Letters: CONCEPTIONS
Furthermore
Dear 2600:
Hey, folks! I've flipped through tons of your issues at my local hacker cafe. It's always an amazing read. I should go find some room in my college student budget to subscribe to you.
In your Autumn 2014 issue, I read "The Demoscene - Code, Graphics, and Music Hacking." It's fantastically interesting stuff. It just occurred to me that I hadn't seen anything about live hacking, though. Live hacking is demo scene performed live, with the source displayed to the audience. Its community is a little sparse and quiet, but there's a lot of interesting footage of live hacking events. Live hacking is often limited to audio at algorave events, but there are tons of suites that also focus on visuals - some even work with VR headsets.
Tidal is one popular live hacking mini-language. It's built on top of Haskell and specializes in manipulating audio patterns. This language, along with many others, is live-interpreted: hit a few bound keys and the changes you make are instantly applied to the pattern. Gibber is another clever project: it manipulates both audio and visual patterns in-browser. There are loads of clever hacks that make it efficient enough to run smoothly: I've hardly seen such an intensive JavaScript project that looks so silky smooth. There's a speech from the author of the project which explains its processing wizardry in more detail, presented with a bonus live performance at toplap.org, which is sort of the community center of the live hacking scene. There are loads of performances to watch there, and tons of information for anyone who takes an interest in this culture. I'd encourage any amateur coders and demoscene fan s to poke around there - come join the live scene!
nfd9001
Thanks for the window into yet another truly fascinating culture.
Dear 2600:
The past few issues of the quarterly had some interesting articles from the perspective of a missile officer.
While the chances of a civilian visiting an active missile facility is probably slim to nil, visiting a deactivated site is possible. Growing up in western South Dakota, Minuteman missile sites were a common sight while traveling the rural highways.
The missiles have been gone for over 20 years, but there is a launch site and a control site that are now open to the public and part of the National Parks System. It was preserved as much as possible to be as it was in the "Old War" area.
The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site consists of three separate parts: a visitor center, a Launch Control Center, and an actual launch site. Currently, there are no fees at this historic site. There is some discussion about fees for the tour of the launch control facility in the future, though.
This past summer, my sister and niece were back home visiting. After a drive through the Badlands, we stopped at the visitor center to see if a Launch Center tour was possible. The tickets for the Launch Control Center were all taken for the next tour, since they are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The tours are limited to six people due to the small size of the Launch Control facility's elevator. Not wanting to wait for the next tour, we decided to see the actual launch site. The launch site is a self-guided tour. You park your vehicle in the parking lot and enter through the gate. There is a "skylight" over the missile silo and a deactivated missile sitting in the silo.
Visitors to the site can look down into the launch silo and walk about the launch site. There is a phone number posted on a sign at the missile launch site. You dial it using your cell phone and it gives you a guided tour using Touch-Tone prompts. Just don't whistle into your phone while touring the site, as we all know what might happen when whistling into a telephone...
Here is the phone number and prompts: 605-301-3006
1. Missile Plains 2. Why South Dakota 3. Missile Launch 4. Missile 5. Ultra High Frequency Antenna 6. Soft Support Building 7. Maintenance Access Hatch 8. Security System 9. Putting in a Missile 10. Minuteman Missile, Past, Present, FutureMost, if not all, of the former facilities have been returned over to the original land owners, and there are restrictions on what can be done with the property. One is not being able to dig down more than a few feet.
Most, if not all, of the former launch sites still have the perimeter fences. Some are being used by the land owners in interesting ways. Some have hay bales inside, my guess is to prevent deer and cattle from eating the supply of hay. Another use I have seen is a beekeeper who has placed their beehives in the fenced in area.
Located just outside the main gate at Ellsworth Air Force Base is the South Dakota Air and Space Museum. A Minuteman II exhibit is on display there. Also, a base tour is available for a nominal fee. A missile training site is on the tour. I was able to see the inside of the training site several years ago when the base had an open house/air show.
Here are several sites to look up: www.nps.gov/mimi, www.sdairandspacemuseum.com/exhibits, and www.siloworld.net!.
Brian from South Dakota
This is indeed interesting stuff - thanks for sharing. We also found it extraordinarily cool to be able to take this tour remotely and we wonder how many other such services exist that can be tied into from around the world.
Dear 2600:
Thank you for your amazing work on my Hacker Perspective. You captured exactly what I was going for, while presenting it in a vastly less Internet blur of text. I have become slightly better at wording my dialog, but the skill of the 2600 editors should not go unsung.
I really enjoyed the buildup tone that matched the original blur of words I sent in. I am pretty impressed to see the shorthand personal notes I submitted read so coherently. Respect to everyone who reads the emails and answers the phones as well as readers, writers, and that random person who asks a good question.
Bonus Shout: The Piano Guy's "Attitude Adjustment: How to Keep Your Job" (32:2) article was excellent. If only more persons respected the fact that others do different things. One person's skill is another person's presumed constant.
Pic0o
We appreciate the acknowledgment, but the content came from you so don't forget to give yourself the credit you're due. We often have to do a degree of editing to make an article or column work and it's great when people understand what goes into that process. We hope those of you out there who think your words won't pass muster will take that into account and send us what you come up with regardless. If you have something truly interesting to say, it's our job to make sure it reads well.
Dear 2600:
Thank you for publishing my article "Abusing the Past" and the back cover photo, too!
I had a rush of inspiration, and wrote ten tips to becoming a hacker. These are right out of my personal experience:
1.) Get it into your mind. Hacker means ethics. Hacker means curiosity. Hacker means a desire to improve things. Hacking is fun. And healthy. As I usually say in my talks: "Do any of you drive a car? Do any of you drive really well? Oh, so I guess you are probably a killer." Oh, so you are good with the computer. That means you are a criminal, right? Get it straight. Any person can become a criminal. It is not hard. You just need to be a bad person. You can blame any other bunch of factors but in the end, it means you are evil. Mistakes, that is something else. And you will make many growing up. And then some. With or without the computer knowledge.
2.) You will need to open up. You can use any as to do lots of things, but the more multi-platform knowledge you gain, the better. Use Windows. Use Linux. Use more than one as. This is far easier to do today. Between your game console, your computer, and your tablet/smartphone, you already have two-plus OSes, surely.
3.) Break things. Break yourself, too. Pursue a different area of knowledge, a different interest, such as music playing, literature, languages. Try new stuff. Enjoy the experience.
4.) Love those around you. That means respect, too. You will make it easy for them to support your interests, especially growing up.
5.) Find a team to share knowledge with. I suggest a 2600 meeting. You will find what areas of IT knowledge most interest you this way, too. For instance, I love defense, forensics, and all things networking/comms, especially authentication and data sharing/analysis. But I get bored with the offensive side of things.
6.) Programming is a must. Stick to a limited number of languages at first. I would suggest Python, C, assembler, and some C# (it is quite an awesome language from which you will learn a lot). Try to attack your code. Debug as crazy. Attempt to understand why stuff breaks. In 1998, I coded a multi-user BBS for Linux in plain C. It was the way to understand all things about Linux, as I had to learn IPC, sockets, processes, input handling, locks, filesystem, terminal capabilities, session control, etc., etc. Making it crash and debugging it allowed me to understand how an exploit would work. Learning how to code an exploit is also extremely useful, as it gives you the "other way round" knowledge of operating systems and code execution.
7.) Help others. I cannot emphasize this enough: your experience and your knowledge have no value if you do not find a way to help others, in any way, using any methodology. Be loyal.
8.) Do not allow yourself to be used by evil people. Information gathering, one of the stages of "how to attack a problem," can be applied socially. Avoid bad actors. But you will find yourself that the concept of "know your enemy" is also valuable. Remember I mentioned ethics?
9.) Get out in the open. Analyze your surroundings. Travel. Technology is everywhere, but subtlety is beautiful. Balance.
10.) You will one day die. Try to make the best out of life. Think about what you will leave behind. That is the real, the ultimate hack.
Hugs to everyone out there.
Buanzo
ArgentinaThese are all extremely good points and we appreciate your putting them together. We do want to add, however, that even this broad view of hacking doesn't cover it all. Programming, for instance, is vital in certain areas, but it's not essential for a hacker to be a programmer. What is needed is for the curiosity and determination to be present. Hackers have existed since long before computers came about and they can be found in places where there is no technology at all. Computers, programming, etc. lend themselves to hackers because of the possibilities for endless exploration and innovation. But those elements also exist in other realms in a more subtle way. It's all incredibly inspiring.
Dear 2600:
I was a student at a small private college, graduating in 1957. I learned from someone that a 2k resistor grounded to the overhead light socket and to the line of the removed voice box in the receiver caused the telephone dial tone to trip on (for local calls). This worked for the last two years of school. Girls from Skidmore and Russell Sage called me on long distance (and the folks from New York City). Afterwards, in the military, I didn't need it as I had access to call anywhere.
Edson+
Now surely you can expand that story a bit and tell us more about the phone system back then, along with any other bits of technology and trivia that hackers might be interested in. Please send your stories to articles@2600.com. Our mailbox awaits.
Dear 2600:
In her book Travels with Myself and Another, journalist and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn visits Nadezhda Mandelstam, widow of the poet Osip Mandelstam, who was purged by Stalin. At a secretive dinner in Moscow, Gellhorn relates, "A man said, 'You know how to fix the phone so is safe? No? Come, I show.' he man pushed the dial all the way round and locked it in place with a pencil. 'That way they do not hear what you are saying,' he said. 'Also a cushion over is good,' said Mrs. M. I have never been able to do it since so cannot have seen right." What was it that Gellhorn could not replicate? How did unlocking the phone make it safe from the KGB?
Marco
Locking a rotary dial phone with a pencil can be tricky. That was probably the hardest part of the operation. We have no idea whether such a trick had any effect on old Soviet phones, but we can't say it's impossible. Most likely, this is just another urban legend, like being able to dial a special phone number in the States to see if your phone was tapped (which makes absolutely no sense if you stop to think about it). The fact that they topped it off by putting a cushion over the phone tells us that even they didn't really believe the pencil was protecting them against eavesdropping. We would love to hear more such stories from that particular era and region.
Dear 2600:
This is in response to Metalx1000's articles "Out of the Box Survival, Part One: A Guide to PowerShell Basics" (32:1) and Part Two (32:2). I was happy to see these two articles in 2600 as Windows system administrators know the benefits of PowerShell for automation and administration, but PowerShell is often overlooked by hackers.
In 2002, Microsoft was developing a product called "Microsoft Shell" that was created to overcome the limitations of the command line. Windows PowerShell was released in 2007 and Windows PowerShell 2.0 was fully integrated into Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 and all Windows operating systems since. PowerShell borrows much from Linux including many Linux commands. With PowerShell capability, Windows becomes a more powerful hacking platform. But remember that PowerShell uses Microsoft's propriety source code. Since this is not open-source code, PowerShell will not be as versatile a hacking tool as compared to Linux. But this demonstrates that Microsoft now understands the strengths and advantages of the command line. The terminal in Linux gives us complete control of the OS and PowerShell expands the capability of Windows in this regard. PowerShell has all of .NET at its disposal, which on a Windows machine is a very big deal.
Bash is mostly not worth comparing to PowerShell, because Bash is mostly text-based and not object-based. They operate differently (object passing vs. strings), but PowerShell (drawing on .NET) can achieve many tasks which Bash can perform. PowerShell can pipe meaningful objects as variables to a series of cmdlets (the pipeline), unlike Bash, where the output of any executable passes plain text to the next, which then has to be filtered for specific strings. For example, to kill a process in Bash, you will use something like: ps -ef | grep "chrome" | awk '{print $2} | xargs kill
In PowerShell, cmdlets spit out objects. So the above example of killing a process translates to: ps -name chrome | kill. ps and kill are aliases for "Get-Process" and "Stop-Process" cmdlets.
PowerShell is perfect to use for attacks with a USB device called an HID or Human Interface Device. If we have physical access to a computer and wanted to hack into the system, what would we do? Now that most computers no longer allow AutoRun by default, we need to get creative. The HID looks just like a standard USB stick, but instead of storing files and data, it stores keystrokes. When plugged into a computer, the computer sees the USB stick as an HID. What does that mean? Simply, the computer thinks that the device is a keyboard. When this happens, the computer will run the PowerShell script loaded on the HID, since the computer has now been tricked into thinking that a human is typing in the commands on the keyboard. With a simple scripting language like PowerShell, you can craft client executable payloads capable of changing system settings, opening back doors, retrieving data, and initiating reverse shells - all automated and executed in a matter of seconds. PowerShell scripted exploit payloads almost never trigger anti-virus as most executables do.
I am still learning about PowerShell: its features, functions and applications for hacking. If I discover more that is of interest to 2600 readers, perhaps I will write my own article on the subject.
Brainwaste
Dear 2600:
In the Spring 2015 (32:1) issue, "nachash" wrote an interesting and informative article about hidden services ("So, You Want to Be a Darknet Drug Lord..."), including reference to extradition treaties (no countries mentioned) and the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs), and figuring out which countries don't provide legal assistance in extradition proceedings.
However, I feel the article could have been much more informative by naming the countries in alphabetical order that do not cooperate with the U.S.A. in extradition proceedings... North Korea being one of them - not that I would ever want to live there anyways!
For educational purposes, I am almost certain that the rest of your readers would also love knowing which countries do not cooperate with the U.S. in extradition proceedings, especially for those who do not have access to the Internet.
Nick
This is what we were able to find online, which may not be completely accurate, but should give you a good sense of what's out there:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mainland China, Comoros, Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), Cuba, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican, Vietnam, and Yemen.
So there are definitely options.
The Word on Meetings
Dear 2600:
How do I set up a 2600 meeting in my town?
Marthalamew
We get asked this question so often even though we have all of the info up on our site and in every issue. But we all have to understand that there is a constant influx of new people who are hearing this for the first time. (This is also why material many of us are already familiar with gets repeated occasionally in articles.)
To address the question, it's relatively easy to set up a meeting. First, make sure there isn't one already in your area or nearby. Then, find a nice public gathering place. Food courts and coffee shops work best. Ideally, you want a place where literally anyone can stumble upon your group and join in the conversation. That, after all, is the whole point. At first, you may well be the only one there. This is where most people give up and walk away. If, however, you stick around and do whatever you can to get the word out (flyers on bulletin boards, notes stuck inside copies of our magazine in local bookstores, full-color highway billboards if you have the budget), you'll find in most cases that there are indeed more people out there who will show up. Lastly, you need to keep us informed. We only list meetings that we know are actually in existence and, if we don't hear back from you, we'll have to assume that yours isn't. Then your meeting won't be listed in the magazine or on the website (www.2600.com/meetings) and far fewer people will know about it.
So, in short, you need to do the research, show some initiative, be patient and keep trying, and communicate. These, after all, are attributes a good hacker should have in abundance, and it's why we continue to have so many successful meetings worldwide.
Dear 2600:
Taking on board your response to my previous letter (it did seem stupid when I saw it written down), I have decided to restart the Glasgow meetings. I have also created a shiny new site for the meetings: 2600Glasgow.com.
TheGeek
That's the spirit. We look forward to more updates.
Dear 2600:
I went to Tenders! tonight in Huntsville, Alabama and there wasn't a meeting and the staff had no clue what I was talking about. Went to Makers Local 256, and the guys there said that they met last year, and that was about it. Most of the people now hang out at the makerspace. Just a heads up, so others don't try to go to the meeting when there isn't one. Great magazine though!
Tom
That's truly a shame. Having spaces to hang out and work on projects is great, but nothing can replace being out amongst the public where you constantly find new people to interact with or even recruit. That's how communities grow. We hope to see this meeting come back to life someday.
Dear 2600:
So, hi I'm living in Turkey and I wanna meet you over here.
Magacimaga
It's possible you might not know what meetings are all about, so please go check out our website before we have a colossal misunderstanding.
Dear 2600:
The Beit Shemesh, Israel meetings are still fairly small but stable. Ironically, nobody bothers calling the 1-800 number. Not even the Safed meeting. Expected a flood of calls... The 2600 sign and displayed magazines do attract curious questions, which is always fun.
Faqanda
We're also dismayed at the number of people who don't use phones for actual talking these days, but, as you are seeing, there is still a spirit of curiosity out there, both within and out side of the hacker community. It's those interactions which make it all worthwhile.
Dear 2600:
Greetings. I live in Gothenburg, Sweden and I was wondering since I looked at your list and saw that the meeting was going to take place in Stockholm, maybe you guys could change it from Stockholm to Gothenburg?
Flipchan
Let's see if we understand. You want us to move an existing meeting to your town simply because that's where you live? It's possible that this may be inconvenient to those people who aren't from your town, which is why we're going to discourage this. However, there is nothing stopping you from starting a meeting in Gothenburg, as it's literally on the other side of the country and probably a great place for hackers to get together.
Dear 2600:
Alas, it was only myself and one other body I had dragged along that made this meeting this month. I have, however, created an email address and linked to it from the site, so hopefully as we carry on, more will join.
TheGeek
It's almost guaranteed that this will happen once word truly gets out. It's easy to become discouraged, but if this wasn't a challenge, everyone would be doing it.
Dear 2600:
I came across your site on a Lainchan post and have a few questions: Do I need to sign up somewhere before I go? I'm in The Netherlands, so I'm going for the Utrecht meeting.
Anything specific I should bring with me? I have a Toughbook CF-19 MK5 tablet/laptop, a Toughbook CF-U1 UMPC, and a Nokia N900. Is there a specific theme to the meetings?
Dennis
Please just come, as you are and don't worry about what kind of equipment you have or your level of expertise. Our meetings are traditionally quite different from anything else you might expect. First off, they're not actual "meetings" in that there is no one person leading a discussion . It's simply a gathering of people who share a general interest in the hacker world. There is no initiation or minimal level of knowledge on any topic. You may know something about phones but nothing about computers. This is perfectly acceptable. Nobody should feel excluded unless they are actively working against the spirit of the hacker community, which is to explore, answer questions, share information, and experiment on all levels. Obviously, we can't guarantee that you'll find something in common with others who attend. But making that effort is what's gotten us this far.
Dear 2600:
Hello, we are a bunch of college students who are interested in InfoSec and would like to hold meetings in our town, first Friday of the month at 1800 in Starbucks on 246 Broadway Street, Chico, California. Please post in your magazine, thank you.
Ex Tenebris Lux
Semper TechnocracyWe don't usually do it this way, but we'll alert the world through our letters column as well as in our meeting section. It's up to you now to keep us updated on how the meetings are going. Good luck.
Dear 2600:
Any word on whether the Pittsburgh meeting still exists or not? I saw it in the last issue, so figured I'd venture out and it doesn't seem like anything is going on. Wanted nerd time. #sadface
Philip
You wrote this to us less than ten minutes after the published start time of this meeting, which is way too early to conclude that nothing was happening. Often, people show up an hour or two after this. We suggest people who are the first to arrive simply hang out and use their laptop, read a book, or (best of all) have a copy of 2600 sitting in front of you. If you do this for the entire length of the meeting and nobody else shows up, then let us know. In the meantime, try to stay positive.
Dear 2600:
I am a former attendee of 2600 meetings in Sydney, Australia. I moved to Colombia in November of last year and have been missing my monthly 2600 activities, hence the email to begin the process of getting a 2600 meeting underway here in Medellin, and potentially in Bogotá, the nation's capital.
I'm planning the first meeting and have taken the initiative to ensure there are participants to show up before committing fully to the cause. Let me know if you guys need any more info. I am keen on getting the website up and running to advertise and also confirm location. At this stage, it's looking likely to be held onsite at the University of Antioquia. There's a cool university bar there that could certainly cater to needs.
Richard
This is a great idea and we're happy to see you planting the hacker seed in another part of the world. We hope to see this one really sprout.
Dear 2600:
There is a new meeting starting in Tacoma, Washington this coming Friday. It will be held at the Tacoma Mall in the food court at 6 pm. We will notify you after the meeting to let you know how many attendees we had.
Rebecca
And this is all we ask. We wish you luck and hope it all goes well.
Dear 2600:
I wanted to request more information about the 2600 Magazine meetings. I would like to know what the meetings cover, as well as what the cost is to attend a meeting.
Sean
If we were evil, we could get away with so much. But no, there isn't a charge to attend the meetings that you pay us monthly as long as you don't tell anyone else. They are free and open to everyone. There is no agenda, other than an interest in hackers, the magazine, and being some what social for a night. Go and have fun.
Dear 2600:
We hosted our first meeting in Tacoma, Washington yesterday. We had three people come out. We had a talk about kidnapping and rescue from a security specialist and what we would cover in upcoming meetings.
Rebecca
Well, that's an unusual topic for a meeting, but being unusual is actually quite typical for one of our meetings. Thanks for updating us and we hope future meetings go smoothly. Presentations aren't necessary unless you really want to include them. Most important is that nobody feels excluded for not being interested in one particular subject. There should be lots of areas for attendees to retreat to and talk to the people of their choice.
The Fight for Justice
Dear 2600:
I am taking out a lifetime subscription because I hope the injection of funds goes some way to help you guys stay alive after the rip-off by the nasty corporate distributor scammers. Great mag!
John
We really do appreciate such generosity as we're still trying to recover from this. While it would take nearly 400 people doing the same thing to get back the money that Source Interlink (now known as The Enthusiast Network) didn't pay us for issues they sold, being able to shame them publicly for their business practices makes it a bit less painful. (We'd be most grateful if our readers helped to maintain their Wikipedia pages so their actions remain a part of their history.)
Dear 2600:
For the first time ever, I had to put down your magazine in anger. Not at you, but at the letter in Winter 2014-15 of the autistic in prison (I can't reference his name; I'm in the hole right now). As an autistic person in prison myself, I know I'm fortunate to be 6'2" and 230 pounds. Even still, there isn't any way to explain how overwhelming these types of places are for an autistic person. I've been in for four years but designated five times already, been in multiple "fights" (usually me vs. multiple gang members... you know, a fair fight). Had my head cracked open and stapled shut, nose broken, eyes swelled shut, had a tooth go all the way through my lip once. Meanwhile, every time, it's me that gets transferred because I'm the liability. When my head was split open in the one fight, the incident report claimed I had a "scrape" on my head. A scrape. Really. Meanwhile, after another "fight," they threw me in the hole (for my protection) and terminated my visits (for my protection). My case manager would ignore me. He'd walk through, talk to everyone else, but walked past my cell saying "I'm busy!" Meanwhile, without a word, transferred again.
While I know this is not much compared to what the other autistic guy went through, I know that the general treatment of autistics in prison is absolutely piss-poor. I've seen so many similar stories to his in Prison Legal News that make me set down the magazine in rage as well, and I wish I was surprised to read it. Instead, I'm just angry. I know there's nothing I could say to him to make his situation any better. How they can claim that this kind of thing isn't "cruel and unusual punishment" is a sick joke. People claim that autistic people lack empathy? I'd say our government has a hell of a lot less empathy than any autistic person I've met. And I'm so tired of the bullshit "budget cuts" excuse. I bet if the rapist gave HIV to a prison guard, they'd find the money. Ridiculous.
P.S. Another request for bound 2600 digests as well, please.
token
Dear 2600:
Today is a bad day in Germany because two online journalists are being officially investigated because they printed and commented on leaked documents. This is especially ridiculous because the same government agency did nothing against NSA and Company tapping our phones for years including those of our prime minister.
HJT LED-Professionals
You're referring to two journalists from the publication Netzpolitik who were put under investigation for treason after publishing some information which rubbed some German authorities the wrong way. From leaked documents, they revealed details about the expansion of a surveillance program targeting the Internet that was being run by the German secret service. If nothing else ever demonstrated the threat that journalists face on a daily basis when reporting the news, then this does in very clear terms. The fact that authorities cannot differentiate between the source of a leak and the reporting of a leak is extremely troubling. How much faith can any of us have that these authorities will ever investigate or question the legality of what the leaks themselves uncovered - or do anything short of trying to lock away anyone who dares reveal such useful information, which the public has every right to know? This is why organizations like WikiLeaks are in true danger. It's why people like Chelsea Manning are in prison for revealing outrageous injustices and it's why Edward Snowden finds it impossible to come back to the United States.
This particular story from Germany has a (so far) more positive outcome, as the investigation was stopped after a massive public outcry. In fact, the prosecutor who started the investigation was fired, which certainly made many in the free world feel a little better. But these things never really end and we're certain there will be more threats to contend with in the not-too-distant future. We appreciate our readers keeping us all in the loop.
Dear 2600:
Hey 2600 community, it's Ghost Exodus. Here's a case update, as I need awareness.
A few months back, my legal team coordinator (LTC) found out that a fat chunk of recorded jail phone calls were deleted from my electronic case file CDs - evidence I could have used to exonerate myself of witness intimidation against the cooperating witness who informed on me six years ago. The only "evidence" against me was my prosecutor's own oral testimony. After accusing my lawyer of using his e-mail to conspire against her, he created a new e-mail, which he replaced on his letterheads. She tried to put a restraining order against myself and LTC, accusing us of hacking and criminal association with Anonymous in a motion to my judge. We could really use help with putting a FOIA together to obtain the BOP's copy of the removed phone recordings. You can kill the protester, but you can't kill the protest.
Jesse McGraw
Dear 2600:
I was sorry to hear that you got ripped off by your distributor (again). Maybe what needs to happen is for the small publishers to set up a co-op distributor or something. Maybe the print-on-demand model would be better for 2600 and similar magazines. Worst case, I bet you could use Kickstarter to stay afloat. Good luck!
Dave
Thanks for the ideas and good thoughts, but we intend to try and ride out the storm by continuing to put out something that our readers want to buy. We're open to all sorts of alternative distribution plans. The important thing is that we not let something like this defeat us.
On Payphones
Dear 2600:
I am an old telephony guy (who actually worked on payphones back when Super Glue first came out... what a mess... at times it was like winning at slots when you opened them up) who got dragged into the datacom world around the time 10BaseT was starting out and I do remember your mag from wayyyyy back then. Glad to find you still at it.
I am living in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands now and there is actually a working payphone here! Nothing special, but it is here. Would it be worth a subscription to send a photo? I so would like a subscription again. I can't imagine you have a photo from this part of the Indian Ocean with a working payphone, but then again, who knows, it may have been done. Let me know. If you search Cocos you may find some interesting stuff.
Gerald
It's absolutely worthwhile to send us your payphone pictures from wherever you happen to be. Even if it's a part of the world we're quite familiar with, your photo may be particularly unique and historic. But please try and resist the temptation to rip this payphone open. That was never part of what we stood for.
Dear 2600:
There was an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press titled "Last Call for Some Detroit Pay Phones" (July 25, 2015). (Article Mirror, Picture Mirror)
Scott
Thanks for forwarding that. It was indeed interesting to read about the steady decline of the American payphone, particularly in states like Michigan where the payphone to human ratio stands at 20 per 100,000. (Hawaii leads the list with 296 per 100,000.) Back in 1984, a busy street corner payphone could net $200 a week in coins and today it barely brings in $5 over the course of a couple of months. So yeah, you could say there's a trend of sorts in the payphone world. But one thing which we found pretty amazing was the amount of photos they decided to print of payphones and their remnants, each one with a little explanation below it. Where have we seen that before?
Queries
Dear 2600:
I thought I remember seeing a line in the magazine that said I could chose to get paid money or have a year's subscription. That may have been a few issues back. Did you ever offer money for articles or still do upon request?
sm
The only piece we're able to do that with is the "Hacker Perspective" column, for which we pay $500 when printed. We get lots of submissions for that, so we can only accept new ones occasionally (we let people know this inside each issue). For other articles and photos, we offer t-shirts, back issues, or subscriptions. And letters like this one simply carry the pride and immortality of having appeared in our infamous letters column.
Dear 2600:
Could you tell me where I can buy a copy of the magazine near me? My ZIP Code is 60553.
Bill
We're sorry to say we have no easy way of doing this at the moment. We can tell you that we're carried in a Barnes & Noble in Rockford, Illinois, which is around 30 miles from your location. But something as simple as a searchable database where our magazine is sold is something we can't seem to get our hands on from our various distributors. Some will give us the info and others will keep it to themselves, thinking a competitor will use it to their advantage. In the end, less people know where to find us, which hurts everyone.
Dear 2600:
I've been reading your magazine for two decades now and I wanted a 2600 shirt soon after I picked up my first issue. The problem is I'm seven feet tall and slim. Standard sized t-shirts never fit properly. If they're long enough, they're always roughly the same width as a tent.
My question is this (and I know this is absolutely a shot in the dark): If I'm able to source tall-sized black t-shirts and have them delivered to your offices, would it be possible to have them printed with your next run of shirts? The designs I'm interested in are the new traditional Blue Box and the government seal. I'd pay your regular shirt price for this service.
Again, I know this really isn't likely, but I had to ask. Regardless, I'll always be a fan of your publication and I urge you to keep up the good work. We need more voices like 2600's in this world.
Daniel L.
We can certainly try to make this happen. We are inquiring with our printer to see if this can be done. We don't see any reason why it couldn't be, but we suspect we would have to wait for the next printing of Blue Box t-shirts. Our government seal t-shirts, however, are no longer being made (unless you're referring to the government seal sweatshirts, which we're still producing). Our office staff will follow up with you on this.
Dear 2600:
While searching for a pen name I used for an article, Google found this: 2600.wrepp.com/2600/OpenSource/Data/Authors.txt. What is it? Seems like it shouldn't be publicly accessible nor indexable.
Anyways, you guys have an awesome culture regarding incarcerated hackers. Thank you for everything you have done and are doing. If I can be of voluntary assistance to 2600, please reach out.
nychacker
Thanks for the offer. As for the URL you found, this was an author index project started by one of our readers and it consists of information contained within the magazine, so there's no concern with it being publicly accessible. We imagine it's proved quite useful for readers and writers alike.
Dear 2600:
I want 2 be a hecker... Help mr
Bhaskar Das
Wow. Well, you did write to us, so the word "hacker" is probably what you meant. Although "hecker" is one letter away from "heckler," which some would argue is something you could certainly be considered. But if it's "hacker" you meant, you're probably going to be hearing from a bunch of them pretty soon, so you can ask all the questions you want. We often wonder just what it is people expect us to tell them when they ask us questions like this, questions we get so frequently that it's both funny and depressing. Maybe all we have to do is anoint them as official hackers (for a sizable fee) and they would be content. It's worth considering.
Dear 2600:
I was wondering why Off The Hook didn't appear in my incoming podcasts, and it turns out that your SSL certificate has expired: "www.2600.com uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate expired on 06/08/15 01:59. The current time is 07/08/15 17:20. (Error code: sec_error_expired_certificate)"
Adam
Yeah, about that. We believe in SSL certs, we really do. We've been pushing for encrypted content as a default on the Internet for decades. What we don't believe in are companies that take advantage of this and make a small fortune out of fear and pressure. The amount of money being spent to basically have a "trusted" company say that you are in fact who you say you are can amount to hundreds or thousands of dollar s a year per site - even per sub-domain if you're not careful. Of course, we became "untrusted" as soon as we didn't pay up. And this after we became "trusted " when we provided fake info in the first place!
We know we're getting a bit of criticism for not playing along and using these services. But no type of personal communications on our site is involved here (like emails, passwords, or any sort of customer data, etc.). All of that takes place on different sites that always are encrypted. Here, we're discussing people who just browse our regular website, download radio shows, etc. But that information should also be encrypted, as there are some countries and households where scrutiny of what you actually did on such a site could come back to haunt you. That is why we're opting for the new "Let's Encrypt" option of SSL certification that's rolling out later this year, is simple to use, and free. More details appear in this issue's EFF column.
Dear 2600:
Hi.
Firstly, I'd just like to say great job on the success of your site 2600.com. You have a great collection of some really interesting articles! I really like your payphones around the world feature too.
The reason I am writing is to let you know about Ezoic. Ezoic is the first Google AdSense certified partner blah blah blah blah blah.
This email was sent individually to you. I personally visited your website and thought it would be a great fit for our website testing platform. You are not part of an email list, however, if you would prefer to not receive any more emails like this one from me, please visit www.ezoic.com/email_preferences.php. Ezoic Inc. 2542 Gateway Road, Carlsbad, CA 92009
Piper
Nice try there with the personal touch. We almost believed this was an actual reader when they alluded to our payphone feature. Spam is getting more sophisticated every day, but we intend to keep well ahead of it. We do wonder how on earth we're not on an "email list" if you intend to send us more emails. And by the way, we visited 2542 Gateway Road as you suggested above to let you know personally our feelings on the matter, but nobody was around. True, it was 4 am, but still. The Internet never sleeps.
Dear 2600:
Back in 2005, I was charged with computer crimes without any proof that I actually committed said crimes. The forensic computer tech used data recovery software called EnCase, which you are probably familiar with. In 2009, I was charged again with computer crimes. The same computer tech was given the task of going through the same hard drive from 2005. He stated that due to new and updated technology, he would possibly be able to recover more evidence than before. The tech did find more evidence, but again no evidence that I committed said crimes. The tech used EnCase again in his second time going through the hard drive. So my question is has EnCase had any advancement or updates in its recovery process between 2005 and 2010? If you could give me some insight, that would be very helpful.
Steven
We don't doubt that there are advances made in this field and with this particular product every year, and certainly there would be significant improvements over the course of five years if they expected to stay in business. If the case against you is circumstantial, then that is the angle to attack rather than the software they're using. All it can do is tell you what's there. It can't tell you the why or the who.
Dear 2600:
Since 2001, I've had a TracFone, and I haven't had any more problems than the minutes not coming through sometimes. I check it occasionally to be sure most functions I need function, such as speed dial. Yes, I did say TracFone. What I didn't say was it's a Motorola V170. Aye, 'tis ancient. I got it originally for emergency use at religious festivals. Up until a few days ago, no real problems. I left in the morning the other day and, before I got out of the complex, I saw a neighbor's dog running loose, so I tried to call him as he is also a healer. I had him on speed dial. Imagine my surprise when I got a fax machine, knowing he doesn't have one in his home. So then I brought the number view function up and, lo and behold, where I had his home number was something totally different.
I did not think about it then, presuming I goofed. When I returned home, I pulled the phone and started checking numbers. Wow! All but a few numbers were altered from the original correct numbers. My first thought was that TracFone was having a problem, so I called them to no avail. They "... had never had such a thing happen." Then I checked the charger voltage every few hours for the next day. No problem. While I normally leave it on except when shopping, it's not a smartphone, so if any of you true techies out there know how this venerable device could have been cracked, I'd like to know. Thanks all.
Captain Cautious
Kindle Karma
Dear 2600:
I'm sending you the strange date issue we are seeing in the Kindle version. I'm not sure what sort of meta tag or data they are pulling this date from, but I see this on my Android phone and iPad versions of the Kindle app when reading 2600. I think it's only shown up on the most recent two or three issues, so they might have changed the Kindle app to read some extra data that you're not populating somewhere in the published file you are giving them.
Josh
This was a ton of fun to try and figure out and the Kindle people said the problem was on their end. Even after that, it took a whole lot of time for them to figure out the fix. But we're told it's no longer happening. Please let us know if you see anything else amiss.
Dear 2600:
Did you know you can get your 2600 subscription sent to non-Kindle devices? It's not automatic like the delivery to Kindle, but it's an answer to some of the problems we digital subscribers have (like previous issues being replaced by the current if you haven't specifically saved it). I know you've started putting issues out as individual digital books, but this will help people already subscribing. Please get the word out!
Instructions
Go to:
Your Account --> Manage Your Content and Devices
Show --> Magazines
Actions --> ...
Deliver past issue to my...
There's also a download and transfer past issue via USB, but I think that's in DRM hell.
Steve T. in Manhattan
Dear 2600:
I'm glad to see that you managed to get the header fixed on the Kindle edition. It now shows the proper date. But as of this issue, I can no longer see the cover graphic, nor can I navigate to it from the article list. Always something...
Of course, I can survive without the graphic, but I know I'm not the only one who spends time poring over the cover for its artistic and creative merit. I hope that can eventually also get fixed.
Kindle woes aside, keep up the good work!
Saskman
We're really sorry this happened and we don't have any idea what caused it. Suffice to say, if you're a Kindle subscriber, you received a replacement issue once we alerted the Kindle folks of this mishap.
Weird Mail
Dear 2600:
"Rae, Christine, & Richard" have been stalking me at home, for 3.2 hrs, threats & $s extortion.
A Subscriber
And we're the ones you decide to contact with this info? Good God. First of all , we don't monitor incoming letters every day so by the time we saw this, your saga had undoubtedly progressed into whatever the next stage of this would have been. Second, what on earth are we supposed to do with letters like this? Sprinkle magic hacker dust your way? Call the authorities? Turn on the news? We really don't know what people think we're capable of and it's probably best that it stay that way. Finally, and to completely trivialize whatever was happening here, we don't know anyone who's not a machine who measures time in this way. 3.2 hours is three hours and 12 minutes, which is also a bit too precise a phrase for humans. It just seems like a weird time to get all digital.
Dear 2600:
I need help finding my black hat hacker. I believe that my brother who has psychopathy has hired a black hat hacker to freaking mess with my life. It has been difficult to deal with this and I want this to stop. Please help. My smartphone is not always working now thanks to this or my house phone. But the number is [redacted]. Home phone [also redacted]. If anyone else picks up like my roommate or my mother just ask for [super redacted]. Please just say it is a friend because I don't want my old mother to have to worry about this.
Thank you for your help.
[We Are Not Printing Your Name]
This is a direct result of how the media portrays hackers. Thanks, guys. Now every time somebody has a bad day, loses their keys, has the cat puke on the good carpet, it will be because of something a "black hat" hacker has done to them. And the only way to fight this fire is with more fire. This hysteria helps to sell all kinds of products and put people in the limelight, but it's incredibly destructive, not only to the hacker community but to the general populace.
Sure, it's possible to be messed with through your phone or computer - even your television or doorbell can join in the fun these days. Cars, planes, baby monitors... everything can be hacked in some form. But the number of people we hear from who believe some crazy Hollywood script is playing out inside their living room is simply astounding.
To those of you who are convinced that something is indeed happening to you involving technology, please give us the specific details. Maybe we can help figure out what's actually happening. To the rest please take with a huge pillar of salt any reports of the evil things that hackers are up to, along with meaningless designations like "black hat" and "white hat." Hackers are experimenting and revealing all kinds of interesting things, but they're not the villains from a James Bond film. You'll just have to trust us on this...
Dear 2600:
Congratulations to Source Interlink for successfully "hacking" your naivite, and "Occupying" your revenue.
You Blue-Pill SocialJusticeWarriors f*cked yourself... again. You never learn, do you?
Red-Pill Guy
And again we have affirmation that we make all the right enemies.
New Stuff
Dear 2600:
Your readers might like an entertaining article on the disassembly of an old boot-sector virus. They are obsolete now, but the code is fun to read about. The article would have lots of 8086 assembly listing in it. Here is the existing work: www.computerarcheology.com/wiki/wiki/Virus/Stoned
Thanks for your time and consideration!
Chris
This is precisely why we encourage people to send us articles and not simply post them online. For one thing, that disqualifies your article from being printed, as we promise our readers new and unpublished material. Second, as anyone going to that link has already discovered, what's online often doesn't stay online, at least not in the same place. Once you print some thing here, it's for ever. The printed word cannot go away and it can't be revised, which is what makes writing an article here such a true piece of history. We hope to see more people send us material before publishing online (which you are free to do after we publish it here) so that your work is truly appreciated and remembered.
Dear 2600:
I have been toying with an article for some time. The idea initially occurred to me after the fallout from the Edward Snowden affair. I have sought an unbiased publisher, but the government rags (in which its publication might actually do some good for Uncle Sam) are too wedded to incompetent vendors.
The article has do with why our information security capabilities are in the state that they're in and what could have been done about it - if our government cared one whit. Developments make it crystal clear that they have already surrendered their technological and military superiority to China and, moreover, are expending ever less effort on even putting on a "show" to caring about computer security. Meanwhile, each "expert" we see is more readily buffaloed than the previous buffoon: an RSA "consultant" was on Fox News the other day who (a) didn't know what RSA stands for and (b) explained a recent hack as - get this - the attackers "went into" the system. "Went into."
Here's an attached resume to indicate that I'm not some abject moron. Something tells me you will find it as unique as I know my written perspective is. Trust me, I'm nothing like the others, and I long since tired of lifting a finger to help our government.
From a technical perspective, I won't go into the details of ad hoc hacking techniques as it were, but I have plenty to share on the underpinnings of high-assurance military systems, which - I guarantee - are way beyond the lion's share of your readers, both from the historical exposure perspective and the formal mathematics perspective. Don't be so quick to dismiss everything that comes from DoD because Joe Schmuck leaves a guest account undeleted.
B
We would never dismiss any source of information and we have over the years gotten much valuable material from within various institutions that others might find quite surprising. Please do write your article from your unique perspective. There's no need for resumes (impressive though yours is) or any sort of other "proof" of your abilities - we think your words will speak for themselves.
Dear 2600:
Let me say at the outset that I am not a hacker and, until last year, I knew very little about the subject. I'm an established author who writes thrillers for a living and was formerly a television news executive.
Then, early in 2013, I came across a newspaper report about a woman whose webcam had been hacked. The man responsible had spied on her for some weeks and had managed to record her in compromising positions in her bedroom.
This aroused my interest and, over the following couple of months, I researched the subject thoroughly. I trawled the Internet and checked out all of the hacking sites including 2600.
I was both amazed and appalled at what I discovered. I had no idea that webcam hacking was so widespread or that more and more of the hackers were resorting to blackmailing their victims. I came across the term "sexploitation" and read about so-called "ratters" and how they collect "slaves" and sell access to their computers.
For a writer of fiction, this was all very fascinating and it prompted me to start developing a storyline. It took me several months to come up with a plot and a cast of characters.
The result is a novel called Malicious, which was published in November 2013 by Global House Publishing. Amazon Worldwide has exclusive rights to the ebook and paperback for a limited period.
The book focuses on a female detective based in Houston, Texas who becomes a victim of a hacker calling himself the Slave Master. The detective is perfect prey because she is addicted to online porn and has therefore exposed herself on many occasions in front of her webcam.
My story is pure fiction, but I know from what I've read that this sort of thing is going on across the world at an alarming scale. Mature women and young girls are falling victim because they're not aware of the problem.
I myself now make a habit of covering up my webcam and I'm sure that those who read my book will be doing the same in future.
Malicious is my eighth thriller and, for anyone who is interested, it's available on Amazon. There's more information on my website, including a video trailer, at: www.james-raven.com.
James Raven
Congrats on the book, but we're dismayed to see hackers once more being portrayed as the villains based on your description above. Just because someone is able to exploit a vulnerability, they do not automatically become a hacker. You'll find that hackers spend endless hours figuring things out, designing better systems, and sharing their results. Whether someone else decides to install a system a hacker has designed or make use of a vulnerability a hacker has uncovered, those people have their own roles (good or bad) in society. Making use of hacker knowledge does not a hacker make.
Advice Needed
Dear 2600:
Hi 2600! Please publicize this if you wish.
I adore your achievements, your goals, and your motives. I am far from a hacker of any kind, but find 2600 great, like an "information revolution."
No doubt I've developed problems with big, overgrown powers that attempt to control us. To really assert ourselves has become a civil fault or a crime.
This question requires a specialized IT person like a hacker to answer with a fair opinion. Being a legal issue, I refuse to pay a lawyer to decipher what should be freedom of speech, plain and simple. I'm not requesting legal advice (but any insight is useful). Much better may be in general what you people with sharp experience here think may happen. I'll summarize this legal puke in bullet points:
1.) I hired and paid a lawyer who purposefully did not communicate with opposing council, a fair offer to end this case.
2.) Because I caught him, I instructed him to do as he was hired to do, in apprehensive, strong text.
3.) He used that to withdraw; he did so after I paid in full.
4.) The judge allowed this regardless of my objections. The state's bar was no help at all - I had to hire another lawyer.
5.) My only recourse would be to sue him in court. That's his game aside from his running for; you guessed it, public offices.
6.) Since (in my field) I've directed over 100 sizable website builds, I know SEO well, IT in general, and especially, "reputation tactics," i.e., how to leverage negative (or positive) links to appear with, under, or before one's domain upon a search for that entity. That's in my playing field.
7.) Before ruining his online reputation as an attorney, I provided fair warnings: to refund me in full or it'll cost him much more in lost revenue. My threats were simple, honest, and logical - not with angry or vindictive grammar. I'd state only facts, truth, all verifiable as to what he did, fully documented, and then why according to my opinion. I'd then promote this to our public, essentially local. Do we all not have that right? Naturally, he did nothing within the time I gave him. Therefore, I created a WordPress "review" site under "his" name, other static domains with reviews on "him," then posted my factual story into several review venue s such as Yelp, Google Plus, Facebook, YouTube, general replies under his posted articles, etc. These now come up upon a search for his name directly under his own links. It must've worked well.
8.) He with our state recently subpoenaed WordPress under criminal investigation for all contact information of those sites. The subpoena read, "The State of [redacted] vs John Doe" for demanding this information.
9.) That request seems illogical since I'd stated my name several times within all text, along with my contact info as the author. I even wrote why this was done, that (at first, under my owned domains) all can be removed with my offer to cease upon refunding me. My threat continued in that most "other" review sites not under my control are very hard (or expensive) in deleting complaints. By that point. I demanded damages since he'd hurt me (and my family) much more than his fees can warrant.
10.) In addition, the subpoena stated clearly: "This request for information is confidential. DO NOT NOTIFY SUBSCRIBER/DO NOT CLOSE ACCOUNT." I found this most interesting. If I'm not reading that wrong, then WordPress emailed me their subpoena against the state's demand. Is the WordPress admin telling me something, like to take these sites down?
The questions are: What acts were done that were criminal? Do we not have freedom of speech? Why are there review sites? Even if a review is incorrect, how can that be considered criminal? Why was this contact info demanded when I stated that I wrote this providing contact info?
Thanks again entirely.
JEDLUP
All of this is because of the action you're taking against the lawyer who you hired to represent you in another case? Honestly, this is more legal action than we're comfortable with.
That said, we're not sure what an IT person would be able to help you with here specifically. It sounds like you had a decent plan to attack this guy's integrity and you implemented it effectively enough to really piss him off. Legally, as long as you didn't misrepresent yourself as him, there's not a whole lot he can do against you, other than try and act like there is. It sounds as if he knows full well it's you and realizes he can't stop you legally, so is instead trying to intimidate WordPress into just taking down the content. This kind of thing has a history of backfiring rather badly for the intimidator. As to why WordPress forwarded you the demand not to notify you, it could be because there is no legal standing to make such a request or (the reason you should never discount) it's because someone screwed up.
You may need to deal with the loss of whatever you paid this guy if the courts predictably favor him as an insider - and learn the valuable lesson of never paying anyone in full until the job is completed satisfactorily. But be comforted in the knowledge that your words are doing more damage than anything else, words that he knows are coming from you. Losing money sucks, but your words having a true effect on a desired target is priceless. Trust us - this is one thing we know well. We hope it all works out.
Dear 2600:
We are a Mennonite company who employs Amish. We were hacked two times (including our payroll ). Who do we ask to teach us to break into this temporary e-mail so we can learn to protect ourselves? Thank you.
jennifer
We're not sure what being Amish has to do with anything, as computers are used, albeit somewhat sparingly, in this community. Common sense procedures are the same regardless of experience. Using secure passwords, not opening attachments in email without knowing the source, avoiding trusting unknown outside entities with your private data... these are the basics that apply to everyone.
Now, concerning this breaking into some temporary e-mail to protect yourselves - we're not really sure what that's all about. If you think hackers can just break into something and fix your problems, that's a mass media myth. If you have data being held hostage in some account somewhere, there are possible steps you can take to retrieve it. None of what you're trying to do is very difficult or beyond the reach of anyone who chooses not to blindly buy into all of the technology we're surrounded with. We hope this helps.
Digital Editions
Dear 2600:
I'm wondering if lifetime subscribers can also obtain copies of the magazine in formats beyond the paper copy at a discount.
What I'd be interested in is an electronic copy of issues as I can afford them (past, present, and future). The ability to search will be great! Yet at the same time, I enjoy the paper version, especially right now - as I just got the word I have cataracts in both eyes.
Bertram
We're sorry to hear that and be assured that we're considering all possibilities with regards to digital editions. It's a tremendous amount of work to organize and put out properly and we have a long way to go. To do something in conjunction with existing lifetime subscribers requires integration of databases and it doesn't do anything for those who subscribe by the year or who buy issues at a bookstore or newsstand. Until we come up with the perfect solution, we're trying to make the digital editions and digests as cheap as possible.
Dear 2600:
Have you considered bundling the digital with the hard copy edition of 2600? Also, I have a couple of periodicals that give away the digital to subscribers.
And for those of us with decades-long subscriptions, might you offer free access to any issue that was published during which we had a hard copy subscription?
Why would I want the digital? Because having the collection would allow me to avoid digging through mountains of paper products and tech.
Just a thought.
Eric
These other publications most likely have advertising and other means of support to allow this. Our digital efforts have basically doubled our workload over the past few years as we continue to digitize our entire back issue library. As we don't keep our subscriber info online for security purposes, we'd have to develop a different process to tie that into something like access to digital copies. We're not saying this can't happen, but our hands are really full now and we're trying to just get the job done. We believe there are currently enough options so everybody can get the versions they want for very reasonable prices. But we are always trying to improve.
Dear 2600:
I am a lifetime subscriber to your magazine. I would like to know if I could switch to the digital subscription.
Ruddy
This option isn't possible for the simple reason that we don't have access to digital subscriptions that go through Kindle, Nook, ZINIO, or Google. Those are transactions between you and those companies and you're as anonymous to us as you would be if you bought a copy in a store. Also, none of those outlets offer lifetime subscriptions anyway. As we continue to expand, we may be able to put something together in the future that can handle this.
Turning Point
Dear 2600:
I suppose it's hacking, although I've always considered it curiosity. From as early as I remember, I'd no sooner get bored of a new toy than have it taken apart to find out how it worked... Sometime in the late-1970s - early-1980s, there was a radio controlled car - a Christmas present I think - that my younger brother had tired of. I knew that CBs and scanners needed frequency crystals. I also had some general electronics experience. So, tiring of homework, I opened up the little transmitter and, lo and behold, a crystal. I proceeded to unsolder it and searched my parts drawer for a viable replacement item. A variable cap tuner from a pocket radio would do fine, I figured... I soldered wires from the tuner to the empty holes on the transmitter board and connected the battery. I turned on the transmitter, but the car was not affected in any way. How about the radio, I thought. So I turned on an AM radio and twisted the transmitter's dial but nothing, except a small scratch near the lower-end of the band.
Suddenly a loud pounding from downstairs startled me. My name was then yelled followed by a stem "What are you doing up there?" Opening the door, I replied, "Just finishing my homework, why, what's the matter?" "Never mind, must be something wrong with the TV station, the problem's gone now." Needless to say, this was confirmation that my experiment was indeed a success and I had that rush of curiosity. What had I done?
I rounded up my creation and quickly made a case for it from a small box, adding an on/off switch. I proceeded downstairs for a bowl of ice cream. My parents were sitting in the den watching TV. Once seated in the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream, the TV in clear view but out of my parents line-of-sight, I turned on my device. Nothing happened initially but, upon turning the dial, the entire picture squished into a thin bright white horizontal line with a loud howl of audio horror - quite disturbing. "That's what I was talking about, never seen anything like it," my dad commented. I cut the power to my device and replied that "I've never seen anything like that either - like you said, must be the TV station having issues." I finished my ice cream, cleaned up, and proceeded back to my homework with a raw sense of satisfaction."
For whatever reason, sports never interested me - there was so much more to learn, so many more important things - and this thought inspired the greatest test of the incredible power of my little device. It was New Year's Day and all the neighborhood was gathered next door for the game. I sauntered over with my little box. It's not that I wasn't invited, so if I was seen I could just say I was seeing how the game was going. I went to the back sliding door and peeked in. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the TV and all kinds of coaching comments were being spewed. No sooner did I take this in than a commercial came on, at which point I quickly darted out of sight.
Now was the time to plan. Once the game started again, attention would be fixed and I'd have at least ten minutes until another commercial. I waited until I heard everyone yelling and coaching again and returned to my observation window. I waited for the perfect moment: a pass. It wasn't long and there it was: a lot of open field and a long pass. At this moment, I flicked the switch and the game condensed into a bright white line. The only difference was that the TV's horrific howl was drowned out by the screaming and pounding and cursing of eight or nine die-hard football fans. I thought they might break the TV! I quickly restored order and felt oddly guilty.
Some ten years later, I came clean and admitted to my hacking. We were all able to laugh.
SideFx
We suggest 20 years before admitting to something like this. Some football fans really hold a grudge.
Dear 2600:
I'm so glad I found your magazine. I have some things to say and ask. Here goes.
I have recently come to realize that I am a hacker (due to my very nature) after years of being told lies about hackers from the mainstream media, law enforcement, and Hollywood. I first found your magazine at a local bookstore and I was deadly afraid to buy it at first because I had no cash on me and it was during a point in my life when society was choking my soul. I was (and still am) afraid that buying 2600 and stuff from the 2600 store with a credit/debit card would get me put on some kind of blacklist. After spending the majority of my adulthood thus far finding myself as a human being, I became really interested in computers again when I took a programming class and found that I could do it. I started messing with hardware again and built a monster computer, learned to use Linux, etc. I'm well on my way to a great career in IT because of that. I eventually remembered 2600 and I bought it with cash for the first time just recently.
You can be happy in learning that I have fallen deeply, madly, and passionately in love with 2600. This magazine is going to be a huge part of my life and career and be a new addiction. I only have two issues I've bought off the newsstand with cash thus far, but I want to order a lot of back issues (plus Club-Mate!), which raises this question: Can I order something like a money order through the mail? I've seen on your site (which I visit through Tor) that I could use something like checks through snail mail, but part of me wants to keep as Iowa profile as possible.
It would be awesome to have a printable form and have stuff like shipping taken into account (I have no idea how much shipping would be for stuff like a ton of shirts that I'll be wearing at home, etc.). I honestly don't see how people can order with their credit cards and leave a paper trail and not be afraid that it'll end up stored somewhere! I have bought a lot of books about hacking (like Dr. K's Hackers' Handbook) with cash due to this kind of paranoia. I hope you can clear up stuff like ordering through mail. From what I've seen in the back of the magazine, back issues through mail order have free shipping within the U.S.?
I'm sure you get this very often, but I'm scared to dip my feet into the hacker community. I know that not all hackers are evil (I know, because I'm a moral person). Maybe one day this paranoia will leave me, but right now I'm being as careful as I can. I'm not trying to rob people of their money or infect their computers, do illegal stuff, or be an asshole, but due to how hackers are demonized, I'm afraid that I'll be targeted in some kind of way.
I'm afraid to go to 2600 meetings, access the 2600 IRC, or go to a hacker convention like HOPE for fear of my employer or the wrong person finding out and getting paranoid about me talking to other hackers and find myself getting fired or worse. I'm also afraid of being targeted by law enforcement (I read about what the Secret Service did to 2600 meetings in 1992) or that a law enforcement mole would be present and report me to my employer and get me fired or worse.
I'm scared shitless to join and reach out to a community of people I know are just like me in so many ways: my brothers and sisters. It might be that the lies of the media, Hollywood, etc. are still poisoning my psyche or that my imagination is hugely overactive, but as it stands, I'm paranoid, afraid, and alone.
P.S. I think you should have a permanent message of encouragement to burgeoning newbie hackers on your website who might be as afraid as I am to order from you or read your magazine.
A Paranoid Newbie Hacker Wanting to Find a Place to Belong
It's easy to say that your fears are unfounded, but that probably wouldn't do much to allay them. There are ways to get around your concerns regarding buying stuff if you're unable to use credit/debit cards, Bitcoin, and the various other payment methods we accept. You can always call our office staff (+1-631-751-2600) and place the order over the phone. It would be shipped once we get payment using whatever method you're comfortable with. That part is easy. But the hard part is getting past these barriers that are keeping you from truly becoming a part of the hacker community. We suggest taking tentative steps at first and only talk to those people you trust. If you know the difference between right and wrong, we doubt you'll run into any problems on the legal end. As for those who insist on categorizing you because of your interests, try and get those people out of your life, whether by changing jobs or just hanging out with more open-minded types. There's no reason in the world you should deny yourself knowledge and enjoyment because of the ignorance of others. Regardless of whether or not you feel it, you're most definitely not alone.