Masters of Deception

A brilliant, fast-paced book about computer hackers in New York - a gang of kids who call themselves 'Masters of Deception' (MOD). These are kids who live in the poorest neighbourhoods of New York, and who have brought cheap computers which they soup up into all kinds of private accounts and stores of information - one day they bring down the entire phone system for a morning. They are also involved in gang warfare, in particular with a rival gang of hackers from Texas, who kick off the confrontation by posting patronising jokes about MOD on the computer bulletin board. The war between the two gangs forms the central strand of this book - a kind of electronic WEST SIDE STORY.