Original URL:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/11/phrack_shuts/
Hacker magazine shuts up shop
By John Leyden (john.leyden at theregister.co.uk)
Published Monday 11th July 2005 12:28 GMT
Hacking magazine Phrack is closing after 20 years of publishing after its
editorial team decided to call it a day. The final date for submissions for
the special hardback last issue of the mag was Sunday 10 July. Issue 63
will be released at the Defcon and WhatTheHack2005 hacker conventions later
this month.
The first issue of the magazine (which styles itself as the house magazine
of the international computer underground) was released on 11 November,
1985, and concentrated almost exclusively on phreaking or hacking into the
telephone system. Since that time, the magazine has been through a lot,
including a law suit from Bell South. Phrack editor Knight Lightning was
indicted for reprinting the contents of a "confidential" document, called
E911, but the case against him collapsed after it was revealed the E911
could be purchased over the phone for $13. The magazine spanned the
evolution of hacking from the days of bulletin boards to 3G mobiles with a
knowledgeable, politically aware and frequently controversial take on
information security. Topics covered included hacking, phreaking, spying,
carding, cybernetics, radio, electronics, forensics, reverse engineering,
cryptography, anarchy, conspiracy and world news. The magazine is made
available to the public, as often as possible, and free of charge with
content republished on Phrack's website (
http://www.Phrack.org/).
"Phrack is still really well known," said Ollie, current editor of the
magazine told (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4657265.stm) BBC
online. "There are a lot of security magazines but no hacking magazines."
What about 2600 (
http://www.2600.org), the hacker quarterly? Anyway Noted
SF author Bruce Sterling reckons its likely Phrack will be revived in some
form. "Any set of unruly teenagers could start Phrack back up because
that's who started it in the first place," he said. In a statement, Phrack
outgoing editorial team said it would hand over to a new group that wanted
to restart the magazine. Meanwhile there's a promise that Phrack's website
(
http://www.Phrack.org/) will be maintained until 2007.
