Comments on: Q&A: Mark Abene, from 'Phiber Optik' to security guru

The activities of Mark Abene, aka "Phiber Optik," and his hacker friends made him a media darling and inspired a book, but now he spends his time protecting computer networks.

[codynews]

More like:

From "Total tool with a stupid name" to "Total tool with a normal name and stupid goatee"

Cody

[sciontcya]

LOL
Just tool will work!

[stevicus]

I had a TRS-80 with a cassette tape - can still remember the sound it would make.

[RighteousSoutherner]

What a crime! To reward a hacker and celebrate it an article like this. Only in America or I should say in decadent San Francisco, where morals are absolutely on the decline. Moreover, a leopard never changes his or her spots!

[thelemurking]

Don't you have an abortion clinic to bomb, or run off some of the minorities? I mean if you are going to stereotype San Francisco, let's just go all out here and make it fair. The irony of calling San Francisco as decadent where morals are on the decline, when in the South, you holy rollers thumping your bibles did things far far more immoral than anything to happen in San Fran... You claim to be righteous, but your name sort of indicates that you are part of the most hateful, racists parts of the country.

Oddly enough, I'm from the south... and believe it or not, Atlanta, the heart of the south used to host SummerCon which was another hacker convention like Def Con and HOPE... Def Con in Las Vegas, HOPE in NYC... so apparently there's more decadence in the US than just in San Francisco.

When I was growing up, Phiber Optik was like to the younger generation. A lot of us who followed Phrack, 2600, would scoop up any text file from the Legion of Doom that we stumbled upon on BBS's just to learn how things worked.

You are probably too inbred to know the difference, but a good portion of hacking was just to find out how things worked... you are caught up in the negative connotation that hacking usually means someone's going to steal your credit card, or download naked pictures from your sister's cellphone. I probably wouldn't even be doing IT related stuff if it wasn't for my brief foray into the hacker underground.

I personally thought this was a wonderful article... it brought back many great memories. Now go on back to your rusty old pickup truck, get drunk, head back to your trailer to beat your wife and 8 welfare kids!

MAN! stereotypes can be loads of fun! we should do this more often :p

[ReplyToThisComment]

You all are silly. Some of the absolute best computer talent came from this 80's scene.

This article brings back some good memories...

Munich Altos systems, Telnet NUA's, TAP, 2600, PHRACK, RipCO (312), 5 digit MCI's, local PBX's, Eaglesoft (C=64), PC Pursuit, late night Alliance telecons, Summercon, Redboxes ...

[matthaynie]

I enjoyed the article, it never ceases to amaze me how quick *some* things change. It looks like understanding UNIX, C and networking will be of value for generations to come.