The Hacker Crackdown cover art

The Hacker Crackdown

Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier

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The Hacker Crackdown

By: Bruce Sterling
Narrated by: Tom Parks
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About this listen

The bestselling cyberpunk author “has produced by far the most stylish report from the computer outlaw culture since Steven Levy’s Hackers” (Publishers Weekly).

Bruce Sterling delves into the world of high-tech crime and punishment in one of the first books to explore the cyberspace breaches that threaten national security. From the crash of AT&T’s long-distance switching system to corporate cyberattacks, he investigates government and law enforcement efforts to break the back of America’s electronic underground in the 1990s. In this modern classic, “Sterling makes the hackers - who live in the ether between terminals under noms de net such as VaxCat - as vivid as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. His book goes a long way towards explaining the emerging digital world and its ethos” (Publishers Weekly).

This edition features a new preface by the author that analyzes the sobering increase in computer crime over the twenty-five years since The Hacker Crackdown was first published.

“Offbeat and brilliant.” - Booklist

“Thoroughly researched, this account of the government’s crackdown on the nebulous but growing computer-underground provides a thoughtful report on the laws and rights being defined on the virtual frontier of cyberspace . . . . An enjoyable, informative, and (as the first mainstream treatment of the subject) potentially important book . . . Sterling is a fine and knowledgeable guide to this strange new world.” - Kirkus Reviews

“A well-balanced look at this new group of civil libertarians. Written with humor and intelligence, this book is highly recommended.” - Library Journal

©1992 by Bruce Sterling. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
History Security & Encryption White Collar & Corporate Crime Computer Security Hacking Witty True Crime Hacker

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A history lesson from the past.

Ok for a history lesson, though not relevant in 2021. So there must be more relevant books for today?

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A wonderful history of the Hacker Crackdown

I don't quite understand the negative feedback from some reviewers. Sure this is somewhat dated these days, sure things have moved on, but you wouldn't say the same thing about a history of WW2 would you? This is a moment in time, a very important moment in time in the history of the internet, and the history of the hacker. Sterling captures that moment beautifully, from the viewpoint of someone who not only lived through it, but had a chip in the game and a part to play. I really enjoyed not only the history, but the personal viewpoint of one of the great authors in the Cyberpunk genre, and how he saw things unfolding in the real world as well as the Cyber world.

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