After 20 Years, Phrack's Final Issue Looms

akahige writes "According to BBC News, the legendary phreaking/hacker magazine is set to close up shop after the publication of its forthcoming issue, no. 63 (which will be hardbound in commemoration). The editorial staff is stepping down, and no one has expressed an interest in taking up the reins. Bruce Sterling is quoted as saying, 'I'd be surprised to see the thing stay dead. They've got no fixed address and anonymous contributors.' If you've ever wanted to helm a magazine, here's your chance!" (See this earlier story as well.)

Comments

Help

[MarkRose]

I'd take over the magazine, but I'd have no phreaking clue how. Any advice?

Re:Help

[yootje]

1. Take over magazine 2. ??? 3. Profit!

Re:Help

[de Bois-Guilbert]

I'd imagine your best bet would be contacting someone in the current editorial team.

Re: Help

[Duke Machesne]

Well, you're going to want to use the left wire on your green box as the right wire on your handset. Dial '0' and then fire off the bat signal.

Re: Help

[makomk]

A lot of people don't seem to have got the joke

Re:Help

[Bazman]

Maybe several people will do this. Perhaps they think of forking Phrack. Try saying that seven times fast.

Re:Help

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm.. obvious man? are you out there?

It's a phreaking pun! A totally phat phreaking pun with phish and michelle phiffer... Phucking morons, go back to the phat pharm and eat another phillafel.

ugghghg never mind.

Re:Help

[Pantero Blanco]

Looks like they already have:

http://www.phrack.org/unoffical/

Re:Help

[GraemeDonaldson]

You misspelled "phorking" and "phast".

Re:Help

[glassjaw rocks]

If you didn't get the joke, don't reply.

("Phreaking". Google it, motherfucker.)

Re:Help

[yootje]

O yeah, and I was serious?

So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

The deadline for the call for papers was 10 July. So Phrack is now so irrelevant not even a bunch of geeks notices that for 2 days.

At least it taught me stack smashing.

Dupes

[Anonymous Coward]

dupe, dupe.

Re:Dupes

[aussie_a]

Actually, one of the links you included was included in the story, so I'd hardly call it a dupe. It acknowledged that it had been covered before, but the editors obviously felt the BBC article was worth mentioning (I also saw no mention of the offer for someone else to take up the e-zine in the previous articles).

I know calling dupe is a favourite past-time on slashdot, but how about we reserve it for when it is actually a dupe?

Re:Dupes

[Anonymous Coward]

Just doing as Taco does. He posts up stories claiming they are unique. We'll keep calling him on dupes. Sometimes he's wrong, sometime we are. More likely than not, we're not wrong.

Re:Dupes

[m50d]

I know calling dupe is a favourite past-time on slashdot, but how about we reserve it for when it is actually a dupe?

You're new here, aren't you?

Torrent

[billieja2]

Has anyone come across a torrent of every issue? I've searched but haven't come up with anything.

Re:Torrent

[tomjen]

Not exactly a torrent but:
for x in $(seq 1 62)
do
wget http://www.phrack.org/leecharch.php?p=$x
done

Re:Torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

Which programming language is this?

Re:Torrent

[wirah]

Bash script. vi get.sh paste those lines into vi exit vi (:wq) chmod a+x get.sh ./get.sh reap the rewards.

Re:Torrent

[billieja2]

Should have searched a little closer to home

Re:Torrent

[perseguidor]

Or, in bash 3 and up:

wget jttp://www.phrack.org/leecharch.php?p={1..62}

Replace that leading J with an H (slashdot's autolinking ruined it otherwise).

Re:Torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

curl -OL "www.phrack.org/leecharch.php?p=[1-62]"

Phack

[linux_haxor]

Phack its the last issue for phrack!

Practice what they preach?

[drspliff]

Again, SlashDot is prooving that it's no longer at the forefront of IT industry and geek news (as if we didn't know it already).. This story was out last week at the BBC..

The problem with looking for candidates to take over as the editorial team for the magazine is that they really should be 'inactive hackers'.

By this I mean that they should have the theoretical knowledge behind it to validate articles and write their own, but given the background of Phrack you just know that the FBI/CIA/MI5 will be paying a lot of attention to whoever steps up to take the role.

If the new candidate were ever to practice what they preach, you can be assured that they'll be looking for a new Phrack editor faster than you can say 'mandatory 20-year exemplary sentance'.

Re:Practice what they preach?

[drspliff]

Yes I know about the previous SlashDot articles on exactly the same thing, the first time around it was debated and much of the same points were brought up.

The second time around got all the usual 'its a dupe' posts, and this time it just isn't funny.

If anybody has ever read the BBC Technology news section they know their a week or two behind the cutting edge (most news articles seem dumbed down, as you would expect from the major news sites).

Perhaps there should be a new category 'News from BBC Technology' so I can just filter out this crap.

Re:Practice what they preach?

[zoefff]

normally, it is on the right in a slashbox.

Re:Practice what they preach?

[Anonymous Coward]

but given the background of Phrack you just know that the FBI/CIA/MI5 will be paying a lot of attention to whoever steps up to take the role.

Do you actually believe what you just said?

KILL IT ALLREADY

[scenestar]

What is phrack trying to do, push up its sales?

Phrack has had several finall issues in the past years.

Hacker mag quality decline

[spitefowl]

I've written a few articles for 2600, which seems to have a brotherly attitude towards Phrack. Though, some people consider 2600 to be Phrack-lite, which I can totally imagine. The quality of articles in both magazines have decreased slightly over the years. More so in 2600 imo. Could that be blamed on authors or just on subject matter? I think with the mass amounts of people that have access to both publications, mixed with the 'leet' people growing up into the professional world where this type of magazine may be frowned upon, leads to stale articles and "How to use Kazaa behind a firewall" articles. Either way, there's always a few good informative articles in either magazine, so it's sad to see one go. You could always read one of them, then go to the other for "the other stuff" without getting duplicate info. Now we just have to check out even more independent magazines, like Binrev (http://www.binrev.com/ and radioshows like RFA (http://www.oldskoolphreak.com/).

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[l0rd]

I would definatley agree with this. The cause of this (and the overal decline of quality in the "hacker" scene) is two things IMHO:

1) People entering the scene are getting dumber. While this could be said in general for the current generation (brainwashed by MTV, the whole No Logo thing etc. etc.), they are also being dumbed down by the computers/OSes they're using.

Windows is all click and play. Because of the internet theres no need to code stuff yourself (and therefore learn from it). Whereas in the old days one would pull out the debugger & hex editor when one wanted to crack a game, you can now just download the crack without problems. This is also true of all of the hacker tools.

Windows not having a standard built in programming enviroment (ala qbasic for dos) doesn't help either. While it can be argues that you can just install linux/bsd and be done with it, even linux is so easy to install these days any moron can do it without delving into how the OS itself works.

2) Like the article says, the learning curve is much higher for beginners. Before you can do something cool you have to learn a lot, essentially catching up with all the security progress that's been had these past couple of decades. It's not like the "good ol days" when you could just dial up/ connect to some system and use some arcane bug that's 2 years old to login.

I personally find this a sad state of affairs. It seems that few people in it for fun any more and only want a career as a "security consultant". :-(

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[Rob_Warwick]

I've never actually read Phrack, but 2600 is one that I try to pick up.

I do read it because in each issue there's one or two really good articles. But it saddens me that any magazine that claims to be semi-technical regularly has articles on how to remove spyware from freakin' Windows.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[th0mas.sixbit.org]

I too have had articles in 2600, and I have to agree 100% with parent. It seems that since 9/11 their articles are less risque and not usually more stunning than "intro to installing linux from your windows desktop" combined with re-written manuals from paging systems or phone networks and some highschool-esque level of rant about the state of the government.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[Crayon Kid]

1) People entering the scene are getting dumber. While this could be said in general for the current generation (brainwashed by MTV, the whole No Logo thing etc. etc.), they are also being dumbed down by the computers/OSes they're using.

[...]

2) Like the article says, the learning curve is much higher for beginners. Before you can do something cool you have to learn a lot, essentially catching up with all the security progress that's been had these past couple of decades. It's not like the "good ol days" when you could just dial up/ connect to some system and use some arcane bug that's 2 years old to login.

These reasons have always been there, in spirit if not in form. The dumb people never amount to anything more than script kiddies. And the beginners always have to learn a lot if they want to amount to anything.

It takes a special mix of curiosity, technical enclination and perseverence to make a hacker, regardless if he's hacking his dad's car engine or game protection.

So I'd argue that the reasons you listed lead to there being fewer hackers, not lower quality hackers.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[spitefowl]

Totally agree with the last statement, it's sad that most people use it as a stepping stone into a security career. Unforfunately(or fortunately?) these magazines don't usually mix well in anything other than possible pentest type jobs. I know I've been rejected for several jobs due to the fact that I've written in 2600. Alot of places see you as a liability.

My articles could even be blamed in part of the decline, as they aren't totally exploit/hacking driven as they are generally informative.
For example, my last article was about Bit Torrent(Old news by the time it was published). It wasn't about how to download l33t war3z or how to make it work when behind your corporate firewall. It was merely a small intro to how the protocol worked and what it was all about.

Due to the nature of my profession, I can't write articles about how to crack the new snazzy CD/DVD protection, or hack a Linux box in 12 easy clicks.

Even though, I think there's room for informative articles about how things work, even if you don't explain how to break it. Something like that not in Wired or PC Magazine where every other page is littered with HP/Dell and MS ads, written by the average joe is refreshing.

Give someone a push in the right direction, give them a little explanation about how it works and let their ingenuity do the rest. Regardless, you may not want to put it on your resume.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[Dr Kool, PhD]

2600 is feces. Half the mag is crazy leftist ranting about Bush, the other half is garbage tech articles. I don't know how 2600 gets away with charging for their sheit.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[Anonymous Coward]

I blame universities. There was a time when only people attracted to electronics and technology BY THEMSELVES went to university. Then university became a cult, inserted itself into society in such a way that degrees are required to sweep floors, and now anybody can enter into EE or any other kind of engineering. When you see teenage girls giggling with breadboards and chips, you know all the hard work has been done by previous generations of REAL ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS AND PHYSICISTS. Now it's just a hurdle to overcome to get a job.

In other words, it's boring. It attracts the wrong people. The interestng work has been done.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[morgan_greywolf]

I think the problem is that, ultimately, zine's like Phrack and 2600 have become obsolete. They grew up out of necessity, when Net access was expensive and BBSers would spread their zines far and wide.

Now that Net access is nearly ubiquitous, the same information can be gotten from the Web and IRC fairly easily. No longer is there a need for such things as Phrack and 2600. Some people were even suggesting that /. have a 'Phrack' section, precisely because it would be so easy to do just that.

Plus, many of the generations that started 2600 and Phrack have all grown up and gotten 'real jobs' and families and such. Many can't risk getting arrested or losing their job over practicing such techniques, so they don't get a chance to be as skilled in the 'dark arts' of IT as some.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[l0rd]

While I definatley agree with you that it takes a special mix of curiosity, technical enclination and perseverence to be technically capable you musn't also forget the gratification factor.

But you have to admit, to do something cool or new is a lot harder now just because a lot has already been done. Almost every vulnerability out there is a buffer overflow.

These days its a lot harder to just scew around with your computer within days of buying it and for example writing a crack in qbasic. You have to put in more effort than say 10 or 20 years ago.

Saying that however, there is now MUCH more information available freely on the internet than in the old days. Anything you want to learn you probably can. The whole thing sorta balances itself out.

BTW I get your point in that you don't call script kiddies hackers, but every since a certian movie about HACKERS came out it became cool and everyone and their mother wanted to do it. Therefore, I think there are a lot more clueless script kiddies out there now then before (or maybe it just feels like it ;-) )

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[l0rd]

I would agree with you on this, however the kind of articles you talk about are more general interest for the more advanced hobbyist.

Hacking is about making computers do stuff they're not supposed to. A lot of the time it involves "breaking" them. While there are enough technical papers being released these days on security they miss the "fun" factor (ie, they're mostly written for academia).

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[l0rd]

Totally agree with you here. But I think there is still a need for a hacker mag to write about stuff from the hacker point of view.

While there are enough papers on security, some stuff is still more difficult to find (pbxes for one). Also what's missing are articles about fun stuff to do (get free cola from vending machines etc).

However the most important thing a zine brings is a sense of community. Something written by hackers for hackers. Without the zines you just have a bunch of people doing stuff on their own. While you can publish something as a paper or put it on your website, it's not the same as having all sorts of articles in one place.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[spitefowl]

My point is that I see magazines like 2600 or Phrack, not necessarily having to be all about how-to's, but more geared towards that type of reader. There's a place for different types of articles including general interest, news, etc in addition to the how-to articles. Hell, anything to get rid of 8 pages of letters in 2600!

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[TeknoHog]

I agree with your points about using Windows and installing Linux. But actually using Linux is a different beast IMHO. It's possible to grow as a user and developer, whereas in Windows you're more or less stuck with the Fisher-Price environment.

One reason is, I believe, that Linux blurs the lines between user/developer/sysadmin. (This is not necessarily a good thing, for example in a corporate environment, but then again the limits can be enforced.) When you use Linux efficiently, you are using developer and sysadmin methods without giving it a second thought. For example shell scripting. I think it's a great way to ensure that some of today's users will grow into tomorrow's developers and sysadmins. Whereas I worry about Windows users who have a harder time migrating into the developer/admin world.

I used DOS/Windows for about 10 years, but as I switched to Linux I learned more about computers in a few weeks than I'd ever done before.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[sgt_doom]

I think you've nailed it exactly. There has to be more complexity given the progress to ever larger OS's - What is Win XP? 27 million lines of "optimized code" (according to MS). Plus, one need learn not only Unix, but Linux and other flavors as well.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[reflective recursion]

but every since a certian movie about HACKERS came out it became cool and everyone and their mother wanted to do it

Wargames anyone?

Seriously, anyone who glorifies "hacking" (cracking) is a moron. "Script kiddie" or not, you both come from the same cesspool. And don't give me that tired shit about how you just hack because you desire the know-how. There are literally millions of more worthy things to know than how to exploit bind to gain root access on a SunOS box. "Hacking" has always been a dick extension and looked at as a cool thing to do by prepubescents everywhere. It's hardly a recent trend.

Also, don't equate "hacking" with what legitimate programmers such as Linus, Alan, and RMS do (or have done). There's a world of difference between real knowledge and that pseudo-facade-bullshit knowledge "hackers" like to ballet around.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[stanmann]

The letters are my favorite part, especially this format

Dear 2600
I w4nt to brake my skewls computer system, I no how to format a hard drive and run a r00tk1t. pls hlp me be 1337.

00bar h4k3r.


Dear klewless n00b
If you really wish to destroy, use an axe. Hacking is about learning and building.

Ed.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell are you smoking?

one need learn not only Unix, but Linux and other flavors as well

Again, what the hell are you smoking? You must have been living with Osama in his cave to not realize that Unix/BSD has been fragmented since the dawn of time itself. The 1988 Morris Worm affected two machines while at the same time capable of exploiting sendmail, rsh, and a variety of other things. Complexity? You don't have a clue about it, my son. Back in 1988 when bandwidth really was limited and computers weren't even a fraction of a percent what they are today, the Morris Worm was the closest thing you will probably see to a computing miracle.

Today you can toss around 150k emails and people will never notice. Back then a 10k transfer would get noticed.

The kind of complexity you are talking about (software) is only a good thing for script kiddie hax0rz. The more complex software is, the more opportunity there is for exploitation. Combine that with the nearly limitless bandwidth and resources we have today and you can do damn near anything.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope this post is modded funny because 2600 claiming "hacking" is about learning and building is obviously bullshit. A few too many revisionists stirring the pot, it seems.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[blincoln]

There are literally millions of more worthy things to know than how to exploit bind to gain root access on a SunOS box.

There are literally millions of more worth things to know than how to turn a webcam into an infrared imager, how to combine filtered imagery from the Mars rovers into false-colour photos that approximate human or animal vision, or how the chemical structure of stimulants relates to natural neurotransmitters.

Those are the kind of things I find interesting, though. Just like some people are fascinated with hacking BIND (I preferred PS2 games because MIPS assembly is easier and the payoff is more amusing to me, when I had more free time).

Maybe I forgot to clear them with whoever I'm accountable to for what I do with my life.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[reflective recursion]

People who "hack" bind are telling themselves (and everyone else, hence most of the replies to this article) that it's just a hobby like the rest of the stuff you mentioned. In reality, most of these people are criminals or they associate with criminals on a daily basis. No "hacker" gets off the hook here.

No sane person hacks bind just because they want the thrill of exploitation. Let's not kid ourselves here. Sure, some people do it for peer recognition which consists of someone giving the "hacker" "props" in a .NFO file that accompanies some warez release. Which consists of something along the lines of "greetz to my nig l0rDl4m3r" etc. etc. Those people who do it for recognition are even more pathetic than the criminals who use this "knowledge."

I've been there, done that. I know that the vast majority of the "we do it for the information" mantra crowd are just spewing hyperbole. Just so they can feel more "elite" (or "leet" for those still entrenched in the culture) than those pathetic "script kiddies." There really is not that much distance between the two, and since "hacking" is entirely based on status you have to differentiate yourself however you can. Gotta have that dick extension and get on top. Have that 200 smurf (DDoS) botnet, etc. etc.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[l0rd]

Gotta agree on that one ;-). I agree too that there should be stuff that's of interest to the gener Hacker.

However, the problem these days is that most of the articles (especially in 2600) have become technically lame. I mean, how to run kazaa behind a firewall..... That's the kind of article you get time and time again. Wouldn't it be better to just write a series on how TCP/IP works or how SSH tunnels work for example? At least beginners would learn from stuff like that.

I don't disagree with you on the need for "lighter" reading material. It's just that if you take away the technical stuff a zine just becomes a hobbyist mag.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[sumdumass]

What about those that hack it to submit a patch so futher development can happen? What about those that hack it to see the security before they place information that could potentialy cost the company millions in lawsuites if it was ever cracked?

You act as if there is no legit form of hacking when there is. Or mayber you are just trying to call the legit versions somethign else?

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[reflective recursion]

The term "hacking" has been co-opted first by the cracker/warez/phreak community then by the media.

It only gets confusing because people like Paul Graham, Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, et al. come from an era when "hacking" meant hobby programming. Then during the '90s they unfortunately referred to what they did as "hacking." Which is why the previous poster's web page refers to Linux as the "Hacker OS," although the intent and usage is really "Cracker OS" which is definately not what Linus had in mind. I really can't believe we are having this discussion in 2005 on what used to be a fairly informed forum.

Submitting a patch to fix a bug is not the same as deliberately breaking software (what you call "hacking"). No person on the face of planet Earth breaks software like those who read and contribute to Phrack/2600 magazines to test how secure software is or to submit patches.

Those who legitimately push software to its limits during a test phase are doing just that: testing. They consider it part of the process of programming and not a seperate activity. They are not actively looking for ways to exploit software so they can override security mechanisms in place. If they find a nasty bug that allows such a thing, then they will fix it and probably send a patch to those who need it. This has absolutely nothing to do with what Phrack/2600 are concerned with.

It is a matter of intent. Legit programmers like Linus would never want to be associated with those who take an interest in Phrack magazine. We are talking about a magazine that advocates stealing credit card numbers and defrauding people. You act as if Phrack could be mentioned in the same breath as Byte, Compute, or hell, even Linux Gazette magazines. We all know there is a substantial difference between the two groups and you have already admitted it. Only now you seem to be trying to turn criminal activity into a legit interest. It's not.

It's sick and perverse to read Phrack just for the information (as you and many others harp on about). I guarantee there are not more than a handful of people who read Phrack and do *not* attempt to partake in any criminal activity. The information is there to be used, and a goddamn ton of people *are* using it.

Re:Hacker mag quality decline

[sumdumass]

Ok i see your point exactly now.

I never read phrack and was just going on an article i read about somethign that was published in it.

The term "hack" does have a differing meaning today then it once did. I find myself guilty in using it for seemingly inocent means when after listening to you explanation, i'm probably using the wrong terms. I guess i was exploring your perception of what i considered (ethical) hacking more then trying to contradict your statments.

I have taken webcame and made infra red cameras before, i even "hacked" together a display to project it onto my windshield in an attempt to iluminate obsticles on dark roads. Fabricate, through together, or manipulate might be a better term to use then "hack". There is however a site out that attempts to dispell the differences between hacking and cracking wich basicaly deals with intent and the uunderlying actions. This is most likley why we are having deiscusions about it today. Too many different people have too many differing interpretations of the definition.

laughable

[halgorithm]

Hacker magazines don't die; they get detained by the Department of Homeland Security...

Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[inkdesign]

Why can't Shashdot add a "Phrack" section, being that Phrack content is contributed in a similar manor, and keep the party going?

Re:Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[A beautiful mind]

That would be consistent with the quality decrease Phrack is showing for the last few years now. ;)

Re:Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[sigmoid_balance]

Because comments like "I for one welcome our stack-smashing overlords", do not qualify in a hacker community. Who would be the editors? Come on, I see here complains about the editoring of slashdot as it is ... old news, dupe stories, plus as some of the other posters have said, a strong "hacker" culture is required to be an editor for something like Phrack. Slashdot is going down, quality-wise. I for one will not go for a Phrack which is the same. In my oppinion the parent is hugely overrated. Sorry mate.

Re:Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[Anonymous Coward]

Phrack content is contributed in a similar manor

Phrak content is given to a large house?

Re:Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[Pantero Blanco]

No, you hand it over to the editor in the large house that he's given upon receiving the mantle of editorship. How could you misunderstand that?

Re:Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[Shaklee39]

Because comments like "I for one welcome our stack-smashing overlords", do not qualify in a hacker community

Thanks for that, I am laughing my ass off :)

Re:Slashdot should "helm" Phrack..

[xombo]

Because /.'s editors aren't knowledgable in the same way as Phrack's are, they'd never be able to legitimately edit and prove posted articles.

Goodbye Phrack

[Afecks]

The editorial staff is stepping down, and no one has expressed an interest in taking up the reins.

Each year the articles get goofier. However, I don't think that was really a bad thing, just not a very good source of technical information.

Luckily there is still the 29A zine. Always a great read but it won't show you how to get free soda.

Re:Goodbye Phrack

[jnf]

while i like 29a and am friends with many of the original 29a authors, i giggled at the concept that it has overall been a better zine than phrack.

Seriously, consider the first years of phrack and then tell me with a straight face it has gotten worse.

Re:Goodbye Phrack

[jnf]

also, if you look at things, 29a is more or less dead. The most interesting people have left the group many of which to go on to better things.

Re:Goodbye Phrack

[Afecks]

I think as long as VirusBuster is around we will keep getting new issues.

Re:Goodbye Phrack

[Anonymous Coward]

From the manifesto:

We code viruses for the fun of it, because it's our hobby, not because we want to harm other people or to get ourselves into trouble.

We code viruses to invent new techniques, improve on existing techniques and to learn more about the various OSes. We know there are hundred of other ways to do this, probably better ways, yet this is what we like. This is as we said before, our hobby, or at least one of them.

Our goal is to create new, unique, interesting viruses and virus utilities and to release 29A magazine on a regular and more frequent basis. Releasing the magazine frequently has been a problem for us, however, we are getting better but it is still something for us to work at.

/rolls eyes

Re:Goodbye Phrack

[deinol]

First thing I thought when looking at the article was, didn't I read Phrack #62 more than a year ago? Turns out the last issue was released: 2004-07-13. I think the biggest reason for it's decline is it has only come out once a year for the past several years. Back in the day, it may not have been monthly, but it at least came out frequently enough to generate interest.

I'd love to see a new team take over, and at the least release issues every 3-4 months.

Re:Goodbye Phrack

[jnf]

notice virusbuster is no longer in #virus and is only in #vxers.

so...what ever DID happen to Craig Neidorf?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did he get his law degree? Has he now sold out to "the man"?

I remember the lawyers who defended him got only a few thousands in donations to pay for Craig's defense and 'ate' the 100,000 or so legal bill. But that's about all I remember of the post-lawsuit info.

I volunteer to take over.

[mrRay720]

I volunteer to take over. Please contact me at:

Mr Spy
123 FBI Street
Secretsville
12345

and I will arrange for you to visit me to hand over all relevant material.

Thank you.

Re:I volunteer to take over.

[Mike Buddha]

I volunteer to take over.

You and half the other goobs in Loopback. :p

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE: arrested for $13 documen

[putko]

Some things never change! FTFA:

Phrack editor Knight Lightning, aka Craig Neidorf, was arrested, charged with fraud and tried before a grand jury for reprinting most of a confidential document, known as the E911 document, stolen from the Bell South telephone company. Bell South claimed that the confidential E911 document contained sensitive information and put its value at $80,000.

The case became a cause celebre for the digital underground and Mr Neidorf's defence was organised by the fledgling Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The case against Mr Neidorf collapsed when it was shown that the E911 paper could be ordered by phone from Bell South for only $13.

BBC no longer at the forefront of geek news

[toby]

You must have the memory of a /. editor: The story first appeared here on 30 May and (this being /. ...) 22 January. Three times not enough for you?

Re:BBC no longer at the forefront of geek news

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for that. Remembering that I'd seen this story a couple of times in the past on slashdot, I thought maybe Phrack was pulling a Rolling Stones where every issue was the "last" issue, but I was too lazy to look for it to see if they were all referring to the same issue or not. ;)

How about Slashdot?

[LS]

Anyone willing to take over Slashdot? They've been asleep at the wheel for a while here too...

I actually offered to help

[Anonymous Coward]

I offered to help back in Feb but never heard back from anyone there. Also if you look carefully at the site all it says was that "...a glorious era comes to an end. #63 will be _our_ last PHRACK RELEASE -- EVER...."

I have a feeling that they all ready have a second editorial team lined up.

Sad Day

[blankmeyer]

As a long time reader, I am saddened by this. Hopefully, someone will step up and take the reigns and continue the work the PHRACK team started.

Good bye phrack.

[Anonymous Coward]

The information was good but the spirit died long time ago when people in the scene started bragging about their jobs and their money. It became worse than rap videos. People started writing under their real names and linking to their resumes ...

Wouldn't look good on your resume

[Anonymous Coward]

I imagine it wouldn't look good on your resume if you'd be a Phrack editor. Phrack is a magazine that has published instructions to build home made bombs and such. It is a war against the terrorists going on guys! If I was hiring some IT guy, I would check his background and I wouldn't hire if that guy had anything to do with Phrack.

Re:Wouldn't look good on your resume

[kyoorius]

If I was hiring some IT guy, I would first do a search to see if he was reading and posting messages on Slashdot during work hours, such as the guy above.

Re:Wouldn't look good on your resume

[Anonymous Coward]

...and if so, you'll give him at a higher pay?

This is really the end!!

[Spez]

Slashdot coverage of the "lasts final issues"

may 30th : Phrack Final, #63
January 22nd : Phrack E-zine comes to an end #63

Dupe of a dupe?

[slapout]

Isn't this a dupe of a dupe? Or is this like one of those stores that are always having going out of business sales (yet stay in business for years) ?

So sad

[g0bshiTe]

Phrack was some of the stuff I enjoyed reading. I think the whole spirit behind it is dead and should anyone take over it won't be the same phrack.

To the current and past Phrack staff. Thanks guys for all you've done for me, and all you've stirred.

Dupe of a dupe...

[nathan s]

...does that make this tripe?

I hope it's...

[Viraptor]

I hope it's only part of next issue - "messing with media for fun and profit"...

When I'm 64

[Doc Ruby]

The first step in restarting Phrack v2.0 would be getting an issue counter larger than 6 bits. Or is that Phrack v10?

"There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't." - Unknown Wisehacker

Right! And read all about it here

[FunWithHeadlines]

Indeed, in the courtroom, Bell South was embarrassed when they were forced to admit how they came up with that inflated number. If you would like to read more about this case, Phrack editor Knight Lightning, Phrack and 2600 itself, I strongly recommend The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling, which you can freely download from the link in whatever format you want.

It also talks about the famous Steve Jackson Games court case, and lots of good history about the BBS days. It also talks about the first hackers, and believe me it goes far, far back, long before computers existed... Required reqading.

I run a hacking zine

[Anonymous Coward]

http://eurohacker.mine.nu

Guns, hacking, survival, paranoia :)

We're no Phrack yet..

#eurohacker on irc.freenode.org

war against the terrorists for last 40 years

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop picking your nose long enough to read some history - we've been affected by terrorists for a long time now. Plane hijackings were popular in the 60's and 70's, then we had a cruise ship hijacking, embassy hijacking, Olympic village attack, World Trade Center bombing in '93 for which the perps are IN JAIL, not merrily fucking goats and issuing fatwas on the Pakistani border.

loopback

[Anonymous Coward]

You are lucky phrack is closing, otherwise you would end up in the loopback section :)

Memmories...

[Anonymous Coward]

This post reminds me the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. "Give me five bees for a quarter," you'd say.

Now where were we? Oh yeah - the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

The Mentor

[Anonymous Coward]

Well-known hackers such as the Mentor??

Loyd "The Mentor" Blankenship was a "journalist" and never hacked a byte in his life. And now the BBC anoints him as one of the key hackers of our time?

The press is evil in how it writes false histories.

Not that anyone probably cares, but give me a break.

Re:Right! And read all about it here

[Lew Payne]

You seem to be well-learned in prior history. Surely someone as astute and erudite as yourself knows the person writing this.

Editorial changes? No big deal.

[shark72]

I mean, who hasn't edited Phrack? I gave it a go for issues 15 through 17, where I predicted that Phrack would survive at least through issue 34. At the time, I didn't know it would reach its absolute nadir with issue 33.

The reason for the change in issue 15 and then in issue 18 was schooling -- we crazy kids were actually going to college to try to do something more productive with our lives (in my case, it didn't work).

Copy of the final issue

[akad0nric0]

It would be nice if the Phrack editors would make the bound final issue available online for a reasonable fee. I won't be able to get to where it will be available, but would love to have a copy.

Given that the roots of Phrack and the EFF are so closely tied, it would be a great gesture to donate any profits made from online sales to the EFF...

It's sad to see such a historical element of a sub-culture that so influenced me fade away. Here's hoping 2600 can keep it alive.

phrak should become the new battlestar galataca

[Anonymous Coward]

phrak should become the new battlestar galactica
blog. that would be cool.

I bet

[iminplaya]

you can find an "early" release on some Canadien site.

bah

[Anonymous Coward]

blahblha

blahblah crap

Re:Right! And read all about it here

[FunWithHeadlines]

Nope, I don't know any of the characters involved in any of these cases, or the parent poster. I've just read about it in the book I linked, and I was around in those days to read about the stories as they happened.

Re:This is really the end!! -- You Wish!

[gizmonic]

We'll get at least two more dupes out of this. One when the final issue is actually published, and one more a few days later when some news site reports on the last issue having been published. And if we're really lucky, some news site trying to be cool and failing will notice like a month or two later and we'll get yet one last posting about it.

You may like my zine

[Anonymous Coward]

http://eurohacker.mine.nu/

Is this their "LAST" Last Issue?

[zonker]

Like Apple and BSD, it has been expected they were on their last legs many times. Perhaps they ought to roll in together with 2600 magazine or Blackhat 411 (which recently came back from the dead... again)...

Re:Is this their "LAST" Last Issue?

[zonker]

errr... Blacklisted 411 that is...

Issue 63?

[AngryDill]

...set to close up shop after the publication of its forthcoming issue, no. 63...

It appears they shouldn't have used just a 6-bit issue counter!