Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier — Reading Notes

** This is a COPYRIGHTED Project Gutenberg eBook, Details Below ** ** Please follow the copyright guidelines in this file. **

I have donated my book `Underground' to Project Gutenberg's collection in memory of my great aunt, Lucie Palmer. Lucie was an explorer, a naturalist, a keen undersea diver and above all a gifted painter. In the last years of her life, she lost her vision due to macular degeneration. She could no longer do her beloved undersea paintings. But, while she could not travel in person, she continued to travel in her mind through books for the vision impaired. I hope you enjoy your journey to another world as much as she did. -- From Suelette Dreyfus, Author, Underground

Underground -- Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier.

By Suelette Dreyfus with Research by Julian Assange.

`Gripping, eminently readable.. Dreyfus has uncovered one of this country's best kept secrets and in doing so has created a highly intense and enjoyable read' -- Rolling Stone

www.underground-book.net

This edition has been specifically adapted for speech synthesis. We recommend using a different distribution with intact type-setting for visual use.

First Published 1997 by Mandarin; a part of Reed Books Australia; 35 Cotham Road, Kew 3101.

a subsidiary of Random House books Australia.

a division of Random House International Pty Limited.

Copyright (c) 1997, 2001 Suelette Dreyfus & Julian Assange.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher.

Typeset in New Baskerville by J&M Typesetting.

Printed and bound in Australia by Australian Print Group.

National Library of Australia.

cataloguing-in-publication data:

Underground: tales of hacking, madness & obsession on the electronic frontier.

ISBN number 1 86330 595 5

1. Computer hackers--Australia--Biography. 2. Computer crimes--Australia. 3. Computer security--Australia. I. Assange, Julian. II. Title.

Send all comments to "feedback@underground-book.net".

Preface to the electronic edition.

Why would an author give away an unlimited number of copies of her book for free? That's a good question. When `Underground''s researcher, Julian Assange, first suggested releasing an electronic version of the book on the Net for free, I had to stop and think about just that question.

I'd spent nearly three years researching, writing and editing the nearly 500 pages of `Underground'. Julian had worked thousands of hours doing painstaking research; discovering and cultivating sources, digging with great resourcefulness into obscure databases and legal papers, not to mention providing valuable editorial advice.

So why would I give away this carefully ripened fruit for free?

Because part of the joy of creating a piece of art is in knowing that many people can - and are - enjoying it. Particularly people who can't otherwise afford to pay $11 USD for a book. People such as cash strapped hackers. This book is about them, their lives and obsessions. It rubs clear a small circle in the frosted glass so the reader can peer into that hazy world. `Underground' belongs on the Net, in their ephemeral landscape.

The critics have been good to `Underground', for which I am very grateful. But the best praise came from two of the hackers detailed in the book. Surprising praise, because while the text is free of the narrative moralising that plague other works, the selection of material is often very personal and evokes mixed sympathies. One of the hackers, Anthrax dropped by my office to say `Hi'. Out of the blue, he said with a note of amazement, `When I read those chapters, it was so real, as if you had been right there inside my head'. Not long after Par, half a world away, and with a real tone of bewildered incredulity in his voice made exactly the same observation. For a writer, it just doesn't get any better than that.

By releasing this book for free on the Net, I'm hoping more people will not only enjoy the story of how the international computer underground rose to power, but also make the journey into the minds of hackers involved. When I first began sketching out the book's structure, I decided to go with depth. I wanted the reader to think, 'NOW I understand, because I too was there.' I hope those words will enter your thoughts as you read this electronic book.

Michael Hall, a supersmart lawyer on the book's legal team, told me in July last year he saw a young man in Sydney reading a copy of `Underground' beside him on the #380 bus to North Bondi. Michael said he wanted to lean over and proclaim proudly, `I legalled that book!'. Instead, he chose to watch the young man's reactions.