LIAR, LIAR

This is a very hard section to explain, but I will do my best. In the process of acquiring textfiles and information about the online past, I keep bumping into folks who have been thrust (or have thrust themselves) into the spotlight as historians of their own. In many cases, I am delighted and educated by those who have been researching before me, with their great writing, evocative prose, and thoughtful accuracy.

Unfortunately, I have also come across a group of writers who are, intentionally or unintentionally, misreporting the past and in some cases are completely wrong. You normally can't beat the current Internet for gaining armies of folks who double-check your work and let you know when you are wrong, but still, in many cases, the damage is done; they're on the record saying certain non-facts and inaccuracies, and in most cases, these folks are involved with some important newspapers and magazines indeed. If the New York Times or Time Magazine reports something as being true, even if it is later retracted, those initial facts are what sticks in the public mind. They are, in my opinion, lies; they could have been checked up on and they weren't. They are an injustice to the truth, even if they were done without malice.

I am collecting these inaccuracies here and separating them by the writers. I will do my best to be as accurate as possible in correcting them. FOR LEGAL REASONS, I DO NOT CONSIDER THE WRITERS LIARS AND I DO NOT MEAN TO IMPLY THAT THEY ARE LIARS.. Asking the wrong folks to tell a story and reporting it accurately is not a lie in the strict sense; it is simply a poor habit. And poor habits abound here.

TEXTFILES.COM welcomes alternative comments about these writers, as well as supporting information. Please send them along to liars@textfiles.com and I'll integrate your efforts, or explain to you why I didn't.


  Last Name
   Name of Individual and Description
HAFNERKatie Hafner: Technology Reporter, New York Times.
LITTMANJonathan Littman
MARKOFFJohn Markoff, New York Times
QUITTNERJoshua Quittner
 

There are 4 directories.

I do not enjoy being negative about other historians, even misguided ones. The natural response is, "So who do you think does a GOOD job and why don't you talk about them instead?"

Bruce Sterling, a science fiction writer, took an interest in the Operation Sundevil raids and specifically the seizing of equipment and papers of a role playing game company, Steve Jackson games. His resulting book, "The Hacker Crackdown", still stands as the seminal work on one of the most memorable eras in the history of computers. In a move that still stands as a testimony to Mr. Sterling's generosity and courage, he has released his book in Electronic Form for free non-commercial distribution. This book is available on textfiles.com in this form. Bravo.

Steven Levy has written a number of books, all of them excellent. Especially precious is his book "Hackers", where he tracks the story of the Computer Hacker (in the 1970's sense) going from the dawn of computers to the advance of the micros. Every time I reread this book, I am struck anew in how he captures so much of the magic that pervaded those times. His book is a testimony to how right and just a history can be.