Hacked: A Radical Approach to Hacker Culture and Crime

Abstract

In Hacked: A Radical Approach to Hacker Culture and Crime, Kevin Steinmetz employs a sociological and criminological imagination to explore hacking as socially constructed within the context of class relations and the broader political economy of capitalism. In the process, he illuminates the role of hacking and information technologies within the dynamics of power in contemporary capitalism, critiquing the dominant ‘‘construction of the hacker as a criminal other’’ (p. 221). Steinmetz conducted fifteen months of field research, engaging in participant observation at public meetings of a hacker group that he identified with the pseudonym of Union Hack, as well as at a major hacker conference. The merits of the fieldwork are mixed. It offers vital insights into these hacker communities; however, including more detail about the nature of the conference and the Union Hack community would have provided a fuller understanding of the significance of these fieldwork choices within the broader context of hacking. Overall, the duration and extent of the fieldwork does not seem sufficient to be considered ethnographic. Steinmetz complemented the participant observation data with sixteen in-depth semi-structured interviews. The interview data is rich; nonetheless, it would be stronger if Steinmetz had involved more participants. Finally, Steinmetz performed content analysis on 41 issues of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly published between 2002 and 2012. Steinmetz noted that 2600 has a ‘‘wide distribution and immense readership’’ (p. 33). I would have liked to see more discussion of why Steinmetz chose this publication, as well as its relative merits in comparison to other publications. The highlight of the book is its provocative argument. In the first part, Steinmetz lays the foundation for the rest of the study to ‘‘establish the human elements of hacking’’ (p. 216). He examines the effects of class on hackers’ socialization and, particularly, their development of subcultural identities. The hackers in his study predominantly grew up middleclass, with ready access to computers and other technologies at home, through peers, or at school. They became comfortable tinkering with technology in their youth, fostering a sense of curiosity about how things work as well as technical skills to take things apart and figure out how to repair and improve them. Steinmetz argues that this data establishes a link to class, and that hackers constitute a class of laborers engaged in diverse forms of work. At other points, he de-emphasizes the concept of the hacker class and discusses ‘‘the radical implications of the relationship between hacking and middle-class positioning’’ (p. 217). The latter approach is more convincing, since it is difficult to support the argument that hackers are a class. In a particularly compelling chapter, Steinmetz explores what he calls the ‘‘eidos’’ or essence of hacking as ‘‘both craft and craftiness: it is craft(y)’’ (p. 216). He grounds his argument in his interview and content analysis data, framed by a nuanced discussion of craftwork and guilds in capitalism. From a Marxist perspective, hacking is a form of labor as well as a craft that emphasizes transgression. Hacking and craftwork share common types of ‘‘mental processes, with an emphasis on skill, ownership, commitment, similar social-learning structures, process over results, and emotional experiences’’ (p. 103). Hackers prize curiosity over conventional wisdom. They are committed to the process of searching for innovative solutions. They think systematically and scientifically to identify problems efficiently. As Steinmetz argues, ‘‘the more a person develops and expresses skill, the closer they move toward the subcultural ideal of ‘hacker’’’ (p. 83). Hackers, like artisans before them, organize themselves in guilds that facilitate twin processes of self-sufficiency and group learning to transmit knowledge. Both hacker communities and craft guilds stratify themselves based on skill in employing their knowledge 114 Reviews