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B&N Pulls Linux Format Magazine Over Feature On 'Hacking'
New accepted submitter super_rancid writes that issue 154 of the "UK-based Linux Format magazine was pulled from Barnes and Noble bookstores in the U.S. after featuring an article called 'Learn to Hack'. They used 'hack' in the populist security sense, rather than the traditional sense, and the feature — which they put online — was used to illustrate how poor your server's security is likely to be by breaking into it."
That's because Linux is an OS used predominately by criminals to hack machines. I appluad Barnes and Noble for this responsible reaction.
Odds are that Linux Format magazine is about to see an increase in circulation.
Say what?
I used to pick up my copies of 2600 at a local B&N years ago...
Sad.
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
With a title like "Learn to Hack" you're expecting instructions about chopping up things like bodies, not about poor server security.
They'll happily stock martial arts magazines, full of special features about new and exciting ways to hurt people.
Wait, a company has a virtual monopoly on brick and mortar book stores and suddenly doesn't feel any pressure to carry a product like this, since no one can go down the street and get it from a competitor? Get out of town....
That is really odd, as my local B&N was still carrying 2600 last time I was in, and there are similar articles in every issue.
Realities just a bunch of bits.
Could it be that the buyout of B&N by Microsoft has produced the first victim?
Or just a "unfortunate coincidence" that the magazine censured over a word is a Linux magazine?
Remember what happened last time, Redcoat.
No it's not. If a government agency had tried to force them to take it down, that would have been a case of infringement. But as a private entity, B&N can decide what to carry in their product line.
In an age where brick and mortar bookstores are no longer the most economic method to deliver printed matter, and where the needs and desires of consumers can be far more fully met online, needlessly exposing yourself to ridicule and consumer anger is not a good business strategy.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
I used to go to Barnes and Noble to buy 2600 Magazine because it was the only place in town that carried it. This was in the Midwestern US in the mid-1990s. I guess times have changed (OK I know times have changed).
They missed 2600. The b&st@rds.
When they pull that, I have -1 reasons to go to B&N. And since they bought my data from Borders and spammed me immediately, I've been a little peeved at them. Now I can explain to the wife how buying books at Amazon isn't hurting the local seller. The local seller is well capable of hurting itself.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
So how many different definitions of the word 'hacker' is there now, 1337? Seriously though, I'm sick and tired of all the mystery and ignorance surrounding the subject.
I suggest Linux Format Magazine picks up the pace. They should feature a "hacking" article EVERY ISSUE.
In fact, I'm thinking about going into publishing a HACKING magazine right now. With Blackjack and Hookers....
2600 magazine rules that niche, but maybe with something like "HACKING" right on the cover, they'd give me lots of free publicity by pulling it.
BTW: How is it that they carry MAKE magazine? Technically, that's hacking as well...
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
less dangerous reading material that has hurt no one.
Stop being stupid.
I cut my teeth on articles about "hacking". I've used "hacking" tools going back to the one that got Dan Farmer fired, and before. My interest in security was sparked by downloading an exploit for the Solaris eject command. Download, compile, omg! Root prompt!
The catch? I did all those things on boxes I was paid to secure. I've never broken into anyone's systems but my own, and I have legitimate rights to do that. Information is information. It's not "good" or "bad". I have a bookshelf full of books, mostly bought in your stores, that could teach you how to "hack" or how to secure systems and networks. Guess what I've been paid to do for going on 20 years?
From the 2600 lawsuit? a few years ago B&N was refusing to carry them in the stores, and 2600 sued them, or at least threatened to and they put them back.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I thought China was our majority debtor.
They sell 2600, I know because I buy it there.
...but I am going to get one now.
Unacceptable... a bookseller doesn't have the right to assert opinion in this manor.
I wouldn't want them if they were free ... not backlit ...
Not to be rude, but what cave are you reading magazines in that doesn't have sufficient light to read a magazine?
They used 'hack' in the populist security sense
WTF is that?
To 99% of the world, a hacker is someone who steals your password, your money, puts kiddie porn on your computer and publishes all your email.
Like it or not, folks doing legitimate security assessments or building custom gadgets, etc. would do well to come up with term other than "Hacker".
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
If, in the 70's they pulled Esquire Magazine for carrying the article "Secrets of the Little Blue Box", an article that described phone phreaking.
This inspired Steve Jobs to convince friend Woz to design and build Blue boxes, which eventually lead to the founding of Apple... now the biggest company in the world...
Apple started from hacker/phreaker roots, and inspired by an article published in a magazine. Just imagine the damage they've done to the future by pulling this Magazine.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
You can't buy Linux Format because of an article about hacking (which is legal), but you can buy your copy of High Times (full of articles about something illegal under federal law)...
if (it != oneThing) it = another;
Or did you think that Mel Gibson film was a documentary?
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/d2600-magazine-2600-magazine/1108150347?ean=2940013699236
Best Slashdot Co
I do. They accept a level of abuse which would kill every electronic device.
That's okay, I'll just head down the street to buy a copy from .... Oh, wait .... I know! I'll just go online and order it off .... Oh, shoot. Hmm, where did all the competition go? Oh well, I guess I'll just read whatever B&N or Amazon recommend for me..... Aaah, Excel For Dummies. Excellent.
----
Not to be confused with Col.
Scarne on Cards
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scarne-on-cards-john-scarn/1104279175?ean=9780451167651
Teaches you how to cheat at card games.
Originally produced for the US Army during WW2, it was designed to reveal methods of cheating so a soldier could tell when he was being cheated, just like the Linux Format article.
Understanding bad people is not the same as being a bad person; ignorance is neither power nor protection.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Which US Law that is violating our first Amendment rights that would require B & N to take it down... Perhaps B & N is worried about something.
Though your grammar and sentence structure make it difficult be certain, it appears that you seem to think that the First Ammendment applies here. If so, you are very much mistaken. Stupid even. B&N can choose to sell, or not sell, anything they want
Where does everybody get the sense that back in the day we didn't use the word for both of those things?
In 1988, a hack was used to describe a clever tweak of something to do something new, social engineering, and security intrusions. And, as far as I know, had been used in those ways for some time.
I've simply never gotten this whole "it's crack not hack" stuff, because it feels like we're changing after the fact how the word was actually used in practice. But when I was in highschool in the mid 80s, hacker was the only word we used -- 'cracker' came later.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
No, the major US creditor is internal US debt. China owns 7% of the total US debt, which is 30% of the foreign debt.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
If so, does that mean they are responsible for the content of the other 499 magazines + 20000 books in their store?
By the way, did any store ban The New Republic when they published a possibly pedophilic article 17 years ago? Or the National Review when they continued to publish what may be seen as racist articles into this decade? I don't know if they did, just wondering.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
This sounds like it is just a publicity stunt. B&N carries all kinds of magazines on "Hacking," specifically 2600 Magazine. For what it's worth, my local B&N stores carry very few copies of Linux Format magazine every month and usually sell out mid-month. Also, this is still on the shelf as of today, not "pulled."
So, please tell me exactly when we started to differentiate that way. I would dearly love to know this, and I've never been able to figure out exactly where it came from.
In the mid 80's, it was hacker for both. To me 'cracker' is a term which started in the late 90s or so long after plenty of us were already using the word hacker to describe both of those.
I've never bought this distinction, because it sounds arbitrary, and completely doesn't agree with the usage that was widespread at the time.
Someone came along after we'd been using 'hacker' and demanded we start using cracker, and people since then have been saying "oooh, it's cracker, not hacker" ever since.
So, in my experience and opinion, it's a totally bullshit distinction that everyone gets all butt hurt about, but which happened after the term hacker was already widely used for both. I can just never dig up a reference to when the usage started to shift.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Well.
You're wrong.
Watch some old C64 Demos from pirate groups, or opening crawls from pirated games. "Cracker" and "cracking" is a term that has been around for a long, long time. Pre-1985. Example: "(c) This game cracked by Phreakers. L8mers go home."
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Quiet! B&N might catch on and stop selling 2600 as well!
Lizzie Borden to her Pa: "Papa, can I play outside?" Pa: "Go axe your mother."
They don't care if you hurt people, or even if you do it publicly.... But hacking into my server could cause me to LOSE MONEY, and B&N just won't stand for that.
Alternatively, the solution is simple: Let's all go visit Barnes and noble today and ask them for that particular issue. When they see how much MONEY they could be making by selling it, they may change their tune.
Of course the have the right. It's their shop.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Is your son obsessed with "Lunix"? BSD, Lunix, Debian and Mandrake are all versions of an illegal hacker operation system, invented by a Soviet computer hacker named Linyos Torovoltos, before the Russians lost the Cold War. It is based on a program called "xenix", which was written by Microsoft for the US government. These programs are used by hackers to break into other people's computer systems to steal credit card numbers. They may also be used to break into people's stereos to steal their music, using the "mp3" program. Torovoltos is a notorious hacker, responsible for writing many hacker programs, such as "telnet", which is used by hackers to connect to machines on the internet without using a telephone. Your son may try to install "lunix" on your hard drive. If he is careful, you may not notice its presence, however, lunix is a capricious beast, and if handled incorrectly, your son may damage your computer, and even break it completely by deleting Windows, at which point you will have to have your computer repaired by a professional. If you see the word "LILO" during your windows startup (just after you turn the machine on), your son has installed lunix. In order to get rid of it, you will have to send your computer back to the manufacturer, and have them fit a new hard drive. Lunix is extremely dangerous software, and cannot be removed without destroying part of your hard disk surface.
The shouldn't assert it in a castle, estate or roundhouse either...
Wow, are you from the PAST? That's was a valid point in 1995, now it's too late.
And you definitions are fucking stupid.
- hacker == hobbyist; enginner(sic) or technician - moral position is irrelevant
- cracker == thief; like a safecracker - moral position is irrelevant.
also - People who broke copy control, or modified games where also called crackers. Of course you don't seem me whining that everybody should keep using that term by its 1985 definition.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
See, people here don't understand the news. Hacker does X is the same as Driver does X.
IN the news, X will be a 'bad' thing. That doesn't not mean all Drivers or hackers are bad.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Remember what happened last time, Redcoat.
Last time the Americans and the British fought, the British occupied Washington, D.C. and burned the White House to the ground. It turns out it's much easier to just blockade American ports and burn cities, if you aren't trying to chase an insurgent army across the continental United States.
So say you. I'm familiar with the usage, but the 'crack' would have been done by a 'hacker'.
The crack purely denoted a version which had the copyright broken. It was still widely described as hacking.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-of-2600-emmanuel-goldstein/1102658944?ean=9780470294192
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/2600-magazine-2600-magazine/1104039139?ean=2940014186568
Yet, B&N in the US is one of the few remaining places where I can still buy 2600 which tends to cover both hacking and cracking. You know... I always wondered why all the censorship movies and book seem to happen in Europe... V for Vendetta, 1984, etc...
- hacker == good guy; hobbyist; enginner or technician - cracker == bad guy; thief; like a safecracker
We need to teach the reporters and press the difference between these two words, so they start using "crack" or "cracker" for someone up to no good rather than demeaning us enginners, technicians, and hobbyists.
Or recognise that language changes, recognise that it's a natural process, and try to keep up.
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Was this before or after Microsoft signed a multi-billion dollar deal with B&N?
The shouldn't assert it in a castle, estate or roundhouse either...
Would You? Could You? In a Car?
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
Yeah, they really jewed us hackers out of that term :(
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
I've always found 2600 and blacklisted (back in the day) at B&N. This is just bizarre.
I live in the UK and am subscribed. I received it, back in February. It's about penetration testing, not cr/hacking, but the title is sensationalised. The latest issue says 'beat the CIA' and is about security and encryption
They called themselves "crackers" or "cracker groups". The evidence is RIGHT THERE is any old 80s demo which you can see when you emulate an old Atari800 or Comodore64 pirated game.
Stupid L8mer. LOL
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
History fail.
That wasn't the last time the U.S. and the British Empire fought.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
Abandoning the word is only the first step. We must follow through: deny the word to everyone else. Salt the hacker earth, poison the hacker well, and burn the hacker buildings. If I can't have you, no one can.
Join me in redefining "hacker" to mean any bad person, and "hacking" to mean any undesirable activty, with no technical connotations.
That luddite political candidate you don't like? He's too hacker for you. Hitler and Stalin? Those were real hackers, titanic figures from World Hack II.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
From what I've read (not old enough to have lived through it), the innocent form of the work hacker goes back at least as far as the 60s. The MIT model railroad club dictionary is the most commonly cited documentation of it's usage, but it was more widespread than than). Through the 70's it was used in a neutral sense for someone who makes clever technical hacks, and didn't have any security or legal connotations. So phreakers were hackers, not because they broke into phone system, but because they made clever boxes that could do so. In the late 70's the media started using the term hacker to denote someone who a broke into computer systems. This prompted a Usenet backlash in the mid-eighties, which attempted to popularize the term cracker and ret-con the term hacker to only apply to the "good guys". They never won and never gave up, so hacker now has two definitions; the negative one used in the popular media, and the positive one that can only be used in subcultures. Note that this is a very different state than when it had a single neutral definition that happened to apply to both groups.
There are some good points in the article, but the article from issue 154 is out of date. It refers to the proprietary tool, Nessus, which has been surpassed by OpenVAS. OpenVAS does not even get a mention, despite being useful, GPL software.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
What's a bookstore?
The article shows you how to use nmap, metasploit, and some password brute-forcing tools, OH NOES HIDE TEH UBER-L33T CYBER WEAPONS!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
One of the most distinctive features of Linux Format was a DVD edition sold around the turn of the millennium that saved modem-connected users from having to download the latest packages. It was cool.
If hacking is outlawed, only outlaws will hack.
Hacking Articles don't hack, people hack.
The word "hacker" has suffered the same fate as the word "gay". Just as you can no longer say you are 'happy' by using the 'g' word (least you admit you are something else), one can no longer use the word hacker to mean a computer wiz without getting 'cuffed'. GD 5th estate!
Since the Barnes & Noble Nook deal with the evil overlords of Redmond, it is obvious that the vile rulers will not want anyone learning that Linux even exists. Like Nokia, Barnes & Noble is now just Microsoft's bitch.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
That Was Close! As any good dead tree-purveying businessman will tell you, print is the only way to disseminate information. Now that they've pulled the issue, the dangerous information is effectively lost forever and humanity saved.
Ask me about my sig!
Weird. I'm pretty sure I've bought many copies of 2600 at B&N.
If its their manor, I guess they would. If its your manor -- well, you're the baron, and would get to decide.
(I know you meant manner -- but it's funny your way)
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
Merriam-Webster:
First known use of PREDOMINATELY: 1594
Even if its used predominantly in America, it's a good bet predominately didn't originate here.
"To predominate" is a verb, "predominant" is an adjective. At some point in time, someone built an adjective off of the verb.
My favorite bit of vestigial English preserved in the colonies -- especially in the midwest -- is "gotten."
And it's not a colloquialism; it's used in formal American English.
"What have you gotten?" (obtained) vs. "What have you got?" (possession)
(There's actually another Americanism in a sentence above. We typically say "off of" while the British say simply "off.")
A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
Just because one or two people may use hammer to hurt others, doesn't mean all shops should be banned from selling them.
I just used that same thing at the dinner table last night defending computers in general. You can use a hammer to build a house or to bash in someone's head. It's just a tool. If they couldn't find a hammer, there's lots of other tools they could find that would suffice. Al Capone liked baseball bats, according to the movie.
P. S. I like baseball bats too. That doesn't mean I want to bash anyone's head in.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
They should've written something along the lines of "using something other than the way in which was first intended", instead of that narrow and mischief sounding definition.
Servers were not intended to be available for access to you, if you circumvected that security, then you "hacked" the system.
"Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
Mods, please take your meds. This was modded Troll?!? It's Funny, ffs!
By the way, I'd also like to mention here that my brother in law was Marina Sirtis' personal assistant last week during the Comiccon here. I am so proud of him. I hope she had a lovely time.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
I'll just run down to Borders and grab a copy. Oh, uh.... wait a minute.
B&N are free to stock or not stock whatever they want, whether or not anyone else thinks it's a good idea. Stop using "freedom of speech" as a synonym for "do what I say".
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
With important new partnership, Microsoft open a new front on malware distributors, by curbing proliferation of the fundamental skills needed to write software! Windows has never been more secure!
Yes, and you absolutely, positively, without question need to be using a Linux system to do anything like that. It's not like just about any sort of network capable system can be used for that sort of nefarious purpose.
Somewhere, a Barnes & Noble manager's employees are giggling their heads off behind the back of their oblivious manager, only barely managing to not pee themselves, patting him on the back with "Kick me, I'm stupid!" signs. He's going to go home tonight and hear his ten year old son say, "Dad, you wouldn't believe what I heard some incredibly stupid B&N manager did today!"
That's when he pulls out the Scotch and starts to beat his wife.
Thanks Linux. You made my damned day.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
This seems relevant to me even if it dates from the dawn of computer time:
http://www.adequacy.org/stories/2001.12.2.42056.2147.html
I am surprised it hasn't been linked to yet.
Patent disputes magially 'settled' just prior to invalidating Microsoft's bogus patents. Abandoning Android in favor of yet-to-be-developed Microsoft's software (hello, Nokia!). Now pulling off Linux-related magazines. It seems that Micro$oft's $300M "investment" into B&N starts paying off immediately.
They can pull books with red covers if they want as that is the color of socialism. Seriously tho, they aren't the government and can pull whatever they feel violates their 'morals' or today's 'mood'.
Doing stupid things may not be good for business, but somehow i don't think yanking one edition of a niche market magazine is going to make a hell of a lot of a difference.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I was there, and no, they were totally separate things and were not both referred to by the same term.
If you can only reference the 80's, you really aren't qualified to comment on 'back in the day'.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Sometimes it's about pragmatics. If an item has an almost exclusive illegal use then it can make more sense to ban it outright. This can be contextual too (e.g. guns in capital cities versus rural areas). How often this occurs depends on whether your society is more idealistic (e.g. U.S.) or more pragmatic (e.g. Europe).
Computers, though, are so amazingly useful in so many legal situations that I'm surprised anyone could argue for them to be banned.
B&N has carried 2600 for years, and made a point of responding to complaints that employees were supposedly hiding the magazine behind others. As a bookstore they are in the habit of selling books (and magazines), not pulling sellable items off the shelf because of an alleged complaint.
On the other hand, I'm glad the UK publisher of Linux Format found a novel new way to freely advertise their material.
Multiple universes exist where all bugs are found. Therefore, all bugs are found, fixed, and patched automatically, making it impossible to hack Linux.
Hey, Hush!! We don't want Earthlings to know about the interuniversenet. They'll all want to use it, and then the comm system developed on Earth will be obsolete and all the phone and cable companies will go out of business. We wouldn't want that, would we?
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.