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I was amazed to see what I did in the Fed, countless web apps with Java/Ruby that were “more secure” than client server or terminal services, or Ada code (which I am learning now). There is so much junk out there!

I hope to resume attending the San Francisco first Friday meetings again.

Coyote

We hope you do too, as you have a lot to share. We believe people at the meeting will appreciate this.

Dear 2600:

I have been reading your mag for going on a year. In that time, I have moved from medium to max, and finally supermax custody. I am literally on death row. The BTK serial killer along with one of the Carr brothers are my neighbors. For about eight months, I have been in solitary confinement. When I was in a different prison (Lansing, Kansas), someone got into certain parts of their system through a law library computer on the LexisNexis network. For about three or four days, it was really like the Gestapo were going to get us.

And... here I am. I am out the door in six months. They moved me from one cell to another for the last four months after my phone in my cell decided to test a few theories. One worked. I will be submitting an article when I get out. Every time they take something from me, I gain more.

I am enclosing something your readers may find interesting. I by no means am trying to get hackers (locked up or otherwise) to hide. Never. But we are being classified as dangerous - hence, the 23 hours locked down, next to inmates who strangled 11 people.

I only have one more issue left on my subscription. It was a good test to see if I could get it. And I encourage all hackers to explore their environment.

Never underestimate the power of the right word and a smile.

Twenty Six Hundred

(apparently, this is my name)

The item you enclosed indeed referred to you by that name. It seems that you can earn that handle in prison simply by reading our magazine. Let’s hope you never have to experience any more of their unique way of thinking.

Questions

Dear 2600:

Can I use the Off The Hook audio on my website? I am wanting to add an audio player so my visitors can listen to the shows.

Bryan

We encourage this sort of thing. We just ask that you also point people to the source of the material. If you have access to a broadcast facility of any sort, we also encourage simulcasts or rebroadcasts so that even more people get sucked in.

Dear 2600:

Strange subject I'm sure, but I'd guess you've seen worse. My question is, I would like to find a good community of tinkerers/hackers to talk with and perhaps even a good IRC or two. I never seem to be able to find channels with people actually talking. Do you guys have any advice for someone who just realized that he is a hacker (the learning meaning, not the cracker) at heart who just needs a little guidance? Thanks, even if this kind of question annoys you.

false

Well, the word “cracker” annoys us because it’s such a meaningless term that’s designed to foster suspicion and elitism. But we welcome questions of all sorts. You simply have to look around a bit and take some chances by wandering into forums, channels, and real-life 2600 meetings. You may not find what you’re looking for right away, but do keep trying. You may also find positive things that you didn’t know you were looking for. Nothing is predictable in our world.

Dear 2600:

I am a 13-year-old with some skill in computers. I picked up your Winter issue (27:4), and I loved seeing all of the information in there. However, while reading it, it occurred to me: what is a hacker? I used Google and searched it, and I came up with www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html as the first result. However, that didn't seem to properly embody what your magazine described. Interestingly, 2600 is mentioned in the article as a way to "get ready to do five to ten in the slammer."

So, getting to the point, what is the "hacker" that 2600 talks about, and how is it different from the one Mr. Raymond talks about?