Hackers 95

kevin mitnick, emmanuel goldstein, 2600, defcon, dark tangent, winn schwartau, military, government, phon-e, r.f. burns, erik bloodaxe, summercon, phrack, robert steele, fbi, secret service, bob stratton, michael peros, jim settle, bruce schneier, hacker jeopardy, area 51, conspiracy, operation cybersnare, credit card, peter cavicchia, 1990s

'Hackers 95 - Information should be free' is a documentary filmed by Phone-E and R.F. Burns during the summer of 1995. The documentary covers Summercon, Defcon III, Area 51, and other locations.

During the first half, the documentary focuses on interviews with Erik Bloodaxe and Emmanuel Goldstein. These interviews reveal two different approaches to the process of hacking and the hacker community. Erik Bloodaxe, an editor of freely available Phrack Magazine, challenges Goldstein's refusal to make 2600 Magazine freely available in electronic form. 'If information wants to be free whose magazine is free?', asks Erik. On the other hand, Emmanuel describes his magazine as a way to distribute knowledge available on BBSs in printed form. In his interview, Emmanuel Goldstein equates hacking to going to a university library without a card; as an example, he uses a case of Kevin Mitnick to illustrate how much the punishment got blown out of proportions compared to the actual crime. Erik Bloodaxe on the hand believes that Kevin got what he deserves and people who use analogies like “information wants to be free” to steal someone's credit information should be thrown to jail. While both Erik and Emmanuel agree on an apparent disconnect between hackers and law enforcement agencies, they disagree on the corrective action. Where Erik attempts to bridge the gap by educating government and law enforcement officials, Emmanuel takes on a role of exposing and reporting on government injustices. In this documentary, Erik predicts a large surge of hacker wannabes as a result of the movie Hackers.

Beyond interviews, the documentary has a good coverage of Summercon and Defcon III conferences. There are several talks included in the film. Robert Steele makes several strong points about the lack of security education for developers and an increased utilization of hackers by criminals. Bruce Schneier talks about the future of cryptography. Jim Settle describes how technologically behind is FBI. Conference coverage also includes a cordless phone prank. 'MCI, you can hear a needle drop'.

There is a fairly long segment on the Area 51. The documentary culminates with a press release by Peter A. Cavicchia, Secret Service, on 'Operation Cybersnare', a sting operation that resulted in arrests of individuals involved in credit card and cellular phone fraud.

Overall, 'Hackers 95 – Information should be free' is an excellent documentary capturing hacker community and issues of mid-90s from a perspective free of sensationalism.