Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession from the Electronic Frontier by Suelette Dreyfus Page A
Authors: Suelette Dreyfus
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at 11.30 to Northcote’s Valhalla Theatre (now the Westgarth). Its grand but slightly tatty vintage atmosphere lent itself to this alternative culture flourishing in late-night revelries. Leaping up on stage mid-film, the PI groupies sent up the actors in key scenes. It was a fun and, as importantly, a cheap evening. The Valhalla staff admitted regulars who were dressed in appropriate costume for free. The only thing the groupies had to pay for was drinks at the intermission.
Occasionally, Bowen arranged gatherings of other young PI and Zen users. Usually, the group met in downtown Melbourne, sometimes at the City Square. The group was mostly boys, but sometimes a few girls would show up. Bowen’s sister, who used the handle Syn, hung around a bit. She went out with a few hackers from the BBS scene. And she wasn’t the only one. It was a tight group which interchanged boyfriends and girlfriends with considerable regularity. The group hung out in the City Square after watching a movie, usually a horror film. Nightmare 2. House 3. Titles tended to be a noun followed by a numeral. Once, for a bit of lively variation, they went bowling and drove the other people at the alley nuts. After the early entertainment, it was down to McDonald’s for a cheap burger. They joked and laughed and threw gherkins against the restaurant’s wall.
This was followed by more hanging around on the stone steps of the City Square before catching the last bus or train home.
The social sections of PI and Zen were more successful than the technical ones, but the private hacking section was even more successful than the others. The hacking section was hidden; would-be members of the Melbourne underground knew there was something going on, but they couldn’t find out what is was.
Getting an invite to the private area required hacking skill or information, and usually a recommendation to Bowen from someone who was already inside. Within the Inner Sanctum, as the private hacking area was called, people could comfortably share information such as opinions of new computer products, techniques for hacking, details of companies which had set up new sites to hack and the latest rumours on what the law enforcement agencies were up to.
The Inner Sanctum was not, however, the only private room. Two hacking groups, Elite and H.A.C.K., guarded entry to their yet more exclusive back rooms. Even if you managed to get entry to the Inner Sanctum, you might not even know that H.A.C.K. or Elite existed. You might know there was a place even more selective than your area, but exactly how many layers of the onion stood between you and the most exclusive section was anyone’s guess. Almost every hacker interviewed for this book described a vague sense of being somehow outside the innermost circle. They knew it was there, but wasn’t sure just what it was.
Bowen fielded occasional phone calls on his voice line from wanna-be hackers trying to pry open the door to the Inner Sanctum. ‘I want access to your pirate system,’ the voice would whine.
‘What pirate system? Who told you my system was a pirate system?’
Bowen sussed out how much the caller knew, and who had told him. Then he denied everything.
To avoid these requests, Bowen had tried to hide his address, real name and phone number from most of the people who used his BBSes. But he wasn’t completely successful. He had been surprised by the sudden appearance one day of Masked Avenger on his doorstep. How Masked Avenger actually found his address was a mystery. The two had chatted in a friendly fashion on-line, but Bowen didn’t give out his details.
Nothing could have prepared him for the little kid in the big crash helmet standing by his bike in front of Bowen’s house. ‘Hi!’ he squeaked. ‘I’m the Masked Avenger!’
Masked Avenger--a boy perhaps fifteen years old--was quite resourceful to have found out Bowen’s details. Bowen invited him in and showed him the system. They became
Occasionally, Bowen arranged gatherings of other young PI and Zen users. Usually, the group met in downtown Melbourne, sometimes at the City Square. The group was mostly boys, but sometimes a few girls would show up. Bowen’s sister, who used the handle Syn, hung around a bit. She went out with a few hackers from the BBS scene. And she wasn’t the only one. It was a tight group which interchanged boyfriends and girlfriends with considerable regularity. The group hung out in the City Square after watching a movie, usually a horror film. Nightmare 2. House 3. Titles tended to be a noun followed by a numeral. Once, for a bit of lively variation, they went bowling and drove the other people at the alley nuts. After the early entertainment, it was down to McDonald’s for a cheap burger. They joked and laughed and threw gherkins against the restaurant’s wall.
This was followed by more hanging around on the stone steps of the City Square before catching the last bus or train home.
The social sections of PI and Zen were more successful than the technical ones, but the private hacking section was even more successful than the others. The hacking section was hidden; would-be members of the Melbourne underground knew there was something going on, but they couldn’t find out what is was.
Getting an invite to the private area required hacking skill or information, and usually a recommendation to Bowen from someone who was already inside. Within the Inner Sanctum, as the private hacking area was called, people could comfortably share information such as opinions of new computer products, techniques for hacking, details of companies which had set up new sites to hack and the latest rumours on what the law enforcement agencies were up to.
The Inner Sanctum was not, however, the only private room. Two hacking groups, Elite and H.A.C.K., guarded entry to their yet more exclusive back rooms. Even if you managed to get entry to the Inner Sanctum, you might not even know that H.A.C.K. or Elite existed. You might know there was a place even more selective than your area, but exactly how many layers of the onion stood between you and the most exclusive section was anyone’s guess. Almost every hacker interviewed for this book described a vague sense of being somehow outside the innermost circle. They knew it was there, but wasn’t sure just what it was.
Bowen fielded occasional phone calls on his voice line from wanna-be hackers trying to pry open the door to the Inner Sanctum. ‘I want access to your pirate system,’ the voice would whine.
‘What pirate system? Who told you my system was a pirate system?’
Bowen sussed out how much the caller knew, and who had told him. Then he denied everything.
To avoid these requests, Bowen had tried to hide his address, real name and phone number from most of the people who used his BBSes. But he wasn’t completely successful. He had been surprised by the sudden appearance one day of Masked Avenger on his doorstep. How Masked Avenger actually found his address was a mystery. The two had chatted in a friendly fashion on-line, but Bowen didn’t give out his details.
Nothing could have prepared him for the little kid in the big crash helmet standing by his bike in front of Bowen’s house. ‘Hi!’ he squeaked. ‘I’m the Masked Avenger!’
Masked Avenger--a boy perhaps fifteen years old--was quite resourceful to have found out Bowen’s details. Bowen invited him in and showed him the system. They became
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