Nice read. I being somewhat younger than the author, didn't get into the scene (such as it was) until after the dust settled from Operation Sun Devil. There was a lot of what he describes, excepting less emphasis on long-distance codes (understandable in our 5ESS LATA) and greater emphasis on hacking nearby universities to get onto the somewhat nascent Internet, as well as the occasional Tymnet/X.25 NUI. Almost none of us 'carded', although there was an epidemic of nice modems being stuffed down pants at the local Comp-USA. But for a few years, if it was connected to a local phone line or was on the Internet with a security vulnerability, one (or more) of us had root access.

I did get receive modest interest from local law enforcement, but I owe a sincere debt of gratitude to university staff (who I hope recognized something of a kindred, non-malicious spirit) who begged district attorneys not to proceed with my prosecution. Between that scare and somehow raising modest capital to start a local ISP with a Sprintlink T1 line, I eventually graduated from 'the scene' and found myself a straight-laced system admin (later software developer).

I like to think 'the scene' didn't disappear; Most people can buy fast Internet access somewhat cheaply (or hack a wireless network) and install Linux for free. For a couple nickels more, you can operate your own IN-WATS PBX with help from Twilio or a cut-rate SIP provider. In short, much of what was forbidden to us became easily and/or cheaply within reach. Welcome to utopia.