Why Hackers Win: Power and Disruption in the Network Society

I’m not totally sure why this book was written. I can’t quite figure out the point.

I especially take issue with the title. I don’t feel like they ever really supported that.

The authors are both communication professors, and the book has a very academic air about it. It’s a broad survey of the concept of hacking. They start with a very academic definition of it, then discuss it as an economic and political tool, with some discussion of anti-hacking laws and the idea of “hacktivism” – hacking as a tool for social justice.

The authors know a lot, clearly, but the book never seems to break out the pretension of academia. I feel like this started life as an academic paper of some kind, and the university publisher persuaded them to make it into a book, and then gave it a snazzy title to try to get it to sell.

(Indeed, I bought it because the title brought up a question that I assumed would be answered.)

I kept waiting for some definitive statement about “why hackers win,” and I never got it. Rather, it was just a general discussion about hacking as a concept, with emphasis on government attempts to control it and make it illegal.

That said, it’s short – about 135 pages, without notes – so not a huge investment of time.

Book Info