Steal This Computer Book 2 : What They Won't Tell You About the Internet

Here's a capsule review of Steal This Computer Book 2: Don't bother. It's a directory of sites, combined with background information (mostly at USA Today depth) about Internet security and online privacy issues. Its practical advice reflects little more than common sense ("The best way to prevent and cure a computer virus is to buy an antivirus program") and its anecdotal material also tends toward the obvious ("...The better virus writers tend to be highly skilled programmers"). Even sections that sound promising ("Writing Your Own Online Harassment Program") contain very few details, and prove to be pretty much useless. In addition, it's printed in an annoying typeface, and several times it quotes obscenity-riddled hacker graffiti (because, you see, the book is so radical and edgy and all).

The particularly shameful thing about Steal This Computer Book 2 is that its title rips off Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book, a 1970 how-to guide for anarchists and happy freeloaders. Where Hoffman strives in his book to subvert a society that he finds repellent, Wallace Wang merely describes some technologies and a few vaguely interesting stories about them. Some better choices: read Hacking Exposed, Second Edition for its excellent coverage of hackers' techniques and software tools, and Network Intrusion Detection for its accounts of attacks on secured networks. And, for an account of government surveillance of Internet users--perhaps an indication that the system needs subversion now more than ever--read The Puzzle Palace. --David Wall

Topics covered: Naughty things to do with computers and on the Internet. The author explores research sites with which you can dig up information on people, and explains something about gaining access to private computing resources. Historical exploits of black-hat hackers get considerable attention, and viruses get lots of attention.

Customer Review: Well Rounded - User Friendly

This is a great book to begin to understand the "ins and outs" of the world wide web. Some of the topics are a little "dated", but still provide useful advice. This book is great for anyone who wants to learn certain nuances of the net and what is lying just beneath the surface. Savvy net users will even find a trick or two in this volume to assist in "tweaking" their net experience. Take a chance and try to learn something new. This book has something for everyone. Recommend!

Customer Review: Good for non technical people...

This book is just very basic common sense advice about how to stay safe on the internet. It would be a good book for your grandmother who is just getting on the internet but for more experienced users there is no meat here at all. With that said it should be pretty obvious that this book is not aimed at computer professionals but is only aimed at the very casual computer user who wouldn't know the difference between a packet sniffer and an irc client.
Buy Now