Stalking the Wily Hacker: 40 years later – Cliff Stoll [video]

zzoenolan 4 days ago 19 commentsRead Article on youtube.com

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Discussion (19 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

rockskon•34 minutes ago

What a fascinating video. What a treat to hear him talk.

Much of my excitement has been dying off due to the commercialization of the hacker community, the culture war, and the constant legislative losses for privacy and effective ownership of goods you purchase because they've code in them you often cannot legally circumvent the "digital lock" on.

I'm curious what can be done to get it back. It seems the more I care, the more I get jaded due to the constant loss of freedom with tech.

EvanAnderson•3 days ago

I watch a lot of videos at 1.5x. Older Cliff Stoll videos don't work at 1.5x. Cliff at 1.0x is already like other people at 1.5x.

I am so stoked to see Cliff at 1.0x in 2026 is still like other people at 1.5x. I am so glad to see Cliff still out there talking. "The Cuckoo's Egg"[0] was formative for me when I was a kid getting into computers. I am so happy that Cliff is out there making formative experiences for new hackers today.

Great talk, Cliff. (The "adjusted for inflation" quip about the budget made my day, too.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)

ssl-3•about 1 hour ago

The book is brilliant.

Also worth mentioning is the rather dramatic PBS Nova episode from 1990, The KGB, the Computer, and Me -- starring, of course, Cliff Stoll. It's an entertaining take of the same topic.

I couldn't find a way to pay for a copy of it[], but this one on YouTube is pretty clean compared to the state of many other old NTSC things on our modern interweb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW8YBrH4Q6o

[]: Of course, a person is free to toss PBS a few dollars and/or buy an Acme Klein Bottle. :)

netfortius•about 2 hours ago

I saw him live in a presentation he gave in Chicago, early 90s. He and his book are the cause of my switching from a very young PhD in thermodynamics career to going back to school for CS, then working in the latter field until retirement, years back. I also read his Silicon Snake Oil book, as soon as it came out, which he - himself - publicly claimed to have been in error, in parts, sometimes, but about which I now think - looking at X, TruthSocial, TikTok, etc. - that may, in fact, has been premonitory...

firesteelrain•37 minutes ago

> Silicon Snake Oil book, as soon as it came out, which he - himself - publicly claimed to have been in error, in parts, sometimes, but about which I now think - looking at X, TruthSocial, TikTok, etc. - that may, in fact, has been premonitory...

It wasn’t really premonitory. More technophobic. It’s understandable in 1995 to have written it as few could envision what we have today.

thebeardisred•4 days ago

Thanks @CliffStoll for the wonderful talk.

CliffStoll•3 days ago

Quite welcome, Red Beard. I had fun doing that spoutathon. Meeting old friends at DefCon. Way fun.

flaschenoeffner•about 1 hour ago

What a great talk. I read The Cuckoo's Egg in Spring '90. Changed my life. Thanks.

Moru•about 2 hours ago

Yes, thank you! Our whole family of nerds enjoyed it and I had to explain quite a few things to daughter but not the over head projector at least, she did bump into that tech in school for some art project.

She just installed linux on the laptop for university study and got to hear about what people used before "more" and "less" :-)

Quai•about 1 hour ago

You are on my short-list of people I look up to.

Thank you!

wewewedxfgdf•about 1 hour ago

Cliff Stoll is alive? Good news.

pi-rat•about 2 hours ago

Such a fun and enthusiastic guy. I’ve one of his klein bottles from like 20 years ago, think he still sells them.

snowchaser•about 1 hour ago

I just bought one a few months ago after putting it off for years. He sent the most charming hand written note and a series of selfies proving that he personally packed it! A true gem.

pi-rat•about 1 hour ago

I love that he’s still doing that - he did the same thing back then: selfies, lots of fun little notes on the packaging, stories about taking the package by bicycle to the nearest post office, and even assurances about his neighborhood’s political leanings (overwhelmingly anti-Bush).

vanderZwan•about 2 hours ago

You know, it just occured to me that technically we're all inside all of his Klein bottles. Or all Klein bottles, really.

avmich•2 days ago

Fantastic book, great story, awesome memories. Thank you, Cliff.

jdw64•about 1 hour ago

I bought this person's book too. I didn't know they were still alive. I really enjoyed reading The Cuckoo's Egg—it was such a fun read. They really have a way with words

finsouluk•about 1 hour ago

Great

peterbmarks•about 2 hours ago

Did he really break the screen on someone's phone during the talk? He seems dangerous to be around.