The Hacker Wars

Hacking Wars is an insightful feature-length documentary that explores the duality of modern hackers and government responses to their activities. The film portrays some of the most high-profile hackers who delved into the secretive workings of companies and government agencies and faced severe penalties from law enforcement for doing so.

Andrew Auernheimer – also known as “Weev” – is probably the most famous character in this legendary series. Auernheimer goes from troll master to media darling, appearing in the film’s opening scene on the eve of a long prison sentence. his crime? The email addresses of more than 114,000 AT&T customers were exposed, including public figures such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and news anchor Diane Sawyer. In his defense, he claimed he was simply pointing to a major security gap in the communications company’s online operations. The FBI took a different view, and Auernheimer was eventually sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Master hacker Barrett Brown, who has an aura of audacity and arrogance, is currently serving more than five years in federal prison for his crimes alongside fellow hacktivist Jeremy Hammond, who is serving a 10-year sentence. Both were jailed for leaking classified correspondence from the email systems of global intelligence firm Stratten. Some of the emails implicated involvement in insider trading and insight into bin Laden’s Abbottabad hideout.

A large portion of the public sees these characters as heroes who speak the needed truth to those in power.

The film is supplemented with interviews with journalists who follow the hacker world with great interest, including NBC news correspondent Michael Isikoff and Pulitzer Prize winners Glenn Greenwald and Chris Hedges.

The hacker wars have slashed at lightning speed, calling into question the motives of law enforcement agencies, which often seem too busy monitoring the release of information the public has a right to know. But the film’s core appeal lies in deciphering the personalities of the hackers themselves. Are they anarchists, just out to incite chaos and destruction? Or are they well-meaning activists? The answer is often a bit of both.

Directed by: Vivien Lesnik Weisman