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Film 01: Pick Another Hacker Flick

Reflection

We have come up with a list of films for the class related to different aspects of hacking.

Pick another film from the list below and write a refection on it referencing related literature, videos, and discussions from this class in a thoughtful manner. You need to pick at least 2 weeks worth of class material (e.g., articles / chapters, short videos, and class discussions from those weeks) to cite in your film reflection. This reflection is due on 4/21 at 5pm.
 

Note that the course staff are looking for your own thoughts on these topics. Writing in the first person, taking divergent viewpoints, and bringing in ideas from outside of class are encouraged. Write as if you are targeting a public audience. Particularly insightful or convincingly contrarian statements might be shared with the entire class in lecture or in the course slack.

Film List

Theme: Early Hackers

1). Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age by Fabrice Florin (1985)
https://archive.org/details/Hackers_201808

Theme: Hacker Underground

2). WarGames (1983) by John Badham
(Link Available on Canvas)

3). Secret History of Hacking by Ralph Lee (2001)
https://archive.org/details/The_Secret_History_Of_Hacking

4). Freedom Downtime by 2600 Magazine (2001)
https://archive.org/details/FreedomDowntime-TheStoryOfKevinMitnick

Theme: History of Social Networking

5). BBS Documentary (Disc 1) by Jason Scott (2005)
https://archive.org/details/bbsdocumentary

Theme: Hacker Conventions and Sociality

6). DEFCON: Documentary by Jason Scott (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ctQOmjQyYg

Theme: Cryptography and Information Security

7) Sneakers (1992) by Phil Alden Robinson
(Link Available on Canvas)

Theme: Hacking, National Security and Surveillance

8). Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus, part 1 and 2 by PBS (2023)
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/global-spyware-scandal-exposing-pegasus/#video-1

Theme: Free and Open Source Software and Hardware Hacking

9). Hacking for the Commons by Philippe Borrel (2019)
(Link Available on Canvas)

Theme: Hacker Activism

10). The Internet’s Own Boy: History of Aaron Swartz by Brian Knappenberger (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M85UvH0TRPc

11). Hackers in Wonderland by Russell Barnes (2000)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDQ3bps42fI

Grading

Each reflection should be between 1500 - 2000 words. It will be graded in terms of:

  • The inclusion of a short description of the film
  • How it exemplifies a particular theme in the history of hacking
  • Its description of, at least, two concepts (from the literature) you would like to apply in your analysis of the film
  • Application of the chosen concepts to a scene or set of scenes

Review the grading criteria in the rubric for this assignment.

Submission Instructions

  1. Prepare a doc in your folder that is shared with Rex named using this convention: lastname_firstname_duedate. Example: Stayer-Suprick_Rex_042126

  2. The TA will collect each assignment directly from your drive after it is due