The world of new social groups in the new information society includes software piracy, information and computer crime, hackers, and computer system intruders. This book is devoted to these new social groups, the people who are fond of computers and computer networks and are known as computer hackers. Although most of them are threatening intruders, outlaw players, and people who are carrying their obsession with computers far beyond ethical and legal behavior, some members of the cyberpunk culture are the products of various social and psychological constraints. This book presents three stories that depict the new way of thinking, and each story has action, actors, and a message.

The book consists of five sections: “Introduction,” “Kevin, the Dark Side Hacker,” “Pengo and Project Equalizer,” “RTM,” and “Epilogue.” These sections are followed by notes of sources, acknowledgments, and an index.

Part 1, “Kevin, the Dark Side Hacker,” is the life story of Kevin Milnick, who was fascinated with telephones and the telephone networks, and shared his obsession with three friends. These young people formed a group of intruders in telephone networks as well as computers connected by telephone lines. Part 2, “Pengo and Project Equalizer,” is the true-crime story of Pengo, a mature hacker capable of sneaking electronically into mainframe computers by going through specialized computer communications networks (such as Tymnet) or through the public data packet networks (such as Datex-P in Germany). The story is about East-West relations in the late 1980s, including espionage and crime in the field of high technology transfer.

Part 3, “RTM,” is the story of Robert Tappan Morris, who worked at computer laboratories and was interested in time-sharing computer systems and terminals. He tried to develop computer-based cryptology to guarantee privacy to users who are cooperating within time-shared computer networks. The result of his work was a program that crippled several thousand computers in a matter of hours. This case illustrates activity that is different from that of the ordinary hacker; while Morris possessed supreme computer knowledge, he was without criminal intent.

The book is written in the form of a novel, so the layout and writing style play an important role. Dialogue is used when necessary to emphasize the action taking place. For readers interested in additional material on this topic, the “Notes of Sources” appear after the three stories. These sources are outdated and are specifically related to the stories in the book, however; a wider selection of titles would have been of great value to readers interested in the field. The index is on two levels--category and subject--so readers can easily find almost all topics covered.

Although the book presents new angles on the topics of computer crime, information security, and privacy, the authors mix styles, from newspaper journalism and fiction to computer science and sociology. The main value of the book may be lost on many readers not familiar with these categories. The authors also confuse the distinction between computer crime and information security. Thus, novices may read this book as they would an ordinary paperback novel.

The positive side of the authors’ efforts to write this book is that they present some facts and situations in a different way in order to alter views of so-called criminals or computer hackers and find new ways of analyzing social status and new social groups in the modern information community.

With the development of open systems and high-speed modems opening the door to widespread use of computer systems through public telephone lines, new ways of eroding privacy, information security, and computer systems exist. This book is devoted to people who are doing this erosion, not for a profit or other benefits, but only because they enjoy such activities. Although the authors try to present the violators as hobbyists, almost all laws and regulations dealing with privacy, information security, and computer crime have strong sanctions against such violations.

According to many existing laws and regulatory issues (national and international) considering privacy and data protection, it is provocative to find how some people have no respect for privacy, the law, and community norms or ethics. I recommend this title to those dealing with privacy, computer crime, and information security.

The general thrust of this book leads me to view it as a useful text for students in liberal arts as well as for lawyers to find new approaches in their research and daily tasks. On the other hand, I do not recommend it as a classroom textbook because of its lack of a systematic approach and its lack of correlation with other instructional materials in this field.