Talk:Eric Gorden Corley

Untitled
This article is extremely biased. The reader base of 2600 is at the fringe of the hacker community and may not actually be considered "hackers". They are mostly comprised of preteens and teenagers whose skills are solely getting around parental control filters so they can look at porn.

Eric Corley does not even belong as an article in ANY encyclopedia, but if he's going to be found here, at least the article could be more unbiased.

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I disagree partly.

The question of whether or not 2600 is widely read is disputable. Your statement that it is mostly comprised of preteens/teens looking to get around parental filters is, itself, indicative that you haven't looked at the magazine to see that this might or might not be true. Had you looked, you would not have made such a statement.

The question of whether or not Corley belongs in an encyclopedia is where you and I disagree most strongly, though. Corley is a radio personality. If we exclude the shortwave outlet (WBCQ) and the college station (WUSB) from where he is carried, it leaves, at the very least, WBAI, which is a respected public media outlet with a very sizeable audience. That he gets phone calls says he has listeners.

That he also acted as an advisor to the producers of a major motion picture (Hackers), further bolsters that this entry should be here.

That he also is a poignant social critic further bolsters that this entry should be here.

That you disagree with him or what you think he represents means squat.

I have touched up the text a bit to remove some bias that I perceived, and correct one factual matter. I have also removed the bias flag. Feel free to put it back if you don't think this is good enough.

I'll one-up and say I entirely disagree with the person(s) who says Eric Corley isn't notable and I question their scope of knowledge about the history of computer hackers. While 2600 magazine's popularity has waned in the past decade or so, Emmanuel (Eric Corley) continues to be one of the most recognizable figureheads of the hacking community.

He may not be "the leader" of the hacker community, but I certainly recognize him as one of the "fathers" of hacking. He was absolutely instrumental (via 2600 magazine) in growing the hacker community (keyword here: community).

Aside from 2600 magazine, he's also considerably known (at least amongst the hacker community) for his radio shows and the infamous lawsuit related to the DVD/CCA/DeCSS case. He and his magazine also inspired the worldwide "2600 hacker meets" which occur in numerous major cities around the world.

Jgw 16:13, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Dear Posterity ...
Corley is sufficiently notable for inclusion in the Wikipedia even if considered only on his merits as a radio personality; Wikipedia contains content relating to other individuals based only on their broadcast media presence.

The readership demographic of 2600 is not relevant to the importance of this entry. We are not in the business of judging readership demographics. It is enough that the demographic is significant, ongoing, and has been involved in several important aspects of Internet history.

If there is controversy regarding Corley, it is entirely appropriate to note it in Talk:Eric_Corley, as has been rightly done. If this controversy survives review, the aspects of it which are deemed to be NPOV should be included in the article. However, personal dislike for the subject of an article does not negate the relevance or appropriateness of the article itself.

Corley has been repeatedly included in CNN content related to hacking, including a line-item mention on CNN's 40-year history of hacking. A Google search for +"Emmanuel Goldstein" +2600 -- the most restrictive set of search terms plausible -- returns over 10,000 hits. I feel this effectively addresses any concerns raised as to the legitimacy of Corley's inclusion in the Wikipedia.

I do encourage anyone with feelings RE: the POV-ness of any of the aspects of this article to submit appropriate, objective corrections.

In the interests of full disclosure, I'm not exactly an objective, disinterested party when it comes to 2600 Magazine. But I _have_ made every effort to make my contentions objective, and to back up my basic points with appropriate, third-party sourcing.

I encourage anyone with feelings on this topic to feel free to email me from my user page.

Adrian 22:27, 3 May 2005 (UTC)


 * Eric Corley is certainly a notable individual, having helmed 2600 Magazine for so long. While I will agree with the general view that he is no ESR, he has been a high-profile voice for his own causes (which of course range from general "hacker ethic" promotion to overtly leftist anti-corporate causes). The audience of 2600 magazine may be verified by the yearly circulation report that Corley files, but some extrapolation may be done with the list of 2600 meetings on the back page of the magazine. Given the number of meetings that are listed as active (and some DO get removed periodically for inactivity), his audience (which would arguably know him, since the bulk of the magazine is simply composed of Letters to the Editor and the Editor's (Corley's) responses) is both widely dispersed around the globe and considerably large.


 * Please see http://www.2600.com/meetings/mtg.html for this (meeting) data.
 * DickClarkMises 21:34, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Removing npov header
Since the person who put it there has not participated in useful and constructive discussion, I now remove the npov notice. &mdash; David Remahl 14:09, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Controversial ruling?
In the main article, the following is mentioned: "In his controversial ruling against Corley". However, there is nothing about the nature of this ruling. Did Corley walk or was he sentenced, and if so, to what? Isn't that a piece of information that should be included?

-Un-informed conformity---

I'm personally a fan of WUSB, and the Emmanuel Goldstein/Eric Corely shows. I've never personally met him face to face however, so I cannot vouge on his personality away from broadcasting. I can partially validate the original accusation though. I've been seriously flamed for no apperant reason on the 2600 IRC channel for simply trying to hold a clean conversation while Emmanuel was connected, he dosen't type into the room but his followers seem to fancy blasting racial slurs out and riding anyone who joins and dosen't sit quiet.

I also would like to bring to light a act that happened on I believe 'Off the Hook' maybe the second or third week after hurricane katrina whent down. A african american gentleman called in and talked about the governments failure to help in time of need; normally the guys at the show would be agreeing, but this time it was oddly different. After about 2 minutes the economical state of the hurricane katrina victoms came to, and instead of stateing facts and getting to the root of the problem corely and his convicted hacker friends whent on to make passivly humiliating comments about them as if they where stupid cause they couldn't afford to leave there homes. At that time the black gentlemen was quick to state the fact that corely and the other all come from welthy familys(and they do,) at which time the host, Eric Corely, disconnected the caller.

The WBAI station is a "Free Speech" radio station mind you. You can listen to that same broadcast on there site because they have archives of all there shows time stamped and all. I'd also like to mention that your average "Hacker" comes from a high income family with cut throat buisness ethics and a long history of manipulation of honest working class people, so don't glamourise them as if they where Peter Pan and the lost boys protecting us from Captain Hook(Federal Intelligence agencys in this case,) they are basiclly wolves in sheeps clothing and very manipulative of honest people.

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Perhaps you should either explain his political views or remove him from "anarchist" category? Advocacy of "freedom" whatever it means does not yet qualify to being "an anarchist".

Things that should be addressed in this article
I've tried to get these answers myself many times before, by writing to and calling up OTH, OTW, Brain Damage, and 2600, but in all these years I've never received a straight answer. If anyone can achieve this seemingly insurmountable feat, that would be wonderful. metaspheres 13:31, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Origins of 2600: How and why (and when) did Corley become interested in phreaking and hacking? Corley admits to not being technically inclined. Has Corley ever been involved in any type of actual phreaking and hacking activity?
 * 2) Was 2600 originally intended to solely be a phreaking zine or has there been a focus on both subjects from the very beginning?
 * 3) What computer and operating systems has Corley used most often in his lifetime and what does he currently use (computer + OS)?
 * 4) How does Corley fund all his travels (including his vast global trip for Speaker's World?)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 14:35, 29 April 2016 (UTC)