Cult of the Dead Cow

How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World

By: Joseph Menn

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

The shocking untold story of the elite secret society of hackers fighting to protect our privacy, our freedom - even democracy itself...

Cult of the Dead Cow is the tale of the oldest, most respected, and most famous American hacking group of all time. Though until now it has remained mostly anonymous, its members invented the concept of hacktivism, released the top tool for testing password security, and created what was for years the best technique for controlling computers from afar, forcing giant companies to work harder to protect customers. They contributed to the development of Tor, the most important privacy tool on the net, and helped build cyberweapons that advanced US security without injuring anyone.

With its origins in the earliest days of the Internet, the cDc is full of oddball characters - activists, artists, even future politicians. Many of these hackers have become top executives and advisors walking the corridors of power in Washington and Silicon Valley. The most famous is former Texas Congressman and current presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, whose time in the cDc set him up to found a tech business, launch an alternative publication in El Paso, and make long-shot bets on unconventional campaigns.

Today, the group and its followers are battling electoral misinformation, making personal data safer, and battling to keep technology a force for good instead of for surveillance and oppression. Cult of the Dead Cow shows how governments, corporations, and criminals came to hold immense power over individuals and how we can fight back against them.

©2019 Joseph Menn (P)2019 PublicAffairs

Critic reviews

"Long before there was a multi-billion dollar cyber industry, there were some ethical hackers who showed us that the Silicon Valley emperors had no clothes. They looked like misfits, but they showed us how insecure the Internet was and how to make it better. Joe Menn makes this previously untold story entertaining and relevant to today's cyber threats." (Richard A. Clarke, first White House "Cyber Czar")

"Cult of the Dead Cow reveals a story few know about the origins of white hat hacking and the heroes it celebrates. Despite the title, hacking isn't dead yet!" (Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the internet)

"Cult of the Dead Cow is an exhilarating and essential look into a part of the hacker underground that has shaped the modern world in profound ways. Readers will be amazed by this crew of eccentric, impassioned geniuses who have so often served as the Internet's conscience while lurking unknown in the shadows. The depth of Joe Menn's reporting is as astonishing as his storytelling - no one could have captured this tale better." (Ashlee Vance, author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future)

Somewhat scattered, marred by a poor reading

Jonathan Davis doesn't seem to read more than a few words ahead, so that each of his sentences is merely an assemblage of unrelated phrases. Indeed, listening with headphones, it's easy to hear how he has re-recorded individual phrases and edited them into a sentence. This robotic reading style means that the listener has to capture all the words, re-parse them into a more sensible prosody, and then replay the whole thing in one's head in order to figure out what was just said. It's like having Siri read the New York Times: The phonemes are all there but it takes significant effort to understand what one is hearing. Neither Siri nor Jonathan Davis understand a word of what they're reading.

Menn's writing style is to jump around all over the map. That's OK, but it takes an actor with some talent to bring out Menn's voice. Davis fails.

The first few chapters were an absolute blast for me, because I know or have met almost every one of the people mentioned (except Beto O'Rourke). I loved the world of BBSes back in the day, though I was never a hacker or a phreak.

As the book's timeline progressed, names came up that I wasn't that familiar with. (In a few cases, that's a good thing — plausible deniability ;-)) But as the book wore on, the dry chronicling of the antics of the CDC's members became quite boring. These are just geeks, no more or less interesting than the hundreds of other geeks I know.

Does it get better towards the end? I'm about an hour and a half from the end, and I am not sure if I really want to work that hard. And now that I no longer commute (covid isolation) the thought of listening to Davis butcher sentence structure is not appealing.

Nostalgic entertainment

Blast from the past and awesome stories. great insight on the history of the internet, the stories you don't hear.

A great bit of historical context.

This book is a must read for anyone curious about the birth of CDC and hacker politics.

If you ran a bbs, or ever visited one...

....Then this book is for you. Even if you didn’t, it’s a wonderful book that you will get some history lessons from....

Connected the dots

Get Woke
lol jk
Technology is the future
leaders in the industry came from or were inspired by CDC.

dang

It's too bad Beto dropped, would have been nice to see a Hacker In Chief.

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Intense and Enlightening

I loved it, though I dont agree with the authors political stance that is clearly presented. Though to his credit, evidence to the contrary of his claims didnt arise until after the book was written. I lean right, but am very interested in learning more about psychedelic warlord the man.

Great modern history lesson

Contains a lot of very interesting information. Slightly dry in the middle. Would definitely recommend.

That's fairly good content but feels political

It was a fairly good book and some information that was good but towards the end it almost felt like a campaign ad for Beto. I know they mentioned it just because of the fact that he was a member of the dead cow, that almost felt a bit politicized.