2600: The Hacker Quarterly

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2600: The Hacker Quarterly
Current Issue: Spring 2008 issue of 2600
Editor	Emmanuel Goldstein (Eric Gordon Corley)
Categories	Computers, technology
Frequency	Quarterly
Publisher	2600 Enterprises Inc.
Total Circulation (2006)	77,500
First issue	1984
Country	United States
Language	English
Website	www.2600.com
ISSN	0749-3851

2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a quarterly American publication that specializes in publishing technical information on a variety of subjects including telephone switching systems, Internet protocols and services, as well as general news concerning the computer "underground" and libertarian issues. The magazine is published and edited by its founder Emmanuel Goldstein (a pen name of Eric Corley and allusion to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four) and his non-profit company 2600 Enterprises, Inc.

In the usage of 2600 Magazine and affiliates, the often loaded term "hacking" refers to Grey hat hacking, which is generally understood to be any sort of technological utilisation or manipulation of technology which goes above and beyond the capabilities inherent to the design of a given application. This usage attempts to maintain neutrality, as opposed to the politically charged and often contentious terms White Hat hacking, which is designated as "hacking" motivated exclusively by good intentions (e.g. enhancing the performance of a device or exposing the vulnerabilities of a security system for the benefit of the system administrator), or Black Hat hacking, which is designated as "hacking" motivated exclusively by bad or selfish intentions (e.g. stealing useful information or exacting revenge through technological sabotage).

The magazine's name comes from the phreaker discovery in the 1960s that the transmission of a 2600 hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given away free with Cap'n Crunch cereal—discovered by friends of John Draper) over a long-distance trunk connection gained access to "operator mode" and allowed the user to explore aspects of the telephone system that were not otherwise accessible. Mr. Corley chose the name because he regarded it as a "mystical thing," commemorating something that he evidently admired.

The magazine offers free advertising for subscribers. Many subscribers who have been imprisoned will take out personal ads seeking new friends and penpals.

2600 has established the H.O.P.E. (Hackers On Planet Earth) conferences as well as monthly meetings in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The meetings generally take place on the first Friday of the month at 5 p.m. local time, with various exceptions. 2600 meetings provide a forum to teach, learn, and discuss events in technology-land. Meetings are open to anyone regardless of age or level of expertise.

2600 Films has made a feature-length documentary about famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, the Free Kevin movement and the hacker world, entitled Freedom Downtime, and is currently working on one titled Speakers' World.

Additionally, 2600 has been involved in many court cases related to technology and freedom of speech alongside the Electronic Frontier Foundation, perhaps most significantly Universal v. Reimerdes involving the distribution of DVD copy protection tool DeCSS, where courts upheld the constitutionality of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act anti-circumvention provisions.

Corley is also host of Off The Wall and Off The Hook, two New York talk radio shows. Both shows can be downloaded or streamed via the 2600 site, and are also broadcast on various radio stations: