Gabriella Coleman, a Harvard University anthropology professor, describes how she immersed  herself in hacker culture and eventually became embedded in the shadowy and mercurial world of Anonymous, the hacktivist collective she chronicled in her 2015 book, "Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous." This is such a fascinating episode that explores the often misunderstood history of hacking and how many in this community went from outside agitators to mainstream security researchers.

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Why you should listen:

* Get a better understanding of the history of Anonymous and the role it played in shaping online protests and whistleblowing.

* Hear about some of the earliest hacking communities such as the free software hackers and efforts to archive their early writings and magazines.

* Get an anthropological perspective on how hackers have evolved from the fringes of the tech world to among the most influential voices in cybersecurity.

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Key quotes: 

* "There's now a new narrative that there was a single founder of Anonymous, the trolls and the early hacktivists. And that's just wrong in terms of historical record."

* "I'm not surprised that hackers were at the forefront of establishing the protocols for the security industry."

* "The moment you cower, the moment you're not willing to speak up, that's the minute that I think ... the hacker spirit is dead and can't be effective in initiating change."

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Links:
* https://www.synack.com/
* https://gabriellacoleman.org/
* https://datasociety.net/library/wearing-many-hats-the-rise-of-the-professional-security-hacker/