1984: Bill Landreth, a 19-year-old Poway High School (California) graduate, was indicted by a federal grand jury as “The Cracker,” one of four computer enthusiasts accused of electronically breaking into a national electronic mail network in 1983.
Bill got his first computer in 1980, he tells me. It was a TRS-80 from RadioShack. He was 14 or 15, and explains that he planned to get the version with 8K of memory using $500 he had saved. His dad offered to pitch in another $500, and he got the 16K version with a cassette tape drive for storage. He also picked up a 300 baud modem.
Cracker is the correct word that defines malicious intent
but stupid journalists kept using the word hacker incorrectly for everything that was “computer” on TV and print that made the whole world stupid.
Get it straight people – hack / hackers are the good guys!!
The story of Bill and Chris is one of simple curiosity, and the birth of the modern internet in an era before computer hacking laws existed. It was an era when most of America—including virtually everyone in the FBI—couldn’t tell you what a modem was. This period, from roughly 1979 until 1983, was a mythical Wild West for kids who became interested in computers, and saw the rising popularity (and declining price) of personal computers as well as the release of the movie Wargames. The kids of this period were early adopters, and they got into plenty of trouble.
BTW I also started with a 300 baud modem in 1991! #FFS
#AmyCoathangerBarrett
Amy is all on Mitch. He called Trump *the evening* of RBG passing. “McConnell said, first, I’m going to put out a statement that says we’re going to fill the vacancy. Second, he said, you’ve gotta nominate Amy Coney Barrett.” Follow the $$..
My religion says no one may ever, ever fuck a registered Republican. Punishable by $100k fine or 10 years in prison.