Check out the cover on the Summer 2010 edition of 2600, The Hacker Quarterly:
Cover, Summer 2010 issue, 2600 magazine
I saw it at my local Barnes & Noble bookstore and had to buy it for its complete awesomeness. The one thing 2600 has, every issue, is cool cover art.
I don’t know the exact system to which these tape cartridges belong, but I remember seeing very similar ones back in the late 1980s at the University of Maine’s computer lab.
The labels are what make this cover so great:
- The coordinates on the top cartridge’s white label mark the epicenter of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The “KH-5″ label on the side refers, I assume, to a series of early 1960s mapping / spy satellites. There may be a more significant connection between the two labels that I don’t get.
- I like the implicit message in the third tape’s label, that the Library of Congress is retaining tweets.
- I love the fifth tape’s label: If only such a tape existed, it would eliminate quite a bit of annoying political sideshow. Then again, no; it probably wouldn’t.
- The tapes from the seventh down are also quite amusing.
And taken in context with the “DESTROY” label on the box in the background, and the placement of the entire stack atop tabloid personals ads, really adds to the entire presentation.
I also like a recurring feature 2600 has of showing pictures and short descriptions of foreign payphones. While payphones — and, by implication, phreaking — are endangered tech, even in developing countries, phones play an important role in hacking’s history, culture and community. Besides, it’s interesting to see the technology of other places.
A pair of payphone images from the Summer 2010 issue of 2600 magazine.
Editorial Hubris
I have mixed feelings about 2600 in general.
The editorials can be juvenile and sophomoric.
For example, I remember a long-winded diatribe, some years ago, about a new loss-control policy that Barnes & Noble had imposed. Basically, the policy was, if copies were stolen or lost, that was too bad for 2600; B&N would only pay for those issues their computers said were sold.
Extensive column inches were expended lamenting that policy as patently unfair to 2600. Which it was. But, 2600 wrote, they had little choice but to comply, as they needed the newsstand sales.
Apparently, the hubris involved in that editorial hasn’t affected 2600′s relationship with B&N. But one has to wonder why 2600 would take that risk.
Then again, the Summer 2010 editorial is a reasonable, intelligent consideration of how hacking, and the subsequent political causes it has spawned, have influenced debate and reconsideration of copyright and similar issues in the digital age.
It overreaches at points, as editorials are wont to do. For example, it cites as cause for celebration Sweden’s Pirate Party gaining “over seven percent in recent (European Union) parliamentary elections.” That translates to two of Sweden’s 18 EU Parliament seats; the EU Parliament has 736 members, so those two seats represent 0.27 percent of that body.
But overall, it makes its point responsibly and convincingly.
I disagree with 2600′s practice of replying to letters. If 2600′s editors don’t consider a letter cogent, fair or correct, they shouldn’t print it. But it is abusing a bully pulpit to reply to letters, especially in a quarterly publication.
It’s also largely unnecessary, as most of the letters survive on their own merit nicely, and as a rule are some of the most interesting and entertaining content.
Cool Story, Bro
The articles tend to be pedestrian; anyone with a basic understanding of computers or networking should either know about the subjects covered, or at least be able to figure out the hacks based on a single-sentence presentation. For example, in the Summer 2010 issue, the following hacks were exposed:
- Google Analytics can be exploited by adding the tracking code for a domain to a completely unrelated domain’s page. Additionally, one can turn off JavaScript to disable Analytics tracking. The former point is by design, generally known to the Web development community and described in the Analytics documentation. The latter point is common sense.
- One can create a sock puppet Facebook account, use a Web-based campus directory to stock up on friends, then troll. Thanks for the tip.
- You can set up a WiFi router as an open network, then route all requests to a scary Web page telling people they shouldn’t use open networks. Again, thanks for the tip.
- You can print fake bar codes onto stickers, put those stickers onto products, then use a store’s self-checkout to steal. I’m sure the author would be willing to write your legal briefs for you when you’re sharing a jail cell.
And so on.
Epic Win
Then again, there are a few articles that are interesting:
- One author tells the story about having a microphone implanted into his throat and Bluetooth-enabled speakers placed in his ears. That was interesting.
- Another article explained that T-Mobile G3 service is wide-open for HTTPS connections, enabling prepaid / non-data-plan subscribers to have Web access for free (provided the sites they visit support SSL, of course). Because this is a quarterly, that hole has probably been closed, but I am sure it was fun while it lasted.
- There’s a useful overview on setting up what the author calls a “darknet,” or as a less-1337 user would call it, a multi-service proxy server. It doesn’t get into details, but it does visit the realm of possibilities and point those who might be interested in the right direction.
That’s 2600 for you, and I think it’s more than fitting as an allegory for digital — heck, for what that’s worth, real — life. Some of it is crap. Some of it is great. Mostly, it’s just there.
For those reasons, 2600 is like cotton candy to me: Largely fluff; barely nutritious; but fun to enjoy once or twice a year, when the mood is right.
All links in this post on delicious: http://delicious.com/dougvdotcom/a-completely-awesome-2600-cover
