In the Realm of the Hackers
In The Realm of the Hackers is an Australian documentary directed by Kevin Anderson about the prominent hacker community, centered in Melbourne, Australia in the late 80's to early 1990.
The storyline is centered around the Australian teenagers going by the hacker names Electron and Phoenix, who were members of an elite computer hacking group called The Realm and hacked into some of the most secure computer networks in the world, including those of the US Naval Research Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a government lab charged with the security of the US nuclear stockpile, and NASA.
So fast and widespread was the attack, no-one could work out how it had happened - until one of the hackers called The New York Times to brag.
Ten years after their arrest, this dramatized documentary uncovers not only how they did it but why. It takes us headlong into the clandestine, risky but intoxicating world of the computer underground.
I remember "beige boxing" the phone lines of the model homes in the housing tract where I grew up in through the early to mid nineties to access BBSs across the country for info, warez, etc. aww memories.
What's the deal on this site with everybody turning everything into a religious debate?
I see deluded people.
10/10 LOVE THIS <3
OK this is stupid question what was the name of the book that this doco was made from. I had it yes ago but can not find it, If it was the same name as the doco I can not find the book any where
@Aussie
According to Wikipedia, the book was Underground, by Suelette Dreyfus.
Thanks Mate.
Electron's name is Richard Jones. Julian Assange hacked under the name of 'Mendax'.
Julian Assange = Electron
lmao - THIS is dated - I had to check the date it was made. Don't you guys know who 'Electron' is ? You should ? In fact I guarantee you know his name.
Here's a clue :
Jugs Always Leak Wickedly
its richard jones
Thumbs way up, The reconstructions the clearity of the story, overalls this 8/10. Providing you find interest in the topic you will enjoy this documentary.
And while I'm rambling, there's another doc on here with Kevin Spacey narrating that has a more interesting message.. "Hackers Wanted" I think. This one really feels like a news doc... I'm getting bored.
But this documentary is targeted towards people who aren't familiar with this stuff, and it demonizes it with all the fear-based stuff like nuclear war and whatnot (I was totally unaware of 1980s nuclear fear since I'm younger than these guys). There are way better hacking docs. Google "BBS the documentary"
Wow, this brings back memories, especially when the kid gets bitched out by his dad for outrageous phone bills. Some of the coolest BBSs around me in Chicago were long distance calls, and I'd have to spend hours on them. Yeah, that didn't fly.
I really enjoyed watching this, It brought me back to my youth. Very clever young kids just hooked on a thrill. Never for any harm but for the challenge of getting in! I hope they have good jobs that pay well now.
It was a good documentary but not great.
Ah the nostalgia, computers surly lost something along the way. How will my kids ever take interest in the humble command prompt these days? How will they relate when dad rants about hex editing and assembler debugging? Futile
i thought the equipment these guys were using is so outdated what is going on out there with todays computers..
Watching this was interesting .... i was intro'd early into computers but it never occurred to me to try hacking.... damn!
An interesting doc. Not a subject that I have ever really looked into before, but it's definitely interesting to find out about these things. I'm intrigued now, I will have to dig a little deeper into the subject. Just out of curiosity of course.
P.S. I have had a little look into it & it appears that you need to know a little more than just how to turn a computer on, so that's me out of it. I think that I will just stick to watching docs.