ASCII by Jason Scott

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Seriously, Fuck Katie Hafner —

In case I show up in her article anyway, here’s my sum total of e-mail communication, in history, with reporter Katie Hafner of the New York Times:

Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 13:47:20 -0700
From: Katie Hafner
To: jason@textfiles.com
Subject: Fwd: wikipedia story for ny times

> hi jason,
> i’m working on a story about wikipedia.
> would you mind giving me a call when you have a minute, at the phone
> number below?
> thanks,
> katie

—————————————————————-

Katie Hafner
The New York Times
201 Spear St., Suite 1560
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 836-6700

“I miss a lot of beats in music, but make up for it in life.” — Zoe Lyon

Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 18:50:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jason Scott
To: Katie Hafner
Cc: jason@textfiles.com
Subject: Re: Fwd: wikipedia story for ny times

Katie, I am not one of your fans and am not interested in discussing this or
any subject with you. I suggest writing to Wikipedia Review or Wikitruth,
who are professional critics of Wikipedia.

Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:10:22 -0700
From: Katie Hafner
To: Jason Scott
Subject: Re: Fwd: wikipedia story for ny times

gee whiz. it’s not every day i get such a nice note.

thanks for the referrals. i’ll get in touch with those places.

all best,
katie


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10 Comments

  1. Krisjohn says:

    o_O

  2. Kizzle says:

    I’m confused. She asked for an interview. You do interviews all the time. What would have been the problem with this one? More info please.

  3. jad says:

    Among other things, Katie Hafner was one of the reasons why Kevin Mitnick got shafted as bad as he did. I am sure that there are plenty of other reasons to hate her.

  4. Jason Scott says:

    I am a very big proponent of researching/knowing the history of a journalist before deciding whether to give them grist. If you research someone’s work and find they always go for angles that diminish and insult their subjects, then you probably could spend your time in better avenues, perhaps writing a story yourself for others to read.

    In Hafner’s case, I consider her work sloppy, her angles sensationalistic, and yes, her involvement with the Mitnick fiasco ensures that I could be stand in torrential rain and not tell her I was soaked.

    In our current age of secret trials, hidden prisons, and suspects held without trial or legal representation for years on end, perhaps it seems trivial what happened to Mitnick. But I have not forgotten. I’m a historian. Hafner is not a historian; she’s barely a journalist.

    Perhaps some time I’ll list journalists I’ve met and respected, and why, and some I’ve met and not respected, and why.

  5. Kizzle says:

    Thanks Jason that clears things up. I cannot believe the person writing those emails actually works for the NY Times. I expected to see an OMG LOLZ!!1 in there. If nothing else at least capitalize your i’s.

  6. krnlpanik says:

    IOU one(1) Highfive.

  7. not who I was says:

    Once upon a time, I agreed with you about Kevin.

    Not anymore. Not since I became the victim of identity theft. After ten years and three name changes, the police finally think I might be in the clear… we hope, but dread even thinking of attempting to cross the border.

    Kevin has declared “he would never hurt a computer”. That’s all well and good, but totally ignores the human and social damage.

    My thoughts are now for the US Army veterans (thousands of them) whose complete life details were stolen recently.

  8. Jason Scott says:

    The issue is not whether Kevin Mitnick was a dick. I think, objectively, most people can look back on his 1980-1990 era computr career, and conclude that in many ways he was a dick where he could have achieved a lot of what he wanted to without subsuming identities or the like.

    The issue I speak of here in this context is that, having established Mr. Mitnick’s not-so-perfect ways, did he deserve to be shoved into solitary confinement for 9 months? And then, when he went on the run to avoid having this happen again, did he deserve to be held for years on end without a trial or charges brought against him?

    When the cost of what he “stole” was tallied, it turned out later that the company had included the cost of constructing the building the code was written in. This sort of foolishness was rampant.

    Kevin is not clean, but nobody deserved what happened to him. And Hafner and her ex-husband Markoff helped ensure it would happen. I maintain my position.

  9. Kade says:

    It’s not like they just threw his ass into solitary without reason. They were told by his significant other he could cause mass destruction just by whistling a key audio cue into a phone. Keep in mind that during the 1980’s people viewed young men knowledgeable about computers the same way peasants might view a wizard of the Middle Ages, with appropriate fear and reverence.

    Maybe if Suzy Thunder hadn’t done such a wonderful job of stoking a fire he wouldn’t have been in that state. And fleeing a trial is never justified, never. Not even by your soggiest wet cyberpunk “sticking it to THE MAN” dreams.

  10. stephen says:

    susie thunder screwed over kevin and the other fellow due to the other guy dumping her for a socially acceptable GF.

    katie hafner and her ex, john markoff are bad hacks.

    if i had my choice about who to trust, i’d pick kevin mitnick, whose website had to be taken down due to DoS by script kiddies.