The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier

The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling is a historical account of early 1990s cyberspace, focusing on how hackers, law enforcement, and telecommunications companies interacted as electronic communication expanded. It examines the Hacker Crackdown of 1990, when government agents moved against the electronic underground and its participants. The book also sets its context by discussing how communication technologies were changing and how legal frameworks struggled to keep up. Early in the narrative, Sterling points to the widespread disruption caused by a major AT&T telephone system failure on January 15, 1990, and explores how police perceptions about hackers intensified in the aftermath.