Independent Film Reviews

Freedom Downtime

Posted on 17. Sep, 2008 by Serina in Independent Films

This film is a independent documentary on the wrongful and controversial imprisonment of famed hacker Kevin Mitnik. Publisher of the hacker magazine, Emmanuel Goldstein 2600.com heads an investigation into the wrongful way of convicting this computer specialist. From one locale to another, Goldstein explores the hacker community and the myths and truths behind Mitnik’s escapades from his early years, to his time in hiding from the police. He also brings up many points about the way legislature is brought about on a new frontier of computer crimes such as what is a real computer crime and disseminating the search of truth versus the pursuit of destruction. Interviews with the community are abound and we are finally left with a chance to talk with Kevin himself.

Though this documentary is one sided, it does bring up many topics that the computer world still seeks to answer today. Hacking back in those early years was an exploration of answers for kids whose techno intelligence was far more advanced than that of the people who were providing the technology at times. Another thing I like is that even though you do get a Michael Moore feel in the light-heartedness that Emmanuel Goldstein emits, he never strays from the main story of this film and every route he takes leads back to the subject of Kevin Mitnik.

So in closing if you enjoyed Hackers are People Too then try to find this one. It is distributed through the 2600 site and you may be able to find it on one of your local non-commercial movie rental stores. Another nice thing about gettig this movie is there is a follow up interview with Mitnik and Godstein that is really nice to hear because you get a sense of what it was like throughout the whole time Kevin was being chased. This film easily earned a 8/10.