right here in the letters section) so that five digests now come out each year.  We suggest our lifetime digest subscription for those who want to get everything we've ever printed and will ever print in digital form.

Dear 2600: Regarding The Hacker Digest in PDF at the 2600 store.  I assume that's the same as the quarterly edition of the magazine.  Is the PDF searchable or was it just scanned so it's an image?       Alexander The Digest has the same content as the previous years issues.  Some of them are rearranged so they flow better as a single publication.  The more recent editions are searchable while the really early ones are scanned as images.

Dear 2600: Is there a rough estimate on when submissions for presentations and panels can be submitted for the next HOPE?       Steve E. Now this is what we like to see: eagerness for the next event almost as soon as the previous one ends.  We should know more once the main coordinators start checking out of their respective asylums in the spring.

Dear 2600: With all the news on the "new" chip card credit cards, could someone reading this please write an article on how they work, maybe a dump of the chip, and how one would attempt to crack it?  Also would be interested in the target chip cards as I've played with them and the reader a little bit.  Also, USA Today claims you can't make a counterfeit chip card.  I find that hard to believe and I'm sure you should be able to get a "blank" one that can be read and written to. Any thoughts?       Bryan If anyone would know, it would be some of our readers in Europe, where those cards have been in existence for years.  We would love to see a thorough article on this technology and any weaknesses it might have.

Deals

Dear 2600: If memory serves, I have had eight published articles with this one in your magazine.  As I understand it, ten can be used for a lifetime subscription. I will write them anyway, but I'd like to know if I may send $52.00 in lieu of getting two more articles published before achieving the lifetime subscription?       Article Writer We don't recall any such deal, but then, we've had a lot of them over the years.  If you can find evidence of our ever having offered that, please let us know.  As far as we're aware, ten articles will get you ten years (subscription, not prison - hopefully).

Dear 2600: Greetings from a longtime follower.  www.2600.com/magazine/domains.html describes the arrangement by which one who registers and maintains a "2600" top-level domain receives a subscription while the domain remains registered.  I think I first became aware of this offer in the 1990s, saw an opportunity yesterday in Slovenia's .si, and grabbed it.  2600.si shall be NXDOMAIN no longer! The wording isn't precise in terms of the desired technical arrangements, but I'd like to set this up and take you up on the offer.  Quickly spot-checking 2600 -dot- a dozen or so ccTLDs, I see participation in this program is not universal across the namespace.  I have not found a working example of what I think this should look like which I can emulate. If I were to simply CNAME www.2600.si to www.2600.com, would that do the trick and qualify me for a subscription?  What would be optimal?  I guess the web server has a static enough address (been in the same /24 for around 13 years per Netcraft) that an A record would work?  I don't have any dedicated infrastructure built behind this, but can do whatever can be done with somewhat extraordinary DNS. I found some samples of this - 2600.sk and 2600.cz - which seem to have A records, not just CNAMEs.  (www.2600.cz is CNAME'd to 2600.cz which is an A record.)  Shall I arrange 2600.si like either of these? The phrasing "have a machine of some sort in another country, [...] free lifetime subscription for as long as you keep the machine up" doesn't precisely describe what I have here, but I get the feeling the requirements aren't terribly rigid.  I registered a Slovenian domain, the authoritative name servers for that zone (at least some of which are in Slovenia, but are not mine in any sense) know and tell others about the domain's delegation (SOA) to some other name servers (not in Slovenia and also not mine).  I expect most of these "other people's boxes" should remain up and reach able for the near future, so resolution can happen.  To me, this seems to capture the essence of the objective.  I think the intent is to claim the name and not necessarily to have some dedicated physical presence in each currently recognized political section of Earth, and we can accomplish that for certain. I've delegated the domain to afraid.org and made it semi-available for others' use of *.2600.si subdomains, potentially utilizing afraid.org's snazzy and open dynamic DNS service. If I were to plant another such flag in another section of the ED or elsewhere on the globe (where I find NXDOMAIN and presumably could register another 2600.*), maybe you'd throw in a shirt, back issues, or other swag? Many thanks.       Sangamon You did indeed manage (somehow) to find our old outdated page that made this offer many years ago, so we will extend it to you.  (We have since deleted the page.)  This was once a neat way to spread news of 2600 to other domains back when there weren't so many of them.  It would be a bit much for us to take an interest in every possible top-level domain now, although there are probably a few (like .mil and .gov) that could spark some interest.  Please just forward your domain to the existing www.2600.com page and we'll keep the issues coming.

Fun with Meetings

Dear 2600: First off, love the magazine!  I just recently got into it a month ago and I love the articles!  I even love the telephone booth pictures in them - sad to see most of them get all rugged.  Fanboying aside, I would like to start a meeting in my local area.  I would like to start just one until I am sure it will be successful.  I would like the meeting to be called "Coffee and Code."  We won't be primarily discussing programming, but really anything in our alike minds that we would like to talk about.  I'll report back on how well the first meeting goes. Please respond soon.       Sangamon A couple of things.  As we try to make clear, the only response you'll get from us (other than these replies to letters) is the auto-response if you email meetings@2600.com.  That answers nearly every possible question someone could have when organizing a new meeting.  Second, our meetings don't have names.  They're just 2600 meetings.  And these aren't meetings with agendas and a board of directors.  They're the equivalent of a cocktail party without the cocktails where you mill around and talk to different people without any age or background restrictions.  It's always been about more than just programming.  This is also where we open the doors to the rest of the world, which is why we should always welcome outsiders when they wander in.  Good luck.

Dear 2600: Unfortunately, the meeting cannot be held on Friday due to high customer traffic near the end of the week.  However, they say Monday through Wednesday is perfect for it, especially for the default hours.  Is it possible to make an exception for this?  Please respond as soon as possible.       Sangamon O.K., a couple more things.  All meetings take place on the first Friday of the month, with the only exception being places where this conflicts with religious observances, in which case the meetings are on the first Thursday.  Next, it is not necessary to ask permission to gather in a public space.  (This is one of the reasons why we don't recommend anything that isn't completely public.)  Places like malls may technically be private property, but they are in essence public gathering areas, particularly food courts.  If most of the people in the group are customers of something in the area and there aren't any disruptions or illegal activity going on, you generally won't run into any problems.  If you do, we need to know about it.

Dear 2600: I finally found the wherewithal and attempted to attend the last 2600 meeting in Leeds, U.K.  Sadly, the bar staff told me that they had been asked about it by a few people, but they knew nothing of it.  I fear this gathering may be defunct or, worse, full of drunken wedding guests (in the room the meeting usually takes place in). On another topic (another letter?), I was not aware of any financial difficulties 2600 may have (I ought to pay more attention?), but would, say, a two year subscription to your physical magazine help?       Sangamon Concerning the meeting, if a few people are asking about it, that means there is at least still an interest in the meetings taking place.  Somebody may have dropped the ball on being consistent and communicating with people.  It's not hard to salvage it.  Either continue to show up and wait for other people and/or get the word out locally that the meetings are still happening.  You can also come up with a better location and start fresh.  This is why it's good to have an updated website for your meeting, so people know it's still current and so that people can write in if there's a problem. As for helping us out, subscriptions of any sort are always the best way to do that.  We appreciate it.

Dear 2600: "2600 Reader Meeting" is listed as a music group on SongKick.Com.  This allows anyone registered on the site to list a "concert" by this hot "phreak rock" group at their local meeting venue.  Why bother?  Because when you use your Foursquare app while at a meeting, you not only get to "check in" to the location, but you can check off that you're here for "2600 Reader Meeting" as well.  Cool, eh?       Richard Cheshire, Phreak & Hacker As long as people aren't expecting a concert, sure, why not?

Some Facts

Dear 2600: I just downloaded the HOPE talks and can't stop listening to them.  After hearing all the B.S. from corporate media for years, it's so great to hear the truth from the people who really know what's going on.  Thank you for putting on the conference and providing this content online.  I just wish more people knew about the important work you guys are doing.  Over the past 20 years, I've told a lot of friends about Off The Hook and the HOPE conferences , mostly electronic and software engineers and they all love your show.  No one else is putting out this kind of content. I've heard about the illegal eavesdropping for years, but having Snowden and so many other experts talk about this in one conference really hit home.  This is such an important message that I'm sending out a link for HOPE X to everyone I know. It was great to hear Daniel Ellsberg encouraging anyone who can make a difference to become a whistleblower.  I hope it leads to something.  After hearing him say this, I started to think about how I might be able to help the cause.  I don't have anything earth shattering, but I am very knowledgeable in the details of the main digital switch used in this country for voice calls, the 5ESS system.  And there is a detail about the design of the system that can be used for surveillance that very few people are aware of. I started in Ma Bell in the late-1970s, just as the 5ESS was being designed, and worked with the equipment for many years.  I got to work with the very first microprocessors produced by Bell Labs in 1982.  By the late-1980s, AT&T was producing one billion dollars of 5ESS equipment per year as the whole country was being converted to a digital telephone system.  Watching the digital revolution happen beneath one 33-acre roof was a remarkable sight.  Many of my friends tell me I should write a book about it.  Maybe I will someday. For many years, I had the electronic schematics for the entire 5ESS system and studied them extensively.  Part of my job was to analyze the designs and help the techs troubleshoot the bad circuit boards. When your voice signal comes into the central office, it goes through protection circuits (in case of lightning) to an 8:1 concentrator and then is converted to a digital signal in the TN335C circuit pack.  And this is my main point: after it is converted to a digital signal, it splits into two paths!  One is the primary channel and the other is a back-up channel in case the primary one failed, so you wouldn't get a dropped call.  We were told repeatedly that this was done for reliability.  There was a joke going around that if the system didn't need the back-up channel, the signal would just go into the "bit bucket."  But now I'm starting to wonder about this.  Ma Bell and our government have been in bed together for the last 100 years.  Dropped calls mostly happen when going at least ten miles, so for this to make sense, the back-up channel of your voice must leave the local central office and travel some distance.  Think about it - every single phone call in this country for the past 30 years has had a real-time duplicate channel of voices running through the phone system! I'm sure this is how the FBI does a wiretap; it's very easy to send a software command to reroute the back-up channel of your voice.  May be the phone companies have found a way to make money by rerouting every back-up channel of everyone's calls to the NSA.  Send it all to the Utah Data Center in real-time, use voice recognition software, and you've got Big Brother!  Maybe this has been secretly ordered by the President because of the emergency powers they grant themselves every six months since 9/11 like Tom Drake has been referring to. Looking back, it seems obvious now the 5ESS was designed from the very start in the 1970s to provide this total 100 percent eavesdropping capability.  An example of how close Ma Bell and the government are occurred in the 1980s just as the digital revolution started.  I'm not sure how well known this is, but the 3B central controller for routing phone calls for the 5ESS was purchased by the NSA for years!  Not an entire phone system, just the 3B controlling unit.  It's hard to say how many, but it could easily be over a hundred.  The rumor in the factory at the time was that the NSA was using them for code breaking.  At the time, the 3B controller had hundreds of the fastest processors in the world and it kind of makes sense.  On the other hand, I now wonder if the NSA modified the 3B controllers to be implanted into strategic locations wherever the 5ESS was installed, especially in foreign countries.  I'm starting to realize a lot of what we were told was probably disinformation to keep anyone from knowing what was, and is, really going on. The rumors from the truck drivers who delivered them to the NSA were kind of strange.  They were told to go to a certain intersection at 3 am, get out of their truck, don't look back, and get into a waiting car.  They would be driven back to work and the empty truck would show up at the factory docks a few weeks later. Just thought you might be interested in this. Keep up the good fight and thanks again for all your hard work.       Anonymous Had we printed these suspicions a number of years ago, we believe they would have been widely dismissed, even amongst our own community.  Today is a very different story.  We encourage anyone with first-hand knowledge to write in with their theories and facts.

Dear 2600: Here's how to use a U.S. Bank mobile address to get around the U.S. Bank's website's refusal to support Linux.  (It accepts only Windows and Mac OS!) Obtain a U.S. Bank mobile logon address. (For example: https://mm.usbank.com/webkit/Username.aspx?9C83487808CIBDA9=AFA42EAA81C7E349EC75FC7B454FB5EB) Enter your username, challenge, and password. Easy.  But log out! (Keep my name out of the papers, please...  A free issue would be nice.)       A Friend of Freedom in Cottage Grove We honestly didn't know this was a problem.  We'd be curious to see if anyone is helped with this info.  As for free issues, we can't afford to do that for every letter writer.  For your next discovery, flesh it out into an article and you could get a subscription!

Dear 2600: One of my favorite tools as a sysadmin is Cain.  For years, I have been using it to discover user passwords across a Microsoft domain running Exchange Server with webmail access.  So here's the step-by-step. Download Cain & Abel from: www.oxid.it Set up your sniffer interface. Start the sniffer. Go to the Network tab and hit the + function to start a network scan.  Once completed, click on the APR tab in the bottom. Click in the empty top-half of the screen where it says Status, IP Address, etc. Again, click on the top + function. On the left-side, select the Exchange Server.  On the right, select the gateway IP.  Click O.K. Now start APR (radioactive icon). Once you see packets flowing, go to the Passwords tab in the bottom and click on the HTTP filter on the left. You should now see all usernames and passwords from users using webmail or active sync to retrieve mail. Enjoy and play it safe.       The 3rd Bit

Dear 2600: Comcast has a history of crippling firmware in the Comcast branded modem/router combos given out to customers.  The latest one of these caused port forwarding issues and disabled bridging mode, which essentially crippled any "power user."  To rectify the port forwarding issue, one has to contact Comcast to enable bridging mode so you can utilize your own router.  Comcast allows you to do this in three possible ways: Calling them and being put on hold for 200 years; contacting a tech and having them do it on site; and finally, you can do it via live chat. Being the Internet savvy gentleman that I was, I decided to head over to live chat to see what I could do.  Upon reaching the live support page, I was prompted to enter some basic personal information (name and address), yet no account number or "secure" personal data was required.  I realized I was onto something. After rebuffing the rep's attempts to sell me home phone service, we finally got down to discussing enabling bridging mode.  After explaining why I wanted bridging mode, the friendly tech (surprising for live chat support) instructed me that I may lose my Internet connection once she enabled bridging mode.  Sure enough, my network went down as the tech predicted and the router/modem proceeded to reboot.  Once rebooted, I found that the wireless access point built into the router/modem was disabled, so I hooked up my replacement router to the router /modem combo and, sure enough, that worked.  The significance of this exercise? Well, by knowing someone's basic personal info, you have the ability to shut off the default wireless setup, thus locking out their Internet connection until someone can get a hold of a Comcast tech, which is unlikely considering that the only method to contact a Comcast tech in a timely manner is via live chat, which can't be reached without Internet. Solution?  Comcast needs to require the account number and should enable bridging mode anyway because the provided router/modem combo is beyond terrible.       DaRkReD

Offerings

Dear 2600: I heard your late June podcast.  Bad luck!  Here is some cash to help out.  Cash is king.       S&T Thanks, but we're not looking for handouts.  If people send us money, we will send them something in return.  If they don't include a return address, we'll track their DNA off the envelope and make sure they get something of value in exchange for their donation.  We are quite relentless in this.

Dear 2600: Perusing your site, I saw some allusion to funds being in short supply.  Follow this email back (if you receive it at all, which is doubtful).  Y'all being in New York isn't particularly helpful but, perhaps, y'all got some folk s in SoCal.  If so, should one have the time, or inclination, to visit me at [redacted] (phone number is worthless, all eight are hacked, along with five computers... sender's name is mine), I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you could get real flush by having a look at this computer.  Add to that the other four and I'd guess y'all could have funding into the '20s.  Hawaiian vacations, catered lunches notwithstanding.  A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.       S&T This is the kind of offer we really should accept every now and then, just to make life more interesting.

Dear 2600: Having read the Barret D. Brown saga complaining about payments and such, I want to say this on my "Hacker Perspective" submission I sent in recently.  Honestly, as cool as being paid for a writing would be, I don't give a shit about the money.  I've spent the last two months of my life not working for a business, but getting by on personal work and part time labor. Living below my prior fiscal means has taught me many things in this short time.  Number one is how valuable personal time is, and how much more productive you can be when not letting an alarm clock and schedule dictate your day.  I read tons of current events in an effort to protect myself from the U.S. data regime (government) and share this data with friends and family, not yet fully keen to the truth of television's lies.  Slowly, it seems more people are awakening to the lie. Ramble coming to an end, if you decide to print my "Hacker Perspective" article, that would be reward enough.  I want more people to overcome the trope of Hacker being a bad thing.  Maybe more people on Earth will be motivated to do more and seek a more viable day-to-day existence, where extorting others for personal gain is absolutely at the bottom of their objective lists (as in to not exploit others at all).       Pic0o We intend to always fulfill our promises, so if your submission to "The Hacker Perspective" is accepted, you'll get $500, like it or not.  But your sentiments are exactly in the right place, as that shouldn't be the primary motivating factor, just as whatever meager rewards we can offer for regular articles shouldn't be.  Suffice to say, we'll always do the best we can on that front.  2014, in particular, was a real challenge but, unlike certain corporate conglomerates who ripped us off, we feel we came through it all with integrity and without turning our problems into someone else's.  And we would never have been able to do that without the support of our readers.

Dear 2600: I'm currently incarcerated at FCC Yazoo City Low.  We have had MP3 players for just over a year.  When I was out, I used to do my fair share of firmware hacking on a mobiBLU Cube 2 GB and some video MP4 watches that used the SigmaTel chipset.  I could change menus displayed, features, etc. with the correct "factory" firmware editor.  We have SanDisk Sansa Clip + 8 GB MP3 players with a custom "clear" backing and clip.  They have a custom firmware for inmate use.  If anyone would like to do an article on one, I'd gladly send you a working used one if you would take apart the firmware and detail how it works.  The players cost us $69.20 and are sold by Allied Technology Group (ATG).  When sold to us, they are deactivated.  We have to log into our TRULINCS computer to activate it and sync it to our accounts.  Once activated, they are good for 14 days until they expire.  When turned on, they show the SanDisk boot up logo and then the inmate's name and register number.  Then they show how many days remain.  From there you can select music, radio, settings, and voice.  The voice recorder is deactivated and shows the inmate name and register number as an audio file that cannot be played.  Sadly, the microSDHC is disabled.  From time to time, we do have access to "real" computers, although without Internet.  ATG also offers a repair service where we can send them out and they come back to us as long as they are from ATG's address. I'm pretty sure a simple firmware update on SanDisk's site would get everything back to normal, meaning I just need the update tool.  I'm also curious as to how the flash is partitioned and what the root directories look like, as well as if the inmate info is in the firmware or on the root - I'm guessing both.  Anyways, if anyone's interested, you'll get an MP3 player out of it, some random 128k encoded (yeah, I know) songs, and a fun little project. Contact me if you have any questions.  This is costing me out of pocket for the player and shipping, so if you could send a little my way, I have a BOP lockbox account - found online.  If not, it's cool.       Solomon B. Kersey #87754-020       Federal Corrections Complex - Low       P.O. Box 5000       Yazoo City, MS 39194

Ideas

Dear 2600: I have a request/suggestion.  It would be really nice if I could just get the quarterlies as PDF files.  No messing with DRM readers.  And a really nice way to distribute them would be creating an RSS feed to the PDF files, then giving each subscriber their personal RSS link that has a ?token=hash at the end, so if they stop their subscription, their token can simply be disabled. I'd really appreciate it if you guys were able to do something like this!  Thanks!       Loyal Kindle Subscriber       Blake We are constantly working on alternative ways of publishing, but they all take time and coordination.  We're currently focusing on getting all of the digests into PDF format as well as coordinating a number of other digital formats, plus dealing with all of the challenges of continuing to print on paper.  We find that for every new thing we do, we get multiple suggestions on other new things.  This is all good and we encourage more suggestions, and we hope people understand that we're doing our very best to make as many of them happen as possible.  Five years ago, this was all a dream.

Dear 2600: I really want to order some back issues of 2600, as I've recently rekindled my childhood obsession with the magazine.  I was somewhat surprised to see that Bitcoin wasn't offered as a payment method.  I desperately want to order some issues from you.  How can I pay using Bitcoin?       Evan We used Bitcoin for HOPE X registration and it was quite successful.  We are actively working on applying it to other items.  As always, a simple idea is unnecessarily complex to implement and we're trying to get past the various barriers that make this difficult, such as inflexible interfaces that make the whole operation more clumsy than we're comfortable with.  We're happy to listen to specific suggestions that don't involve our having to reconstruct our entire online store or other overly labor intensive activities.  Stay tuned.

Dear 2600: I have seen that in the following location a buyer can get flash drives full with the conference videos: store.2600.com/hofldr.html Since I wouldn't like to wait and I am in no need of extra flash drives, is there a chance you can upload these videos on a web repository where we could download them in (HD) MP4 format after paying?       Efthimis It took us far longer to get you an answer than it would have taken for you to get the flash drive.  Right now, this is the most efficient way for us to handle this.  It took this long for technology to get to the point where we could fit an entire conference onto one or two flash drives that didn't wind up costing a fortune.  And it took us quite a while to get them re-encoded into this format at the request of those who no longer wanted to deal with DVDs, which also was a huge amount of work.  Before we consider moving into yet another method of distributing this content, we need to finish launching this one, not only for HOPE X, but for all previous events.  Plus, an extra 64 gig flash drive can be pretty handy.

Dear 2600: Ever thought of turning Off The Hook into a video podcast?  I think it would be pretty dope and I know I can't be the only one.  Just a thought.       A Some things are best left to the imagination.

Dear 2600: I'd like to second Wolverine Bates' request for bound digests of back issues.       Tyler Again, the more people who write in for this idea, the more attention we'll pay to it.  So far, it isn't exactly a deluge of requests.  But we remain open to the idea.

Rules of Publishing

Dear 2600: I don't know if your definition of "Payphones of the World" includes imaginary locations but, if so, here's my album of some prop phone booths the TV show Gotham has set up for filming on West 30th Street in Manhattan this morning.  imgur.com/a/hyuze.  One's an old NYNEX!                 R Unfortunately, we can't print anything that is already online.  Actually, that's not unfortunate as we don't want to ever be just a rehash of what's already out there.  We're sharing the link in this case so that people can still see these unique shots.  But to have future material immortalized on our pages and hence stored in the Library of Congress, various time capsules, and at least one potential private deep space mission, be sure to send it to us to publish first.

Dear 2600: I don't know if this is interesting for your readers.  The following article says that German Telekom sells old phone booths.  The article includes some nice photos of the area where they store their old phone booths.       Gunnar While indeed interesting, this is even further from what we can print.  An article from another publication clearly doesn't belong in our pages, let alone the pictures from that article.  However, anyone is free to write up a piece on the subject if they believe it to be interesting enough for our readers.  What makes that scenario even better is the fact that our writers can speak from a hacker perspective and thus make it all the more intriguing to our readers, a good number of whom wind up becoming future writers.

Dear 2600: In my travels around the world, whenever I see an interesting payphone, I snap a picture with an eye towards getting it included in 2600 Magazine.  Who should I submit these to?  What is the best media?  (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USB stick, flash, etc.?)  I would love to see one of my photos gracing your fine magazine.       Robert You can submit it in any of the methods mentioned above, but email to payphones@2600.com is the most preferred, as you don't have to physically mail anything and it's also the fastest method.  Just remember to attach your photos and use the highest quality settings since the standards of a printed photo are generally much higher than what gets shown on a website.  Also - and this is important - please include as much information as possible about your submission, such as location, any details about phone features or functionality, or anything else that could possibly be of interest.  We discard so many submissions that are just labeled "payphone" or something equally non-descript.

Article Comments

Dear 2600: Kudos to D.B. LeConte-Spink for the great article "Sabotage the System," which appeared in the 31:2 edition of the magazine.  I wish I had written it.  It put into words what I've been thinking for some time now.  Attacking illegal mass surveillance from an economic perspective is simply brilliant.  Drive up the cost of mass data collection and watch the system start to crumble.  The best way to defend our privacy and keep Big Brother honest is to make wholesale data collection prohibitively expensive and too time consuming to be feasible.  A great way to do this is to proxy our IP addresses and encrypt our data.  Nothing will frustrate government snoopers like an IP that doesn't tie back to a person and data that is fully encrypted.  Imagine if even a fraction of all Internet users took these steps.  The government would be collecting mountains of useless data and attempts to trace and decrypt it all would be futile.  They would be forced to do the right thing and only target actual criminals and not everyone else.  The hacker community should promote privacy tools at every opportunity.  Tools like Tor, the Whonix Gateway/OS, VPNs, Silent Circle, Tails, and a host of others make privacy and encryption easier than ever before.  I firmly believe that good encryption on a large scale can help restore the balance of power between corporations and the government on the one hand and the average citizen on the other. Encrypt Everything!       Jim L This is almost certainly the way to go.  Among our challenges are those of us who believe they have nothing to hide and that convenience trumps privacy.  It doesn't have to be a choice.  If you really want to advertise your whereabouts or share minute details of your life with complete strangers, you can still do that.  But by default, anything between you and the site you are communicating with would be unobtainable by others.  Those companies who insist they need to share your personal info with outside entities or who demand access to unrelated content of yours in order to serve you better need to be challenged and overridden.  But probably our biggest challenge is that of unity.  We need for the best minds in our community to work together and support the many projects that have the same goal.  There will always be disagreements on style and function, but what's truly important is that we're moving forward to a place we all want to get to.  And all of this becomes little more than the toys of an elitist group if we're unable to make it understandable to the general public.  Our work is indeed cut out for us.

Dear 2600: 2600 has been my favorite magazine (along with some comics magazines, but definitely my favorite scientific/philosophical one) for 11 plus years, since having visited 2600.com in the mid-1990s.  Thanks for publishing my first article, "The Demoscene" in 31:3!  I must apologize for a mistake and point out something in the editing (and, at the time of this letter, your website's code archive) that could confuse people.  I had based my article on my even longer, unpublished, final academic research paper, but had shortened it when noting article sizes and, in doing so, I omitted some cited code, which caused another code section to be miscited. The Pascal subroutine was not by Denthor, but HELiX, and is bump-mapping, not just texture-mapping.  The two sentences starting from the one with citation 11, should have said "Jim Blinn discovered bump-mapping, which simulates bumps and pits on 3D surfaces [5, pp 27].  A display hack/intro by HELiX gives the following Pascal bump mapping code[11].", and the source is "[11] HELiX.  (1997).  2d bump mapping.  Available FTP: ftp.scene.org.  Directory: /mirrors/hornet/code/effects/bump.  File: bumpsrc.zip" Also, a comment section in HELiX's code was edited from large code text to smaller article text, but the code is really one piece, including from (originally) "{Those two lines are the heart of bumping}" and past "col:=abs(vlx-nx);." If you want the barely explained (missing) code by Denthor on texture-mapping, here it is: textureX = 0; textureY = 64; textureEndX = 64; texture ndY = 0; dx := (TextureEndX - TextureX) / (maxx - minx); dy := (TextureEndY - TextureY) / (maxx - minx); for loop1 := minx to maxx do BEGIN PutPixel (loop1, ypos, texture [textureX, textureY], VGA); textureX = textureX + dx; textureY = textureY + dy; END; I plan to upload my original paper and a corrected article to my homepage (www.cwu.edu/~melikd), which also has more display hack code, a list by Rod of demo secret parts, links to my traditional and digital art, and demo style electronic music, etc.) in time for 31:4, and I hope to write more articles, not on networks or their security (not my academic areas).  I think there are a few other interesting things to write about.       David       darwin@sdf.org Thanks for the correction.  We've also updated our code section at www.2600.com/code.

Dear 2600: This is in response to "Checkmate or How I Bypassed Your Security System" by DreamsForMortar from 31:3.  What you discovered is certainly a weakness in the physical barrier, but likely not in the security system itself.  In fact, you would probably be better off just smashing that glass door, as it would less likely alert someone to your unauthorized entry (unless there's also a glass-break sensor in the area).  Allow me to explain: those small "motion sensors" above the inside of each door, which you suggested using a warm glove on, are called "REX," short for "Request to Exit," sensors.  When you approach those on your way out, they will "detect" you, click slightly, and typically release the maglock, or the electric strike, so that you can walk right out of the corresponding door. But what they also do, at the same time, is "shunt" the door contact for that particular door.  Each door normally has a small "contact" in the form of a tiny magnet in the door and a wired sensor in the frame (for wooden doors) or a built-in release sensor for maglocks.  The entire purpose of this sensor is to detect whether the door is opened or closed at any given time.  By forcing the push-bar with a sting, you have caused the maglock power to shut off, releasing it as per fire code, but without triggering the REX sensor and shunting the built-in door contact first.  As a result, the door opened, but the contact, not being shunted by the REX, likely generated a "Door Forced" alarm in the access control system, which probably relayed the signal to the alarm/theft prevention module and alerted either your local security company or law enforcement organization. Now, if by the time you're reading this letter, nobody came to have a serious talk with you about what you did, there is most certainly an issue with either the way the door contacts are implemented, how the alerts are monitored, or what level of coverage the video surveillance system has around that door. But the point I wanted to make is: breaking in is easy, but doing it without tripping the alarm is a whole other story.  If you found a way to do that in your scenario, I would love to read a Part Two in the next edition!       Alex W

Dear 2600: Re: "Sabotage the System" in 31:2, LeConte-Spink wrote some very profound things that I found to be inspiring, such as "We must sabotage the system.  But how?" and "Break the efficiency of automation."  To me, the two parts when put together inspire a solution.  The NSA's illegitimate metadata stealing operation is efficient because of its algorithmic automation.  If sabotage by frustrating its algorithmic automation can prove that systems' operational integrity is based solely on conditions of data, then that algorithm would be the NSA's Achilles' heel.  I'm a former network security analyst in prison for botnets.  You see, if my understanding is correct, the NSA's vast amount of stolen data is passed through a filtering algorithm which sifts through the data, looking for certain key words and phrases ("trigger words").  Then, the suspicious content is tagged and flagged into another database and categorized by a designated priority list consisting of various levels of offensive criteria and then passed to a ticket system for a live analyst to approve or discard the validity of the suspicious content. For an "omniscient" surveillance machine whose only foundation is dependent on algorithms, I wonder how it would stand up against an onslaught of spam bots blasting trigger phrases into Google's search engine.  The amount of false positives would be staggering.  In a world where good old-fashioned police work is an "arcane inconvenience," I believe that breaking the efficiency of automation is the answer to how you can sabotage the system by exploiting its algorithm to demonstrate its vulnerability to false positives.  How many people are in prison based on such a limited system?  Though implementing this is obviously illegal and I don't encourage it as opposed to the legality of a warrantless spy machine which the majority rightly feels threatened by. I hardly can contest the issues of legality here, since this government appears to be a rogue personification of anarchy itself.       Ghost Exodus

More Observations

Dear 2600: Some time ago, I had the opportunity to speak with the folks in Verizon's Legal Compliance Center.  Their number is: 888-483-2600 Though you might find that amusing.       Steve We're more amused at the name of their office.  It's good to see them trying something new.

Dear 2600: I know about an automatic-USB app that opens up Mac's passwords...  2600 ROCK ON...  msg me.       Jeffey       a few seconds ago - Like Yeah, this is the sort of thing we're talking about.  We don't even know how this wound up in email format since it's the kind of thing that shows up on a website for about a second before it's completely forgotten forever.  Instead of getting the coherent observations that our readers are known for, we're increasing getting every trivial thought that pops into someone's head that mayor may not be even remotely relevant to what we're about.  We wind up spending more time and thought going through these things than the people who sent them ever did.  We're hardly the only ones affected by this trend, but it's rather dramatic when compared to what we're used to.

Dear 2600: My 13-year-old got us free Wi-Fi and I'm very proud.  Here is how he did it.  You download Technitium MAC Address Changer v6.  We don't have a Mac.  I have Windows 7 and my kid has Windows 8.  So you make sure that you delete history and restart your browser (we have Google) as well as reset your IP.  Then you just click to your neighbor's Xfinity hotspot (suckers!) and start it up.  You are directed to an Xfinity sign-in page, click "sign up," then you are directed to a sign up page which has a drop-down with $2.99 selected.  Click the drop-down and select $0.00, put in a bogus (five digit) ZIP Code, a bogus email, then the button.  You should have one hour free, but when that goes out, you open your TMAC and "change address." Now your Xfinity thinks you have never been there before, and you just sign up for another free hour!  I tried this hack with my old Windows Vista and it didn't work for some reason.  Xfinity recognizes that I've already used the free hour.  This Xfinity free hour is only available until February 2015, so I thought I should get the word out.  Thanks.       sueicloud So you know, a MAC address has absolutely nothing to do with a Mac (Macintosh) device.  MAC stands for Media Access Control and is supposed to be a unique identifier for network interfaces.  This method seems like a bit of a hassle if you want access that lasts longer than an hour and beyond February.  We can only hope and assume that free Wi-Fi will become easier to access with less hoops to jump through.

Dear 2600: this classic video sums up technology's relation to man circa 1991: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5drsL13ai4       Dusty Sigh.  We have no idea what you were trying to tell us.  Perhaps if we had responded within the few minutes that this link worked, we might have gotten something out of it.  But we would have forgotten all about it by now, which you no doubt have already.  We're starting to suspect that there are a number of people out there who don't even know we're a magazine, don't understand what the letters@2600.com address is actually for, and perhaps aren't aware of printed publications and how they work.

Dear 2600: Loving the magazine and my subscription, enjoy looking forward to reading the articles.  However, a slight annoyance has arisen with the last three issues.  They have all arrived with the envelopes opened.  No attempt to reseal has been made.  Is this something that is likely to happen to your envelopes on an international delivery (to the U.K.) or is it once again the idiots at my local mail office playing silly buggers?  It wouldn't be the first time I've had to make a complaint.  They seem to excel at siphoning out birthday cards and DVD shaped packages to keep for themselves.  Also, I'm not missing anything as a result of this fiddling with the mail, am I? Sorry, the paranoia is a little high today, but it is annoying since it keeps happening.       K We'll go with the "silly buggers" theory for now.  All of our envelopes are sealed when they're sent off.  It should be possible to tell the difference between an envelope that was never sealed and one that was sealed and then opened.  For one thing, it's unlikely you'd be able to seal it again in the latter case.  Since this seems to be a recurring problem, presumably with your local post office, perhaps you should go above their heads and file a complaint.  You will certainly make enemies by doing this, but then you'll have even more to write about.  And as long as you send your next letter via email, we'll likely receive it.  If, however, the opening is taking place higher up the chain, perhaps your local post office can actually help you figure it out.

Dear 2600: I love the radio show and magazine! I clean pools for a living and am currently residing in an old farmhouse with leaky ceilings, no Internet/data coverage, and limited phone services.  My companions are a few roommates, two dogs, several chickens, peacocks, and cane spiders as big as the palm of your hand.  I'm about as low-tech as it gets, but slowly over the years I've been collecting various bits of electrical equipment and reading publications like 2600, MAKE, and Robot.  I've ordered different kits from Adafruit and taught myself how to solder, code, and use various tools from videos on YouTube and around the web (I spend a lot of time in cafes). Over the last few months, I started piecing together a new product idea using a Raspberry Pi, which (after a lot of duds) has started giving me some promising results.  In a few months, I'll be making a move to Florida to attend UCF and (hopefully) earn an engineering degree.  My point is anyone who has an interest in electronics, wearables, fabrication, or who just wants to understand the world around them a little more can start from anywhere, any age, any educational background.  My advice?  Take it from a pool guy: Grab up a few DIY magazines, pick a project that looks fun!  And try it.  You might just change your life.       Aloha from Maui       John We believe you may have changed a few just with these words.

Dear 2600: I had stopped by at your booth/table/van at the World Maker Faire this past September with my younger brother (to pick up some back issues, subscribe, etc.).  My parents, not realizing that he was with me, contacted the faire's security.  I just thought that it was interesting that he was with 2600 while security was trying to find him. By the way, I love the way that 2600 is packaged.  Nice nondescript envelope.  Thank you.       Ibid 11962 We're good at eluding security even without realizing it.

Dear 2600: Please forward as appropriate - if there is a "contact us" link on your website, it escaped me. I just glanced at my 2014 2600 Hacker Calendar, and the November 14th entry states that on this date in 2007, the last DC grid in the U.S. was shut down in New York by Con Edison. According to the IEEE, Pacific Gas and Electric shut down their last DC grid in San Francisco as late as late 2012. IEEE Spectrum in general is highly recommended reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the workings of electrical and communications networks.       Vennlig hilsen,       Odd Erling N. Eriksen There does seem to be some contention here.  It doesn't help that this is referred to as a "secret grid" which makes it a bit harder to verify, but which would also explain why it wasn't known about while still in operation.  We will look into this and make any needed corrections for 2016 and beyond.

Dear 2600: Enclosed are some ads from the May/June 2014 issue of WoodenBoat Magazine.  Specifically, pages 113,117, 118 from issue #238 in 2014.  113+117+118+238+2014=2600.  Yeah, I know that there's nothing hacker related on page 117, but otherwise it only added up to 2483! P.S. You guys have some really nice boats!       Swamp We're impressed at the numerology skills at work here, even if the answer is a bit of a reach.  If you include page 117, then you also have to include page 114 (the opposite side of page 113), which brings the total up to 2714, which is as meaningless to us as 2483.  The ads are for Hacker-Craft (www.hackerboat.com), which dates back to 1908 and one John L. Hacker.

Dear 2600: As a specialist in philosophy of computing, I have developed three statements defining the essence of computer literacy.  When someone says that they do not understand computers, these three statements will clear that misunderstanding up right away. Computer Literacy: 1.  The computer was, and is not, and is about to come. 2.  The computer comes in programs of assignment and programs of transfer of control. 3.  The wonder of the computer is among the program of that computer. I thought your readers might appreciate these statements, something to fall back upon when pressed for "what is computer literacy?"  It can be said now. Yes.       John It must be effective because we can't think of a single thing to add.

Dear 2600: If this letter makes it to you, check the postage meter strip on the envelope.  We just might be able to save people gazillions of dollars!  Get Peace in Our Time!  End Poverty! In the latest round of U.S. Postal Service rate hikes, they boosted the price of the basic one ounce envelope stamp to 49 cents.  This time around, though, they set up a slightly lower rate for all those postage meter imprints that businesses use, namely 48 cents.  So I got to thinking (yes, I know, watch out...). The Automated Postal Kiosks (APKs) in the USPS lobbies will let you print out "stamps" in whatever value you want.  For example, I use them to make 21 cent strips for use on heavier envelopes.  (That's the price for the second and third ounce.  Not sure how high up the chart it goes nowadays).  I also use them for media mail. So I just printed up some 48 cent sheets, and am using one of them to send this letter to you.  Let's see if it works.       D It did indeed work, but we believe you may have unintentionally played by the rules after all.  If, indeed, there is supposed to be a slightly lower price for "postage meter imprints that businesses use" and you used the equivalent of a postage meter imprint from the post office (which is a huge business), then that is precisely what the system is designed to do.  The idea seems to be mostly geared towards businesses that will send many more letters now that they're paying less, but the same logic can be applied to individuals doing this en masse.  We're not sure how many people will flock to these automated kiosks to save a penny, but we're pleased to help convey this message.

Dear 2600: In this letter, I will detail a new way of programming artificial intelligence that not only will make it possible to "teach" a computer, but to have a computer teach itself. First, I started with the question, how do humans learn?  Well, look at a baby.  When a baby is born, it only knows how to do certain things.  Let's call these things "base functions."  These base functions are broken down into electrical signals, the human equivalent of code.  We learn new things by performing a set combination, or algorithm, of these base functions.  Let's call these "compound functions." I believe, in this way, we can teach a machine.  If you made every code command into a line of English, with a set and limited syntax, then they would function as the base functions, and the base ontology of the machine. You could then use a command line interpreter to parse base functions into code.  What happens when you plug a compound function into this hypothetical interpreter?  It would check your command against an XML file that stored all the learned "compound functions."  If it found the function, it would parse the line into base functions, and then those base functions into code.  If the function is not recognized, however, then it will enter a program asking you to enter a list of functions to perform the desired task, essentially having you pseudo-program the computer, but with English.  What happens if you plug in a compound function at this time?  You go through the same recognition process detailed before.  When you were all finished describing commands, you would enter a keyword and then you would run the new function, which would be stored in the previously mentioned XML file. I said in the beginning that the computer could also program itself.  This is the easier part, once you have the code worked out for the first bit.  All you have to do is have the computer try random combinations of the functions it knows, and bam!  Sooner or later, every now and again, it has a new, useful function. I hope someone beside me pursues this project.  I think it's not only educational, but fun!       joshua

Dear 2600: The world of today is an interesting one.  In the last five to ten years, technology has thrown itself forward into a sky of ever expanding possibilities.  Allowing people to take a small, but very high-powered computer in their pockets, socialization no longer requires real life contact.  Instead, we now bring our attention to a web of constant social stimuli fulfilling our needs. Yet, as I write this, I feel like there is an art that I am desperate to master, yet social convictions defy me from attempting.  I'm fairly sure I do not need to name this art, so instead I shall get straight to the point.  Hacking is a formidable act and, to me, an interesting subject.  The idea of opening an object, bending the rules of the creator, and telling that object to defy its rules and follow your way astounds me!  When I first found this magazine, I was quite honestly perplexed; never had I thought of hacking in such a way.  These concepts were an opening to a curious mind. Needless to say, to actually launch myself onto this platform is a challenge (one I have not mastered myself).  In fact, to even open a CMD.EXE window on a school desktop is to immediately be categorized as a hacker.  It is quite embarrassing to have an entire Year 8 class ask to be taught how to hack.  My generation in particular seem to have been taught the definition of hacking from short statements sprouted from those who lament of their social networking account being "hacked" (when, in fact, their bad sense of password security led them into this hole) or hearing of the "heroic" conquests of a certain "hacktivist" (a term I despise with a passion) group fighting for the small people.  When simply put, I want nothing to do with that!  Yet, opinions are useless and I've heard many a time that "teenagers are terrible people!" and I agree!  We are terrible people!  We should be separated from this planet and kept there until we realize how stupid we are! But alas, I'm not here to shame my generation, since we're all in this together.  I suppose I should make a point now, despite that most of the readers of this magazine are thinking that I am just being lazy and blaming all of my issues on those who antagonize me.  I don't disagree.  I am lazy, I am paranoid, I am stupid at times, but I feel as if even though no one cares, I need to relate this tale!  Hacking is not the same as you remember it.  The articles I see here are for those who many years ago simply found that punching in a certain number directed you to a test line.  Instead now, this curiosity is sparked by hearing of gaining access to secret documents and bank accounts.  I do realize that criminals have always existed, however, I like to think that at least their curiosity started off with no wrongdoing in mind.  (I may be wrong, so feel free to kill me for that.)  But every time I make an attempt, I am thrown back by social constructions and daft IT departments afraid of all those who attempt to break their nicely laid systems (which really are just a bunch of VB scripts and some firewall programs). If you ever see this on a page or screen, I hope you stuck through my ramblings and heard a semi-cohesive message.  I know it is different from the usual, but I felt like my arrogant mind needed to be appeased and I felt as if I conveyed some sort of message to the people.  Then again, I suspect I will grow up and realize the error of my ways.  Until then, I have another hurdle to accomplish and another social boundary to crash into.       Vel Co The important thing is that you're attempting to think all of this through and not blindly buying into anyone's philosophy or definitions.  We're confident enough in our values and beliefs that we're certain anyone who approaches our world with a fair and open mind will eventually at least acknowledge the value of what we stand for even if they don't reach the same conclusions.  We wish you well on your voyage.

Controversies

Dear 2600: I don't know if you have been following the GamerGate controversy, but there have been numerous allegations on both sides of hacking attacks, DDoS-ing, etc.  Hackers tend to brag about these things.  Have there been any rumors in the community about someone taking responsibility for the attacks on either side?       David T. There are more rumors than we could possibly fit into this issue.  But there's nothing unusual about that.  Who attacked whom, what comments were made when... it's largely irrelevant to the bigger discussion.  GamerGate is something we believe people should read up on, as it's quite telling of much of the issues and problems that plague the online world.  The particulars here concern video game culture, which is peripherally connected to the hacker scene.  We're not going to get into the specifics as we don't have much in the way of first-hand knowledge.  But we don't need that to be able to see that there are serious issues in that community that need to be dealt with, regardless of the facts of this particular incident. And we do recognize a lot of the disturbing symptoms as existing in our own culture, perhaps not as bad as it once was, but still worse than it should ever have to be.  We've seen numerous instances of sexism and racism in the hacker world since our very beginnings.  And we've always tried our best to confront them and defeat them.  Our community has grown tremendously over the years, not just in numbers but in maturity and thoughtfulness.  We like to think this is the result of confrontation.  Too often, unless a problem is exploding all around us, our tendency is to avoid even acknowledging it as an issue.  It's the easy way out, but it's also a total cop-out.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with expressing your anger and frustration at a system that is unfair to you or to anyone else because of race, religion, sex, preference, etc. It makes no difference if most people don't agree - how many times in history have "most people " been completely ignorant?  As hackers, we're used to confronting obstacles and challenging the status quo.  That's why it's particularly inspirational when we see progress within our community - and especially sad when we see elements moving in the wrong direction.  These are problems we all have to take an ongoing interest in if they're to be conquered. In truth, we will probably never consider the battle to be completely won, but we also won't shy away from acknowledging the positive.  As an example, back in 2000, H2K2 became the first major American hacker conference to inject activism-leaning content into its program.  What we've seen since at subsequent HOPE conferences, and throughout the community in general, is more awareness, concern, and, ultimately, more power from our united interests.  It was a natural progression, not forced upon anyone, and it's made a huge difference in helping to define who we are. We're proud of the entire community for the growth we've seen.  But we believe there's a lot more growing that still needs to come.  To bring this back to GamerGate, there are still huge challenges ahead for so many online communities and when something like this comes up, it needs to be seen as an opportunity to confront them head on, educate those who remain unaware, and make a better place for us all.  Perhaps the offline world may even learn from this.

Dear 2600: My boyfriend is a lifelong fan of 2600 and Off The Wall and is facing a felony network hacking charge with time in prison after a mere Wi-Fi prank within a computer club. Not mentioned in the enclosed press release is the long list of unscrupulous and illegal actions by the (((Department of Justice))), including when the prosecutor called me personally and tried to convince me to entrap my own boyfriend by filing a false request for a protective order and then hoping that he'd violate it.  That's why I'm on the warpath to save him. Please help.       Jessica Andreasen What we've been able to read about this case seems unbelievable.  The site listed in the press release you sent us (SaveaNerd.net) has been taken offline "per recommendation from counsel," which is what lawyers generally tend to do.  However, there is an active petition up at change.org (search for "Hacker Dojo" which is the name of the organization at the heart of this whole thing).  We will reserve judgment until we hear more facts from more people, but this is something that should definitely be looked into by everyone, as it s not at all the chain of events one would expect in a hackerspace environment.  As for the actions of the prosecutor, if only we could say we were surprised.  But one does have to wonder why there is such an interest in prosecuting someone for something so minor.

Dear 2600: Happened upon an article regarding The Pirate Bay's founder and the "Hollywood manhunt."  I'll let the staff of 2600 decide if this is of any importance to your readership.  Personally, I have not accessed The Pirate Bay much at all.  I like its premise and its "mission."  The situation regarding The Pirate Bay's founders may be something to take under serious consideration.  One has to wonder who manipulates the MPAA bringing about this legal action?  What should the 2600 community take from this? Love your pub.       Joethechemist Thanks for the pointer.  The story of the MPAA managing to get an INTERPOL arrest warrant issued for the Swedish founder of this organization is truly sobering.  We would like for someone closer to this to give us some insight into what's really going on.  The power of (((Hollywood))) can indeed be frightening, as we learned a while back.  We could fill our pages with similar stories.

Speech

Dear 2600: Please send me the blacklist of Google.  I need to ban it from comments on my website. Thanks, guys.       Paschal First off, we haven't updated any of that in years.  We only put it together to show how Google chooses not to auto-complete certain words.  It quickly got out of hand, but you can see how far we got at www.2600.com/googleblacklist.  Second, we're not entirely sure what your intentions are.  You're going to ban the same words on your website?  We don't recommend that as there are a lot of good words there.  Plus, banning words simply leads to different words being used for the same thing.  It doesn't really solve the problem, whatever you define that to be.  If you're having trouble with the intelligence level of website comments (hardly a rarity), there's nothing wrong with moderation if a free-for-all isn't what you want.

Thanks

Dear 2600: Thank you for over 30 years of giving hope (in the original sense) to so many creative, yet often alienated, people!  And thank you for HOPE X! By the way, these are from Silver Lake Farm in "The Garden State."  Support your local farmer!       Anonymous This was actually a note that was left for us at HOPE X along with a beautiful plant that we regretfully didn't water and it died within a week.  But it's the thought that counts.

Help Needed

Dear 2600: I am currently incarcerated and am looking to hire someone to set up a source code system.  I am looking to be able to send mass text messages.  I read your publication, but I am in no way a hacker or understand much of what I read. Please refer me to someone who I can hire to set this up for me.  Or where I can find them and what it is called.       John We don't give referrals or act as go-betweens.  As a subscriber, you're entitled to a free Marketplace ad and you can probably find someone to help you there.  But, seriously, mass text messages?  Nobody is ever happy to get those.

Injustices

Dear 2600: When is a punishment enough?  After the experiences of the last three years, it's difficult to rationalize the reasons why I should continue. I didn't complain when I was arrested for hacking a local ILEC and received my punishment.  For a hacker understands the time old saying "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime."  Understanding that prison isn't an environment built for this 120 pound, geeky, pasty White kid with Asperger's, I admit that I struggled to logically integrate the upcoming punishment by burying myself into research to better understand what would occur.  I was incorrect. For I've endured: inmate peers stealing everything I own twice, being beaten down and scammed for every cent in my account, learning the bloody wrath of leukemia and her effects, and my own family turning away from me all because of my hacking behaviors.  Nonetheless, I still didn't complain.  For I look upon my situation and use my abilities as a hacker to adapt. However, my skills only could take me to a point.  Not just six weeks after receiving a cancer remission diagnosis, I was violently attacked and raped.  Crushed pelvis, broken ribs, traumatic brain injury, and other various injuries too painful to even... left for dead, not found until three hours later.  After waking up from a week-long coma, I thought that I had right on my side.  I was incorrect. It's been almost two years since the attack, and today the emotional and physical pain is ever present in all realities.  I'm lost for words: it's been recently explained to me that because of statewide budget cuts, this individual who attacked and raped me, infected me with HIV, and whom I see every time I close my eyes is going to get away with no criminal charges against him.  All to save the taxpayer's money.  He was already under a 25-to-life sentence - it's cheaper to do it administratively than through our courts. As I consider the rationalization of my fate, whom or what should I blame?  Entropy?  No.  Hacking?  Bloody hell, no.  Myself?  I don't really know.  The individual?  Maybe.  There isn't one item I can point out as the one cause of my experiences other than the law of unintended consequences.  For I miss the touch of my well-worn keyboard on days like today, because the weight of my pain alone is forcing me to self-harm, like the autistic child I once was before I met hacking.  Now I complain.  I was incorrect. When is a punishment enough?       Preston Vandeburgh       Larkgeco From what you've told us, this is way more than enough.  In fact, not even the most despicable criminal should endure these kinds of conditions within anything resembling a civilized society.  It seems that many of us have become numb to anything that happens behind bars, justifying it by telling ourselves that those who find themselves there deserve whatever happens to them.  We feel that cold attitude is where much of the blame lies for the horrible events outlined above.  But in many ways, it's those people on the outside who are also victims, as they have lost something that will be next to impossible to replace. Non-violent offenders - if they have to be imprisoned at all - should never be placed in an environment with violent people.  Period.  And if something violent does happen to them, it's the state that should be held accountable, as they are the ones who set up the unfortunate events in the first place.  In that respect, they have already done far worse to you than anything you ever did to them or anyone else.  We know these words won't help your situation, nor are we in a position to commit to doing anything beyond getting the word out in these pages, but if there's any comfort in knowing that there are people who will read this and who will care, then maybe that's a start.  If nothing else , perhaps this can be shown to people who actually believe there's no harm in sending someone away to teach them a lesson or to send a message.  If that can help keep one more person from being subjected to this kind of barbaric treatment, you will have given back far more than you ever could have taken.

Dear 2600: I am writing in regard to a violation of my First Amendment rights.  I ask for your assistance in protecting these rights.  I am a federal inmate. On July 24, 2014, a book entitled The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing was stopped from being delivered to me.  Not only was the book rejected and returned, but I was also given an incident report for "Introduction of a Non-Hazardous Tool (Attempted)."  The justification for rejecting the book and writing me up is that "[t]he security of the institution's computer system is at risk when inmates have access to resources like the book mentioned above." My intentions for ordering the book are two-fold: First, I plan to open a school that will cater to military veterans and ex-convicts.  The school is going to have a cyber-security curriculum.  In preparation of taking the school live upon my release, I wish to develop as much knowledge and curriculum in advance as possible.  I selected this book precisely because it was written by a college professor, and it is currently being used to teach cyber-security students at Northwestern University.  My second reason for ordering the book is that I plan on starting my own cyber-security firm.  I believe the book would aid in my goal of rehabilitation in that it will equip me to work in the computer security field when I am released.  In short, I need the book precisely for purposes of rehabilitation. I submit that the freedom of speech that is protected by the First Amendment is not just freedom to speak, but also the freedom to read.  The Courts would agree.  In Anthony King v. Federal Bureau of Prisons and Charles Gilkey, 415 F.3d 634, 2005, the Court stated, "Forbid a person to read and you shut him out of the marketplace of ideas and opinions that it is the purpose of the free-speech clause to protect." Please, help me to take the steps needed to gain the skills that will enable me to be a productive member of society and protect the rights of all inmates.  Specifically, I ask that you aid in informing the community of my situation.  In addition, any legal help you may offer would be greatly appreciated.       Justin L. Marino We get so many letters like this and it's indeed distressing to see such unfair and ultimately self-defeating restrictions imposed upon people, especially those who need something new and inspirational to focus upon.  We'll do what we can to help get the word out by printing such letters whenever possible.  We need to again point out that this is pretty much our limitation as we are not legal experts.  Over the years, we have received an immense amount of legal papers, documents, and correspondence from people in prison who think we have a lot more power and time than we do.  It's unfortunate, but this is most always a wasted effort.  We encourage those in the legal community and prisoner rights advocates to regularly look at our letters and Marketplace ads in order to take additional steps when possible.  The goal is to stop these injustices from being the norm and, for that, we'll need significantly more people to take an interest.