2600: The Hacker Quarterly, April 1985

The second year, in which 2600's own bulletin board was seized in a federal raid and the newsletter turned to defending the people it wrote for.

Early issues announce the 2600 Bulletin Board online. By mid-year the headline is "2600 Bulletin Board Seized in Raid on Hackers," printed beside "Sherwood Forest Shut Down by Secret Service" and "The Threat To Us All." Operating systems carry the technical run: "Interesting Things To Do on a DEC-20," a two-part guide to VMS, "RSTS: A Trick or Two" and "Surveying the COSMOS." "The Theory of Blue Boxing" and "What a White Box Can Do" cover the hardware. "The Cipher Disk" is the newsletter's first piece of cryptography, and "A Guide to the Israeli Phone System" starts the foreign-system series. Bill Landreth's Out of the Inner Circle is reviewed, and the year closes with a list of more than 1,500 BBS numbers.

"Some Words on Hacker Morality" and "And They Call US Crooks?" put the ethical case; "Some Important Questions To Ask" is practical advice for readers expecting a visit. "The Infinity Transmitter - An Old Bug" and "The Early Phreak Days" begin the newsletter's habit of writing its own prehistory.